My 65G Shallow Reef Tank

[DiscusHeckel]

Bulent, you keep blowing me away with your tank photos.
The corals just look look so, so good.
Having seen many (many!) zeo tanks and AF tanks and all sorts of tanks in between, no nutrient management system has me more intrigued than your implementation of TM Bacto Balance.. Along with the trace supplements.
I just don't seem to be able get the products.. It is a system that is almost completely overlooked in Canada, it seems.
I am going to make some changes to my system which will probably take a few months and then, depending on the state of my system, I am going to try very hard to get the Tropic Marin products and give them a try.
You have really weilded the TM system with absolute precision.
Bravo!

Matt,

Thank you for your praise. It means a lot to me because you are one of those fellow reefers who inspire me.

Quite a few people who follow my tank thread in the UK and some of those who saw my tank in person have already started to use the three product I have been using. They do not cost much either.

I have just done a quick research on how you can have this product shipped to Canada. I am pleased to tell you that I found a German company that ships dry goods worldwide. It seems that Canada is in their delivery list too. In fact, I believe that this is the same company from which Andrew ordered his Deltec skimmer. Another good news is that you will get 19% value added German tax refunded as well (lucky you). I will shortly pm you the url address of this company.

Cheers

Bülent

 

[kainic]

Thanks for the info Bülent, much appreciated. I'll receive my TM NP Bacto Balance on monday, and I'm really willing to test it.

I am amazed with your setosa, not only it's beautifulness but it's growth, one of the largest colonies I've ever seen, if not the largest. It's a difficult coral to get here in Spain. I guess I will have to order it somewhere in UK or Germany.

 

[reefmutt]

Matt,

Thank you for your praise. It means a lot to me because you are one of those fellow reefers who inspire me.

Quite a few people who follow my tank thread in the UK and some of those who saw my tank in person have already started to use the three product I have been using. They do not cost much either.

I have just done a quick research on how you can have this product shipped to Canada. I am pleased to tell you that I found a German company that ships dry goods worldwide. It seems that Canada is in their delivery list too. In fact, I believe that this is the same company from which Andrew ordered his Deltec skimmer. Another good news is that you will get 19% value added German tax refunded as well (lucky you). I will shortly pm you the url address of this company.

Cheers

Bülent

Hey Bulent,
Thanks for the pm.
Very nice of you to do that digging for me.

Very helpful!

 

[DiscusHeckel]

You're welcome Matt.

Happy reefing :wave:

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Thanks for the info Bülent, much appreciated. I'll receive my TM NP Bacto Balance on monday, and I'm really willing to test it.

I am amazed with your setosa, not only it's beautifulness but it's growth, one of the largest colonies I've ever seen, if not the largest. It's a difficult coral to get here in Spain. I guess I will have to order it somewhere in UK or Germany.

You're welcome Sergi. I hope that this product works for your corals.

I forgot to mention something. I have just remembered that Herr Werner-Balling states that for this method to be effective, your phosphates need to be approximately 0.1 mg/l or less and on a downward trend. If the starting point for phosphates is higher than this, then I would advise that you reduce phosphates first with some GFO. Moreover, once you start using bacto-balance, I would stop using GFO because it will interfere with nitrate/phosphate balance. Your main indicator for overdose ought not to be nitrate and/or phosphate readings. Do not chase numbers. Instead, you ought to observe the colours of your corals and their polyp extension. If they start to look pale and/or contruct their polyps, then go back to the previous dose. To emphasise again, please leave least two weeks before increasing your current dose. It is better to play safe than risk it. Corals and bacteria need time to adjust.

As for my M. setosa, I believe that mine may be the biggest in the UK. What is nice about this coral is that even under shade it does not lose its vibrant crimson colour. I think that once in shade it produces special proteins to protect itself for self-shading. I have read this in one of Dana Riddle's articles in which he talked about how A. yongei protects itself for self-shading and remains vibrant green.

Cheers

Bülent

 

[Johnyman]

Bullent, are you still using the Deltec SC 1350 Skimmer?

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Yes, I am João.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Just trying to think outside the box.

Today's test results:

KH: 7.15 dKH
NO3: 2.5 ppm
PO4: 0.024-0.046 mg/L
Iodide: 0.06 Iodade: < 0.03

Back to normal:

 

[markalot]

Awesome Bulent, the tank is looking just perfect!

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Awesome Bulent, the tank is looking just perfect!

Thank you Mark.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Hi Ed,

Further to my reply to your pm, here are some photos of my sump taken on 4th March 2015:

Note that my tank was set up in March 2012. So, non-existence of any filter feeders in the sump is hardly impressive.

A year after starting to dose KZ Sponge Power and Bacto balance, the same section of the sump looked like this two days ago:

There are some more sponge photos from the second and third chambers of my sump:

 

[Big E]

That's interesting............in the past I've attributed most of my good sponge growth due to mainly darkenss in the sumps............I've never had heavy flow through either which a lot of filter feeders like.

My frag tank sump is in a tub versus an acrylic/glass sump and there are all kinds of colored sponges in it. My display sump see's some ambient light and only the white sponge grows in the shaded areas.

The yellow type is the most prominent as in your pictures.

My frag tank is double zeros P04-N03..........it's a pia. I think I'll try to run skimmerless and maybe experiment with the sponge power.

