Mhucasey's SPS obsession

[Reefvet]

Thanks, reefvet, I'm currently trying to control nutrients without Carbon dosing.. But I may give it a shot when I receive Aquaforst's bacterial blend that I have ordered..
Curious, what is your definition of 'high nutrients' is it a number or the presence of nuisance algea or uncontrolled nuisance algea..

Matt's answered that one for you. I'm sure you could venture into carbon dosing with the AF NP Pro before introducing additional bacteria. AF refers to their carbon as a Polymer to indicate that it's slow to break down on it's own. Thus remaining available as a food source for a longer period of time. At worst you'd be feeding the beneficial bacteria that are present in your tank and helping them to proliferate in advance of adding additional probiotic bacteria.

I, for one would be extremely grateful to learn what the difference between biochromes and zoox is and what the relationship of these are to each other and to nutrient levels..

Biochrome is broad categorical term for the living pigmentation in plants and animals. The biochrome in the epidermal layer of your skin is melanin, it's produced in melanocytes, specialized photosensitive cells beneath the epidermis.

Zoox function pretty much the same way though with a much greater variety of biochromes throughout the various types of Zoox.

Fundamental colors are governed by schemochromes which establish the living organism's color by their response to light, be it reflective, refractive or polychromatic diffractive. This is how corals display iridescent color, particularly under high levels of blue light. Biochromes are then affected by the light falling on the coral after it has penetrated the schemochromes.

Products that contain copper, designed to create pastel colored corals, are actually affecting the schemochromes, not the biochromes.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Biochrome is broad categorical term for the living pigmentation in plants and animals. The biochrome in the epidermal layer of your skin is melanin, it's produced in melanocytes, specialized photosensitive cells beneath the epidermis.

Zoox function pretty much the same way though with a much greater variety of biochromes throughout the various types of Zoox.

Fundamental colors are governed by schemochromes which establish the living organism's color by their response to light, be it reflective, refractive or polychromatic diffractive. This is how corals display iridescent color, particularly under high levels of blue light. Biochromes are then affected by the light falling on the coral after it has penetrated the schemochromes.

Products that contain copper, designed to create pastel colored corals, are actually affecting the schemochromes, not the biochromes.

This is very educational. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. And thank you Andrew for bringing this up.

 

[plyle02]

Update:
The PO4 tested at 0.04 for the past two days, I'm at the following for dosing:
Daily:
8 drops each NP Pro, ProBio S
4 Drops each Iodium and Flourine
8 drops Coral B(most days)

Every other day:
5 Drops Coral A and Coral V (these are really concentrated, the water glows and is noticeably hazy if the blue lights are on from the presence of the B vitamins)
2 drops Micro E


Opposite days every other day:
5 drops Coral E(Food)

I have 750ML Zeolites with 76 gallons/hr flow

I started 2L Siproax with 1.5 L Eheim Substrat yesterday in a media reactor to increase the biological filter capacity. The Substrat has been in the sump for a week or so already. I soaked the Siporax in ProBio S and Eheim's bacterial Blend to accelerate seeding.

Coral health is extremely good and the tanks are getting cleaner and cleaner. Polyp extension is very good and I'm seeing growth accelerate on the acros. The LPS are also looking good, perhaps the best they have ever looked. I'm a month in with the system and I'm very happy so far.

Very nice of you to explain, I am getting very similar results, I cannot remember when I looked over the tank and saw it so clean, even the live rock in the tank looks clean.

 

[mhucasey]

Some pics from tonight...
I love the combo of colors here:

Yellow is still holding, crossing my fingers:

Cinderella Acro is really coming along:

My rainbow Dragon is getting some pink:

 

[Reefvet]

Some pics from tonight...

It all looks great Matt.

Is that Cap in the first shot really that orange ?

 

[mhucasey]

It all looks great Matt.

Is that Cap in the first shot really that orange ?

