Mhucasey's SPS obsession

[mhucasey]

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

Thanks Perry! The tanks really are getting cleaner and cleaner. I've reduced the dose of NP Pro to 6 drops per day to see how that goes and I'm at 1L of stones. I plumbed the output of the zeolite reactor to the skimmer input and the skimmer is pulling out some seriously noxious looking crud:lolspin:

 

[Reefvet]

Thanks Perry! The tanks really are getting cleaner and cleaner. I've reduced the dose of NP Pro to 6 drops per day to see how that goes and I'm at 1L of stones. I plumbed the output of the zeolite reactor to the skimmer input and the skimmer is pulling out some seriously noxious looking crud:lolspin:

I'm curious why you would reduce the carbon. Was there a negative effect ?

 

[Oldude]

Looking good - colors are really coming along.

 

[mhucasey]

I'm curious why you would reduce the carbon. Was there a negative effect ?

My general feeling now is that you should use "just enough" carbon to reduce nutrients but without feeding cyano and possibly pathogenic bacteria too much. When I tried Zeovit a few years ago I thought that adding more and more Start3 would remove the phosphates, but invariably when the doses got too high the sun would begin. Cyano was everywhere.

I had been increasing the dose of NP Pro until I was at 7drops and saw the phosphate values drop after each increase. Then at 8 I started seeing wild swings, like a test result of 0.04 in the morning and 0.08 at night - or vice-versa with no nutrient input in between. I increased the dose to 10 drops and there was no additional reduction and the swings continued. I saw some minor signs of stress on some of the acros, so I reduced back to 8 for several days. During the higher dosing time the glass haze was very light brown.

Looking at the various AF tanks, the daily dose sweet spot seems to be just under the max dose. In this tank's case, the max dose is 7.4 drops per day, so I tried 6 drops. The morning and night phosphate readings have been much more consistent. For example, this morning and tonight both results were 0.05ppm PO4. The coral tissue is plumper and there are growth tips here and there on some corals that have been missing the lighter tips for a while. The glass haze is distinctively green and the Cyano is reduced. At the same time there is no nuisance green algae issue. Now I just need to see if it holds.

 

[mhucasey]

Looking good - colors are really coming along.

Thanks Greg!

 

[reefwiser]

Matt you use the Milwaukee MI 412 right? I love my Milwaukee refractometer.

 

[mhucasey]

Matt you use the Milwaukee MI 412 right? I love my Milwaukee refractometer.

Yes, the MI 412- it's awesome!

 

[nemodan]

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):

Matt your fish family and their names are really good. I love that blue tang. But I have to admit that the best picture is DINKY.

Do you think in a tank with , kind of agressive and crazy fish, a Mandarin can fit ? I am talking about my tank. I do not have any idea if I have some live food left for him there. The Six Line and the Blue Angel are always looking for food in any small hole they can fit their mouth.... lol.

Cheers
Daniel

 

[mhucasey]

Matt your fish family and their names are really good. I love that blue tang. But I have to admit that the best picture is DINKY.

Do you think in a tank with , kind of agressive and crazy fish, a Mandarin can fit ? I am talking about my tank. I do not have any idea if I have some live food left for him there. The Six Line and the Blue Angel are always looking for food in any small hole they can fit their mouth.... lol.

Cheers
Daniel

Dinky is pretty darn cute, I don't blame you! As for the Mandarin, I have had two now, and both of them ended up eating everything that I fed the rest of the reef plus pods from the rock. None of the other fish should bother them, they kind of stay to themselves and don't really get noticed by others. You should have a pretty good pod population in your reef that the Mandarin can feed on while it's trying new foods

 

[mhucasey]

Update: Well, my Angelfish experiment is over, at least for the SPS reef. Yondu went back to the LFS today. He wasn't damaging anything but his nipping was killing the polyp extension on the SPS. With some it wasn't that big of a deal, but on the Red planet colony it looked like a tree in wintertime. I tip my cap to those who can make it work.

I'm just not that much of a fan of any fish to let it mess with the SPS. I'm going to copy Bulent and get a harem of Resplendant Anthias

 

[nemodan]

Matt.... you know far away more about Acros than myself. Today I close a deal with a local reefer for the pictured minicolony. Ora Joe the Coral . $40

What do you think ?

I like the cream body with blue tips, but in internet I found other color convinations under that name too.



I will go to pick it up later in the week. Where the heck I am going to fit it in my tank, I do not have idea.