I remember Steve Tyree pushing those cryptic zone filters,but they never caught on.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

You are right about "mainly darkness in the sumps". There are two different types of sponges in the last picture above. Notice that the yellow one is underneath the rock, whereas the white one is at the top. There is history behind it. I used to keep chaeto in my sump, which was very bright due to cheato lights. Despite that the yellow sponge grew albeit very slowly, but there was no white sponge on the same rock. I removed chaeto on 7th March 2015 and started to dose Bacto-Balance and then KZ Sponge Power. Due to darkness and additional filter feeding food introduced to the water column, the growth of the yellow sponge accelerated and white sponges started to appear almost everywhere, but mainly in areas where water flow is fast.

You are also right about "filter feeders like [the heavy flow]". I feel that the same applies to sponges. Notice that sponge growth on the live rock shown in the second picture from the bottom is in the form of "strands" as opposed to a big mass. This is because the water flow in this section of the sump is quite slow, especially from middle to bottom (this is why my Sera Siporax box is in this section). I tried to keep giant feather duster worms in the same section for a while. One of them died quite quickly. I had to move the rest to the display tank.

It will be interesting to see if you will get any feather dusters and/or barnacles if you stop using your skimmer. I notice that there is a greater number of them in the first chamber of my sump compared to the other chambers. Is it because of the oxygenation provided by the skimmer or fast water flow due to the fact that water from the display tank drains into this chamber? Probably both.

 

[glaukos]

Cool pics bulent,tank looks amazing:beer:

 

[Piper27]

Love the tank, and also the sponge and filter feeder life! I love looking at thoes parts of systems. I see the white sponge growing all over the insides of my overflows and they get decent light. I find that white branching sponge grows long like that no matter where it is but it does shorten up when in a decent flow.

 

[aggie13reef]

Bülent,
Your tank shots always blow me away. As a fellow 65 G reefer your tank gives me something to strive for! I feel I need more flow in mine and I see you have 3 powerheads mounted on the left side of the tank. Where is your 4th located and what would you recommend for a tank with a center overflow? I currently have a Jebao RW-8 and I had a Koralia nano that broke on me 2 days ago. The rw-8 is almost on its lowest setting so I may pick up one more of those and ramp them both up.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Cool pics bulent,tank looks amazing:beer:

Thanks Mike.

Love the tank, and also the sponge and filter feeder life! I love looking at thoes parts of systems. I see the white sponge growing all over the insides of my overflows and they get decent light. I find that white branching sponge grows long like that no matter where it is but it does shorten up when in a decent flow.

Thank you. It is nice to talk about different parts of a reef tank that contribute to its overall health and vitality. They are often overlooked. Thanks for sharing your experience with sponges.

Bülent,
Your tank shots always blow me away. As a fellow 65 G reefer your tank gives me something to strive for! I feel I need more flow in mine and I see you have 3 powerheads mounted on the left side of the tank. Where is your 4th located and what would you recommend for a tank with a center overflow? I currently have a Jebao RW-8 and I had a Koralia nano that broke on me 2 days ago. The rw-8 is almost on its lowest setting so I may pick up one more of those and ramp them both up.

Thanks for your compliment Nick. This is very kind of you. I actually have five pumps, four Tunze 6055s with 6095 housings and one Tunze 6025. As you saw, there are 3 Tunzes (2 X Tunze 6055 and Tunze 6025) on the left and two on the right (2 X Tunze 605). Because my tank is shallow I can get good flow in the middle. Cross currents that meet in the middle crush onto each other and create some sort of vortex.

Do you have a mixed tank or SPS tank? I feel that a Koralia nano, which I used to have, is not appropriate for a tank like yours and mine though it may be used to create flow under rocks or something. However, its overall application is limited. You can consider getting another pump, as you suggested, and make both pumps face each other. I generally like multi-directional pumps because by directing their flow to water surface or tank walls you can create very strong but at the same time low velocity water flow.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I completed tube changes yesterday and went back to what I had previously (3B+, 2C+, P+, Actinic, ABS). I tried a C+ instead of ABS, but due to lack of green peak, tank looked a little subdued ambient wise. Furthermore, without the actinic, my M. monaseriata lacked that special "shine" I am used to (It is difficult to capture it in photos). In the end, I compromised growth in favour of ambient look of corals. I will have one more experiment to do. I will swap P+ with C+, but in this scenario both C+ and ABS will be next to each other. Anyway, here are two photos I took under the new tubes (Combination: front B+ C+ Actinic ABS P+ B+ C+ B+ back):

Water flow is so strong that sand at the front of the tank moves. I had to rearrange the sand to take the second picture.

 

[aggie13reef]

Thanks for your compliment Nick. This is very kind of you. I actually have five pumps, four Tunze 6055s with 6095 housings and one Tunze 6025. As you saw, there are 3 Tunzes (2 X Tunze 6055 and Tunze 6025) on the left and two on the right (2 X Tunze 605). Because my tank is shallow I can get good flow in the middle. Cross currents that meet in the middle crush onto each other and create some sort of vortex.

Do you have a mixed tank or SPS tank? I feel that a Koralia nano, which I used to have, is not appropriate for a tank like yours and mine though it may be used to create flow under rocks or something. However, its overall application is limited. You can consider getting another pump, as you suggested, and make both pumps face each other. I generally like multi-directional pumps because by directing their flow to water surface or tank walls you can create very strong but at the same time low velocity water flow.

My tank is mixed, I would say 75% SPS and 25% LPS. Thank you for the suggestions. I will try a larger pump on the opposite side of the tank as my rw-8 and see what happens. Thank you again for the advice! and the pictures following the bulb replacement look great!

 

[clar29]

Tank looks great. I'm in the process of changing my tubes and I may add a actinic in to the mix. I see you have three Angels have you had any problems with aggression. I have a established Lamarck and would like to add a swallowtail and maybe one other.
Thanks Kevin.