My Bacteria Driven Journey

[Tswifty]

Wow tank is lookin better and better.

Thank you.

I think you need an army of emerald crabs!

I've tried a few before, but I always seem to end up with only 1.

Tswift witch brand of aa do you use?

As mentioned, I'm using the Brightwell Aquatics CoralAmino. I ordered it from Salty Critter

Well I'm on the bandwagon now. Been dosing MB7 for 2 weeks now and start the vodka tomorrow. Tank is a 140 with approx. 100lbs of rock. 75g sump. There is very little gha in the tank, no bubble or turf algae and the dinos are all but gone. Tank is basically a 140 gal. frag tank right now. Did some testing last night and here is what I came up with.

Ca. 500
Alk. 8.0
Mg, 1400
No3 15-20:twitch:
Po4 .25

Not to bad other than the nitrates. Po4 definetly needs to come down also.
Tank had been sitting idle for about 18 mos. with no lights over it. Basically was on a slow cook gettin the you know what skimmed out of it. Skimmer got to where it wouldn't pull anything out of it. My wife likes fish so I have a few more than I would prefer but hey she's into it now hook, line and sinker. Have 4 tangs, all small and some other small ones. African Blenny, gobi and black chromis. Some turbo, cerith and astrea snails, and blue leg crabs. Need to get her to learn they won't starve if she doesn't feed 3 times a day.:lolspin:
In the past I did the Blue Coral Method (papone) with great results. Lost that tank due to a power outage:furious: That was almost more than I could stand, almost.

Have 800w of Reeflux 12k in Lumenbrights and electronic ballast. New Cone skimmer and we're of to the races.
Only have about 20-25 frags going right now. Not sure we will be adding much more. Well maybe a few more, 6 or 10. Want to let them grow out real well.
We'll see where this journey leads us

Sorry to hear about your loss. A backup power system is one of those things you never think about until it's too late. I too am guilty of this. It's getting towards the winter here now, so I need to get moving on implementing some type of at least temporary solution at the very least.

It sounds like a very nice setup you have going there. Be sure to take pictures as you progress. It's really amazing looking back at where the tank was when I started, and where it is now.

Congrats on starting your journey, and good luck!

 

[Robert Patterso]

Thanks! Think I'm off to a pretty good start. First dose of vodka went in today along with the low dose of MB7.

 

[chercm]

any one tried with bio digest ?

 

[Tswifty]

A pic I really liked of my Blue Tort from today:

 

[cobra2326]

Didn't you add an algae-eating critter at some point (sea hare)? Do you think that helped more than the Vodka/MB7? I'm still torn in the debate about whether low nutrients alone will keep problem algae at bay, so just looking for opinions...

 

[Reefer08]

I agree with everyone else on here, dose more MB7! Keep an eye out for brown slime though and reduce as necessary

 

[boret]

Great progress Tswifty!!
I took the liberty to bundle your pictures together into a couple of animated GIF files to better see the progress.
Here they are:

 

[saltygeek]

Wow, thats pretty cool boret. You can actually see the coral growing. I cant believe how well the bubble algae took over.

 

[rsuplido]

Just to join in, here's my 30g after 3 months of dosing vodka. I have the same birds of paradise birdsnest (middle to the right of idaho grape cap) but it's polyps are quite thick compared to Tswifty. I don't have any GHA or bubble algae problems though.

 

[Tswifty]

Didn't you add an algae-eating critter at some point (sea hare)? Do you think that helped more than the Vodka/MB7? I'm still torn in the debate about whether low nutrients alone will keep problem algae at bay, so just looking for opinions...

Yes, I added a Sea Hare a while back, but really don't think it made any noticeable impact on the GHA. With how much of it there was in the tank, and how quickly/the way is died off, I feel that the Vodka/MB7 was primarily responsible for my results.

I agree with everyone else on here, dose more MB7! Keep an eye out for brown slime though and reduce as necessary

I'm going to sit down tomorrow, and try and figure out what my next course of action is going to be. The corals are really starting to color up and many are starting to post consistent noticeable growth now, so I'm not sure if I want to reduce the AminoAcid dosing. So I may increase my Vodka dose. I also need to test the water before I make any decisions.

Great progress Tswifty!!
I took the liberty to bundle your pictures together into a couple of animated GIF files to better see the progress.
Here they are:

Thanks... that's awesome!

Wow, thats pretty cool boret. You can actually see the coral growing. I cant believe how well the bubble algae took over.

Yeah, it's a little odd to see how it exploded in just 2 weeks. However, I am happy with the reduction in all the other types of nuisance algae. I have a little bit of the Maroon Turf Algae here and there, but the majority of it has been eradicated.

I'm going to take some time tonight or tomorrow to try and manually remove as much as possible. At this point I'm just thrilled that the color is returning to many of my corals, and will keep plugging away at the algae.

Just to join in, here's my 30g after 3 months of dosing vodka. I have the same birds of paradise birdsnest (middle to the right of idaho grape cap) but it's polyps are quite thick compared to Tswifty. I don't have any GHA or bubble algae problems though.

Very nice! The tank looks great. :thumbsup:

I wrestled with my Bird's of Paradise for a LONG time until I was finally able to get the stubby polyp look to it. I really was disappointed with how it looked when you couldn't see the skin. I finally was able to get the look I wanted with it in high flow... I have it sitting in PAR of around 200-300 as well.