Thanks!
Yep, all the montis in this system are super saturated. Here is an unaltered pic with a "Cutie" as a comparison:

 

[biggles]

I just knew you were dosing mandarin juice to get those colors Matt........:twitch:

That monti and the acros are looking super sweet buddy. :thumbsup:

 

[Reefvet]

I just knew you were dosing mandarin juice to get those colors Matt........

Perhaps not so far fetched an idea:

Aquaforest CoralV contains: vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin D3, vitamin E and vitamin K3.

 

[biggles]

Perhaps not so far fetched an idea:

Aquaforest CoralV contains: vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin D3, vitamin E and vitamin K3.

So basically you're saying we can drink the stuff as well for a diet supplement. That's me reading between the lines but as you know Reefvet i'm usually pretty spot on with my interpretations of sciencey stuff :reading:

 

[mhucasey]

So basically you're saying we can drink the stuff as well for a diet supplement. That's me reading between the lines but as you know Reefvet i'm usually pretty spot on with my interpretations of sciencey stuff :reading:

Two drops, every morning. I have growth tips already!

 

[Reefvet]

So basically you're saying we can drink the stuff as well for a diet supplement. That's me reading between the lines but as you know Reefvet i'm usually pretty spot on with my interpretations of sciencey stuff :reading:

Absolutely. Good for your Biochromes and what ails you :bounce2:

Two drops, every morning. I have growth tips already!

Awesome, but please keep any changes in your polyp extension to yourself! :eek2:

 

[mhucasey]

Picture update from tonight:

The flubber tank - check out how clean the sand is:

 

[mhucasey]

Some fish Pics:

"Carl" the clownfish, who joined the reef tank on day one, just after filling the tank with water, 3 1/2 years ago:

"Ruby" the dragonette, who was maybe 3/4" long when I got her. 5 months later at least twice the length and plump!:

"George". George is an attention hound:

"Sleepy" the Grey-Headed wrasse:

"Jack" the Stubby Snowflake clown:

"Cuddles" the Pajama Clown, also a day one fish:

Our Fatso Mandarin "Keen":

"Lime". We hates Lime. We hates him forever!:

And "Dinky" the wiener dog(Aka Dinkus Poopington):

 

[markalot]

Tanks look great, but I love the Dinky pic.

 

[biggles]

Tanks look great, but I love the Dinky pic.

What tank.............

 

[plyle02]

WOW Matt,
You are getting some awesome results, both tanks look super clean and colorful!!!

 

[markalot]

What tank.............

This one.

 

[nemodan]

This one.

That is sooo funny !!!!

 

[aggie13reef]

Matt,
Tank is looking awesome! Love the dragonette. However I think my favorite fish you posted was Lime haha. For some reason Wrasses are my favorite. Wish I had a little bigger tank to house some more! The nickname for Dinky cracks me up, we have at least 15 nicknames for our dach that we regularly use

Quick question, you have probably mentioned it in your thread but how many lbs of live rock do you have roughly in your system?

 

[mhucasey]

Matt,
Tank is looking awesome! Love the dragonette. However I think my favorite fish you posted was Lime haha. For some reason Wrasses are my favorite. Wish I had a little bigger tank to house some more! The nickname for Dinky cracks me up, we have at least 15 nicknames for our dach that we regularly use

Quick question, you have probably mentioned it in your thread but how many lbs of live rock do you have roughly in your system?

Lime is a beautiful fish that has terrorized at least three other wrasses to death:mad2: I love the wrasses, at one point the smaller tank had 6 of them!

It's embarrassing how many nicknames the dogs have, and truly amazing that they know who we are talking to when we call them by nickname. Poor Dinky also goes by "Admiral Delicious", "Stinkus", "Dinky doodle button bunny rabbit angel pie", "Oof Oof sprinkles" and even "domino ear"

I have maybe 60 lbs of live rock in the Flubber tank, maybe 5 in the SPS tank. The rest of the SPS tank rock is plastic:thumbsup: