Mike's 200g
- Thread starter MichaelW
- Start date
MichaelW
New member
It's nearly been a week since I finished my second round of interceptor treatment. I must say I feel like there is improved PE on all corals (even ones I couldn't see any bugs on). PE has always been pretty good, just seems a bit better. Most things color has remained same, but my alk has dropped a little so my guess is growth is improving.
MichaelW
New member
biggles
Premium Member
Good to hear the bug eradication went well Mike, i'm not surprised you're seeing better PE now those little terrors aren't annoying your acros. 
New corals to fill the empty spots left by your mates acros is required - i see a frag order in your future buddy.............
This page has no pics btw...
New corals to fill the empty spots left by your mates acros is required - i see a frag order in your future buddy.............
This page has no pics btw...
MichaelW
New member
Good to hear the bug eradication went well Mike, i'm not surprised you're seeing better PE now those little terrors aren't annoying your acros.
New corals to fill the empty spots left by your mates acros is required - i see a frag order in your future buddy.............
This page has no pics btw...
I guess I better work on fixing that Then...
MichaelW
New member
My LFS let me borrow one of their lenses to try out and here are the results. It was very different to use as had no auto focus. I tried.
First I find these 3 show some of the improved PE I was talking about, even though I didn't see bugs on any of them
Golden milli
Another milli that I can't get to show true colors in pictures. It is much more pink with green polyps
Next is a brand new addition. Colors are not there yet but are starting. I got it with very high hopes for what it might turn into. I present my new BLUE dragon.
And his little sister red dragon
Here is one I'm not too thrilled with color wise at the moment. Any thoughts or recommendations would be great. Tips are good but body is giving me trouble.
And a FTS taken from an angle to avoid glare from the window. Still can't get coral colors to stand out more like in person.
I hope you enjoyed!
Mike
First I find these 3 show some of the improved PE I was talking about, even though I didn't see bugs on any of them
Golden milli
Another milli that I can't get to show true colors in pictures. It is much more pink with green polyps
Next is a brand new addition. Colors are not there yet but are starting. I got it with very high hopes for what it might turn into. I present my new BLUE dragon.
And his little sister red dragon
Here is one I'm not too thrilled with color wise at the moment. Any thoughts or recommendations would be great. Tips are good but body is giving me trouble.
And a FTS taken from an angle to avoid glare from the window. Still can't get coral colors to stand out more like in person.
I hope you enjoyed!
Mike
MichaelW
New member
Thanks for the kind words. There are many more better reefers out there but I think I have some success due to my love of it. I'm always reading about it and learning as much as I can.
MichaelW
New member
I sure hope so
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Very nice buddy. :beer:
Regarding the granulosa looking acro; the Redbugs used to love this acro and were always over it. Now that they are gone, you should see the body regain some nice pigmentation.
I'm not surprised the PE had improved on the SPS. IME Redbugs reduce PE and brown out some acros.
Regarding the granulosa looking acro; the Redbugs used to love this acro and were always over it. Now that they are gone, you should see the body regain some nice pigmentation.
I'm not surprised the PE had improved on the SPS. IME Redbugs reduce PE and brown out some acros.
MichaelW
New member
That's my hope Sahin. I feel like that piece has the potential to be really nice. Hopefully just needs time to recover from bugs. It was one of the corals I noticed the bugs on.
MichaelW
New member
I am beginning to wonder if I really do have low nutrients. My test for nitrate are 0 on both delivery and red sea pro and have been for some time now. And my po4 on hanna is 0.00ppm. However, although there is no gha on rocks, I do get a dusting on the glass almost daily that needs to be wiped and algae is growing in the overflows. My corals confuse me a bit because some are great, some just look dull but have color, a few look a bit brown, and some look kinda pale to me.
I had wanted to start some color additives, possibly fauna marin color elements, and boggles had mentioned sponge power to me. Also some aminos (thinking of the lighter corals). But didn't want to do this if my nutrients really are not that low and I should actually get them down.
I guess a good question could be, do you think I really have low nutrients if I need to swipe glass daily? And how often do you need to do yours?
Oh And if you think I should start a new thread on this let me know.
I had wanted to start some color additives, possibly fauna marin color elements, and boggles had mentioned sponge power to me. Also some aminos (thinking of the lighter corals). But didn't want to do this if my nutrients really are not that low and I should actually get them down.
I guess a good question could be, do you think I really have low nutrients if I need to swipe glass daily? And how often do you need to do yours?
Oh And if you think I should start a new thread on this let me know.
biggles
Premium Member
That pic of your little boy and his friend is awesome Mike
I had a similar experience recently however i placed a 100 micron felt bag in the sump and cleaned the glass just before lights off one night. That was the only place algae was growing except for a small amount on the front of the pump guards but if i cleaned it first thing in the morning i could see a visible sheen by the end of one light cycle so i knew something was feeding it despite the low or zero readings i was getting just like you Mike. 3 hours later i removed the algae straining felt sock and left the tank alone. First thing the next morning before algae had a chance to soak up too much phos i used the Elos high res phos kit and got a reading of about 0.060 rather than the 0.010 - 0.020 that normally registers. Nitrates using Salifert registered zero regardless of when tested.
I started dosing nitrate and vinegar two weeks ago and the colors and growth on ALL my acros, especially the ones that have been slightly sulky for a long time has been quite surprising. I dosed nitrate for 8 days and tested at 10. At day 7 i began dosing vinegar and at day 15 i'm seeing almost twice the production of skimmate daily than before carbon dosing and nitrates test at 5 now. Phos reads almost zero as usual but the glass is almost to the point of not needing a clean by the end of the day if you know what i mean. Still want both phos and nitrates lower but it seems that keeping both is important if you want EVERYTHING to color up nicely.
Sorry for the long post Mike but i really think you might be seeing the results of a nitrate starved system with highish phos levels just as i had. I saw improved colors just with the nitrate dosing even before starting the vinegar which surprised the hell out of me. :wildone:
I had a similar experience recently however i placed a 100 micron felt bag in the sump and cleaned the glass just before lights off one night. That was the only place algae was growing except for a small amount on the front of the pump guards but if i cleaned it first thing in the morning i could see a visible sheen by the end of one light cycle so i knew something was feeding it despite the low or zero readings i was getting just like you Mike. 3 hours later i removed the algae straining felt sock and left the tank alone. First thing the next morning before algae had a chance to soak up too much phos i used the Elos high res phos kit and got a reading of about 0.060 rather than the 0.010 - 0.020 that normally registers. Nitrates using Salifert registered zero regardless of when tested.
I started dosing nitrate and vinegar two weeks ago and the colors and growth on ALL my acros, especially the ones that have been slightly sulky for a long time has been quite surprising. I dosed nitrate for 8 days and tested at 10. At day 7 i began dosing vinegar and at day 15 i'm seeing almost twice the production of skimmate daily than before carbon dosing and nitrates test at 5 now. Phos reads almost zero as usual but the glass is almost to the point of not needing a clean by the end of the day if you know what i mean. Still want both phos and nitrates lower but it seems that keeping both is important if you want EVERYTHING to color up nicely.
Sorry for the long post Mike but i really think you might be seeing the results of a nitrate starved system with highish phos levels just as i had. I saw improved colors just with the nitrate dosing even before starting the vinegar which surprised the hell out of me. :wildone:
