My Acro Nursery

[chercm]

Ahmed,

The Zeo supplements I am using are as follows. It will seem complicated and intimidating, but its really easy once its organized and calendered. All the supplement doses are broken up into different days. As I mentioned before, some of the supplements are being dosed because I bought them and will probably not be replaced once exhausted (ie. Flatworm Stop, Coral Booster, Coral Snow, a few others.) Some supplements im just not 100% sure about. I feed a mixture of 3ml Oyster Feast + Pellets, flakes, Reef Chili, Cyclopeeze daily.

3% water change weekly with Red Sea Pro
500ml carbon exchanged monthly
Zeolite Rocks: 2000L Total (1000L x 2 in filter socks in sump. 1000L exchanged every 10 weeks)
Zeostart: 1.5 ml every 2 days
Zeobak: 8 drops every 3 days
Zeofood7: 8 drops every 4 days
Coral Vitalizer: 8 drops every 2 days
Sponge Power: 8 drops every 3 days
AA: 5 drops every 4 days
KIF Concentrate: 5 drops every 4 days
Eisen: 5 drops weekly
Jod komplex: 5 drops weekly
K-Balance: 4ml every 3 days
Xtra/Xtra Special:4ml alternating every 2 days
B-Balance: 5ml every 4 days
Mag Compex: 6ml every 3 days
Flatworm Stop+Coral Booster: 4ml +2ml every 4 days
Macroelements: 3ml weekly
Strontium Komplex: 6ml weekly
2 tablespoons Kalk powder every 4 days in reactor
1 tablespoon Calcium powder every 3 days

pardon me to ask , i thought Zeostart is to be dosed every day and is 10 weeks too long for zeolite ?

 

[chercm]

question : i thought coral snow is pretty useful , any reason can you share please ?

 

[maoiwowie]

Thank you chercm. When I began Zeo, I started by using a fraction of what they recommended in their guide. I was inexperienced and was terrified of overdosing. I also was dosing vodka/vinegar so the slow transition to Zeo helped reduce the shock of changing things too fast. I always thought of Zeostart as a carbon source like vodka so I began my dosing i believe every third day to start and stopped my vodka dose for that day. Overtime this schedule moved to every other day alternating with vodka and continues to this day; although I do have plans to stop vodka completely soon. I dont think I need it anymore as my tank nutrients are very low and my vodka additions are only 3 ml every other day as compared to when it was at 12 ml a day at its height.

My use of Zeolites is also different from what they recommend. I use 2000L total, but I exchange 1000L every 10 weeks so those 1000L have actually been cycling for 20 weeks. I also no longer use a reactor and can recommend to others that want to try zeolites to not even bother with a reactor. Put it in a sack as you would GAC and put it in the sump. I hand shake the bag every other day or when I remember to do so. Zeolites might not make a bad substrate for your sump. I see no difference when changing zeolites earlier or later. As your tank's nutrients decrease, your zeolites will last longer.

I only dosed Coral Snow, Zeozym, and Biomate when I had an algae problem. Even when I did use those products I was never sure what it did except cloud the tank. These products did not stop the algae from growing nor did they keep crap off my rocks. I hope this helps!

 

[chercm]

I see that you do not have a sand bed . A lot of us are trying so hard to keep a white one but none was able to as it will always have brown algae growing even though the no3 and po4 are 0

 

[chercm]

i am on the fence on whether to change to Fauna Marin and there is much lesser bottles to use

 

[maoiwowie]

I used to have a sand bed but now im bare bottom and probably wont go back. Its a matter of aesthetics and I guess for some burrowing fish, but its a crap sink for sure. All the zeo bottles make it intimidating and seem complicated but it's not. Takes no more than 5 minutes a day to complete the dosing and no need to pump a reactor.

 

[Grandlotus]

We want more pictures!!!

 

[Reefvet]

Pearlberry update

Nice growth but it's pretty hard to judge the color because the latest shots have a completely different white balance.

Have you changed bulbs ?

 

[chercm]

I used to have a sand bed but now im bare bottom and probably wont go back. Its a matter of aesthetics and I guess for some burrowing fish, but its a crap sink for sure. All the zeo bottles make it intimidating and seem complicated but it's not. Takes no more than 5 minutes a day to complete the dosing and no need to pump a reactor.

have you considered to change to Fauna Marin?

 

[maoiwowie]

Havent looked into Fauna Marin. The last photos were taken under the XM15Ks with T5 actinics; the combination give an almost Radium like look.

 

[maoiwowie]

My OT. Slow grower. This series starts from march of 2014 until today. It stn'd on me about 3 months in from the day I got it; from there it browned. Over the past 6 months it has slowly recovered color, but growth is still very slow.

 

[maoiwowie]

This is the view over my 40g with 250w Radium bulb frag tank. I keep my three largest pieces along with those M. Caps. My youngest frags are also scattered underneath the large colonies. The colony in the center top has grown to the top of the water line.

 

[markalot]

The tort is gorgeous, one day I shall have one.

In the shot above, the big colony, is that a Miami Orchid or similar?

 

[maoiwowie]

Mark, that is the large piece I posted earlier, a Rainbow Granulosa. Its gonna start making a small atoll soon.

 

[markalot]

Beautiful.

 

[Goldtorch]

What is atoll

 

[maoiwowie]

A small ring shaped island made from a growing coral reef.

 

[Reefvet]

Have you given any thought to how much difference the calcium reactor makes in the color of your frags ?

Are you dosing Mag or just relying on the CR ?

What is atoll

Atoll

 

[maoiwowie]

Reefvet - I have always used a CR with Kalk additions and never two part or anything like that. I do supplement with Magnesium Komplex every 3 days. I have used Tech-M in the past as well. Compared with two-part dosing, its superior in that the drip is constant, and you get trace elements from dissolving old corals rather than the purity found with two part. The CR keeps the calcium, KH, mag, and other trace elements stable which ultimately helps with color. Once its dialed in, its almost set it and forget it. I do purge the chamber of extra CO2 regularly. The only drawback with my dual chambered CR is that it might be getting too small for all the sps now.

 

[DavidinGA]

What a epic bucket of fail you are as a hobbyists.





Said no one ever...