Here are some older pics:

 

[rsuplido]

Thanks! I actually like the look of your BoP, with the green skin showing. Mine is rounder and you can't see much green. it's been growing (really fast) for more than a month now so I hope I see more green in the future. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Tswifty]

Thanks, I'm very happy with how it's beginning to look. As you noticed, it grows extremely fast. I really stunted the growth of mine, because I used to knock it off the rocks and accidentally frag it all the time when cleaning the acrylic. I have it oriented in a position now so I don't bump into it as much, and have noticed the growth rate beginning to increase again.

 

[Tswifty]

Well... one thing led to another, and even though I wasn't planning on it... After about 2 or 3 hours I ended up with this.

The pile is 7" in diameter and 3" tall! :lol:

 

[jennmac415]

YUM.... just throw in some other salad fixins, a little light vinagrette and you have a bubble algae salad...:lolspin:

 

[Dejavu]

This thread has be voted as November's ThOTM.

Congratulations! :celeb3:

 

[plyle02]

Tswifty,
I do not know the impacts of running gfo with the system, but I will let you know how it goes... I have the exact same issue with the system as you, no more hair, awesome colors, but a ton of bubble algae, to the point I think it has started to invade the corals space. So, here is what I did...
Cut my mb7 and vodka in 1/2.
I am running a small amount(5tspn) of BW's PhosphatR in a reactor that then goes through another reactor with BW's Active Carbon
I am also adding Phospate-E which is a liquid at 15 drops per day.

Results so far...
Day 1. The bubble algae has gone from bright green to a clear or whitish look, obviously dieing. My thoughts are that the mb7 and vodka used at the measurements to rid this particular nuissance algae causes my corals to react negatively, with some corals becoming very light in color with much less PE, obvious signs of irratation. A couple of weeks back, I upped the dose, upset with the bubble algae, and noticed 2 milis and an acro nearly bleached. I cut back to lower dosages, and have allowed more nutrients in the tank, only to see the bubble algae proliferate at an alarming rate. Now the colors are returning and glowing, great PE, with no signs of adverse effects on any coral in the tank. I know running gfo and phosphate remover is not recommended in running this system, but something had to give. I will keep you updated. I have manually pruned as well, only to see it return just a few short days later.
Thanks,

 

[Tswifty]

Water Parameters from today, it's been a LONG time since I charted them, but have been testing from time to time during that gap in the chart.

My Alkalinity shifted to the high side, however I think that is from performing a larger than normal water change with Red Sea Coral Pro Salt (all I had on hand). If I remember correctly, I was getting batches with a 13 dKH alkalinity or something. Anyway, I'm going to test again later this evening, and if it's still running high, I'll skip one or two of my dosing programs until I can bring it back into check (around 8.6 dKH).

I'm going to be dosing Calcium up to around the 450-460 ppm range as well, and will need to modify my dosing program a bit to compensate for the increased draw.

Magnesium is holding nicely with the current dosing program.

I also dosed the tank with a 5ml Microbacter 7 dosage to compensate for any bacteria that was removed during the water change, and moved my Vodka dosing to 3.0 ml today as well. Hopefully I'll be able to update the thread with a "post bubble algae maintenance" FTS later.

 

[Tswifty]

YUM.... just throw in some other salad fixins, a little light vinagrette and you have a bubble algae salad...:lolspin:

:lol: :rollface: :lol:

Tswifty,
I do not know the impacts of running gfo with the system, but I will let you know how it goes... I have the exact same issue with the system as you, no more hair, awesome colors, but a ton of bubble algae, to the point I think it has started to invade the corals space. So, here is what I did...
Cut my mb7 and vodka in 1/2.
I am running a small amount(5tspn) of BW's PhosphatR in a reactor that then goes through another reactor with BW's Active Carbon
I am also adding Phospate-E which is a liquid at 15 drops per day.

Results so far...
Day 1. The bubble algae has gone from bright green to a clear or whitish look, obviously dieing. My thoughts are that the mb7 and vodka used at the measurements to rid this particular nuissance algae causes my corals to react negatively, with some corals becoming very light in color with much less PE, obvious signs of irratation. A couple of weeks back, I upped the dose, upset with the bubble algae, and noticed 2 milis and an acro nearly bleached. I cut back to lower dosages, and have allowed more nutrients in the tank, only to see the bubble algae proliferate at an alarming rate. Now the colors are returning and glowing, great PE, with no signs of adverse effects on any coral in the tank. I know running gfo and phosphate remover is not recommended in running this system, but something had to give. I will keep you updated. I have manually pruned as well, only to see it return just a few short days later.
Thanks,

I believe Sonny runs GFO on his system after performing his monthly water change. However, I do not remember how long he runs it for.

As you're noticing, it's definitely a balancing act when working with this type of system and all the different additives. The key is finding that perfect dose for each part which brings everything into balance. The tough part is that all our systems vary so much, that there is no "absolute" chart/dosage out there. Besides if there was an "absolute" solution, everyone would be doing it... and what would be the fun in that! :lol:

Keep us posted on your results, and good luck!

 

[Tswifty]

This thread has be voted as November's ThOTM.

Congratulations! :celeb3:

Wow! That's great! Thanks everyone for voting!

:beer:

 

[Taqpol]

I believe Sonny runs GFO on his system after performing his monthly water change. However, I do not remember how long he runs it for.

I don't want to presume to answer for Sunny, but i do remember this part because I thought it was really interesting. He runs GFO on the water he's about to perform a water change with, in whatever mixing vessel he uses, before he adds it to the tank.