Daniel

 

[mhucasey]

Matt.... you know far away more about Acros than myself. Today I close a deal with a local reefer for the pictured minicolony. Ora Joe the Coral . $40

What do you think ?

I like the cream body with blue tips, but in internet I found other color convinations under that name too.



I will go to pick it up later in the week. Where the heck I am going to fit it in my tank, I do not have idea.

Daniel

"Joe the Coral" is a cool one from ORA. I like getting ORA corals because you can see what the parent looks like and lots of people have the same corals for comparison. That's a good one!

 

[nemodan]

"Joe the Coral" is a cool one from ORA. I like getting ORA corals because you can see what the parent looks like and lots of people have the same corals for comparison. That's a good one!

Ok.. now I feel better. I was not sure what I was really buying. I gave my word and I will pick it up. But hearing from you that is a good piece I feelmore relax.

Thank you !
Daniel

 

[Reefvet]

My general feeling now is that you should use "just enough" carbon to reduce nutrients but without feeding cyano and possibly pathogenic bacteria too much....

I would agree though I doubt you're going to create any problem levels of pathogens before you see cyano and and take some course of action to control it.

What you're seeing on the glass can be deceiving now that you're introducing bacteria strains that may not have been present before. I'd be cautious about using that as an indicator in the first 90 days of using Pro Bio S.

Your tanks are you looking great and you clearly have a good handle on what you're doing so I'm just suggesting you rely on your test kits and the corals as indicators as opposed to what may be a short term cycling growth of new bacteria on the glass. What you see in the next few weeks you probably won't see again once your bio media in the sump are populated.

 

[mhucasey]

Ok.. now I feel better. I was not sure what I was really buying. I gave my word and I will pick it up. But hearing from you that is a good piece I feelmore relax.

Thank you !
Daniel

No problem, you can check it out on ORAs site:

http://www.orafarm.com/products/hardcoral/

 

[markalot]

Oh, they redesigned their site. I haven't visited in a while.

I have killed just about every ORA coral with the exception of the Miami Orchid. :facepalm:

 

[mhucasey]

I would agree though I doubt you're going to create any problem levels of pathogens before you see cyano and and take some course of action to control it.

What you're seeing on the glass can be deceiving now that you're introducing bacteria strains that may not have been present before. I'd be cautious about using that as an indicator in the first 90 days of using Pro Bio S.

Your tanks are you looking great and you clearly have a good handle on what you're doing so I'm just suggesting you rely on your test kits and the corals as indicators as opposed to what may be a short term cycling growth of new bacteria on the glass. What you see in the next few weeks you probably won't see again once your bio media in the sump are populated.

Thanks, I'm doing my best to let the corals tell me that they are good - which they certainly are. I like the test results as well but the numbers are a bit misleading. What indicators/method would you use to dial in the amount of NP Pro to add?

 

[mhucasey]

Oh, they redesigned their site. I haven't visited in a while.

I have killed just about every ORA coral with the exception of the Miami Orchid. :facepalm:

Its better to have loved ORA and lost, then not had SPS at all....

 

[Reefvet]

I have killed just about every ORA coral with the exception of the Miami Orchid. :facepalm:

If they were ORA Maricultured SPS you're a member of a large club.

Thanks, I'm doing my best to let the corals tell me that they are good - which they certainly are. I like the test results as well but the numbers are a bit misleading. What indicators/method would you use to dial in the amount of NP Pro to add?

I'd judge the dosing of NP Pro by the same indicators as any other carbon source. Cyano or other algae growth being the obvious indication that you're way over the top. Any kind of white film/bacterial growth in your sump being another sign, but less affected by photoperiod and more an indicator that you've got something in addition to the carbon feeding bacteria.

Skimmer production being the other strong indicator. Carbon and Probiotic dosing should create a more concentrated skimmer foam. Smaller bubbles and foam that stands more as it overflows into the skimmer collection cup.

Numbers are useful but I'd test once a day and do it very consistently or you're just second guessing what they mean. I'd suggest you test some time within the last hour of your photoperiod and you'll most likely find the highest numbers.

In my experience, I've used AF products for over 3 years, you will find a sweet spot somewhere under their recommended dosing level if you're feeding your fish well.

 

[MrineLfRlz]

I have another question before i switched over to LED completely i had a 4 bulb t5 fixture i had over my frag tank i want to start using that again also but the light has only one ballast all bulbs are either on or off so the visual doesnt mean anything being its down stairs only fair growth and color color color only matter in that tank so what do you suggest for that?