my house reef (211 g.)
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
TryTheChi
Member
Well it does depend
Iwan posted up a 14 day turnarround a few pages ago, my pink hystrix took 6 weeks but it does depend on nutrient levels stability, type of sps etc etc. From my experience, I would suggest that if you see no benefits at all in 3 months either your tank is running perfectly anyways or there is something funamendaly flawed in some aspect of the reef that needs identifying and fixing.
Cheers
SImon
reefsahoy
I can see thru you!
do any of you hobbiest use ocean collected water or do you mostly use use salt mix/ro. obviously that questions are for those living near the ocean. i can't seem to figure out why my sps corals are not coloring up. i use ocean water because i live in florida near the ocean and water is collected by a local lfs at high tide when water is rushing to shore. i do 10% change once every 7 to 10 days, i measure all my parameters and are as follows.
cal 450
phos 0
alk 8.3 dkh
nitrate 0
amonia 0
sg 1.024
ph 8.2
temp range 78- 80 depending on time of year
i run 6 t5's about 10 hrs a day and the bulbs are only 2 months old, have a skimmer but it's rated for 65 gals. I'm looking to get a bigger skimmer because i have to wipe my glass every 3 to 4 days and not sure if it's due to underskimming or what. i figure my parameters are good so i'm unsure if getting a bigger skimmer will do any good and can't decide what to do. i also add kent coral accel and other kent products sparingly cause i figure food is in the water change. The coral also display Polyp extension too. Some of the acros have been in the tank for 3 months and no change. some of the monti's have colored up nicely but for the most part the sps are mostly brown or have lost some color since adding it to the tank. i do have some lfs, frogspawn, mushrooms, xenias (growing like mad), zoo's, pearl bubble.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
cal 450
phos 0
alk 8.3 dkh
nitrate 0
amonia 0
sg 1.024
ph 8.2
temp range 78- 80 depending on time of year
i run 6 t5's about 10 hrs a day and the bulbs are only 2 months old, have a skimmer but it's rated for 65 gals. I'm looking to get a bigger skimmer because i have to wipe my glass every 3 to 4 days and not sure if it's due to underskimming or what. i figure my parameters are good so i'm unsure if getting a bigger skimmer will do any good and can't decide what to do. i also add kent coral accel and other kent products sparingly cause i figure food is in the water change. The coral also display Polyp extension too. Some of the acros have been in the tank for 3 months and no change. some of the monti's have colored up nicely but for the most part the sps are mostly brown or have lost some color since adding it to the tank. i do have some lfs, frogspawn, mushrooms, xenias (growing like mad), zoo's, pearl bubble.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
TryTheChi
Member
Re seawater - I'v no experience - but its got to be perfect IF there are no organic or other pollutants. Have you tested for no3 /po4/silicates? Is it filtered through micron material to extract any material that may be dead by the time it reaches your tank? Brown coloration usually indicates higher than ideal organics - so its either the water, the filtration or a combo of both that need to be investigated.
The whole thread focuses on improving coloration - Iwan has taken his reef from an ordinary reef to an unsurpassed reef so the suggestion would be to try the 'Iwan method' - its pritty well documented here.
The extent to which it can be replicated by others, to Iwan's standard will be shown in time but there are some pritty good photos from others here.
From th einfo you provide, another couple of T5s maybe a good idea.
Have you any specific Qs about how to go about how to implementing the approach?
Cheers
Simon
mikeatjac
Active member
IMO, the best SPS tank are not mixed with LPS or softies. I too live next to the ocean (Jacksonville Florida) and have tried ocean water. I collected it only when I was more than 15 miles offshore. However I am now prefer to make my own.
My experiance with Xenia is if it is growing then you are not exporting enough or putting to much in the tank. So...... if xenias can grow like mad in your tank, something is wrong.
My experiance with Xenia is if it is growing then you are not exporting enough or putting to much in the tank. So...... if xenias can grow like mad in your tank, something is wrong.
if xenias can grow like mad in your tank, something is wrong. ?
what an uneducated thing to say. I am being nice and not saying what I really want to about this statement. don't both hard corals and soft corals share the same water? maybe one takes waves better than the other but then thats why they have hard skeletons.
many people kill xenia because of poor water. xenia is actually a very good indicator coral were it will show signs before some other corals that something is wrong.
what an uneducated thing to say. I am being nice and not saying what I really want to about this statement. don't both hard corals and soft corals share the same water? maybe one takes waves better than the other but then thats why they have hard skeletons.
many people kill xenia because of poor water. xenia is actually a very good indicator coral were it will show signs before some other corals that something is wrong.
My experience has been that xenia only survive when the nutrient level is high and when that level drops down to that which best supports SPS they die off.
There are people that use xenia as a nutrient export, much like macro algae.
Put some in a fuge, let it grow like mad then trim it back.
There are people that use xenia as a nutrient export, much like macro algae.
Put some in a fuge, let it grow like mad then trim it back.
mikeatjac
Active member
Sorry I was not clear in my original post. It has been my experiance with Xenia that they do best in a tank that has a higher nutrient level than SPS prefer. When I started reducing my nutrient levels my xenia slowly disappeared.
So my statement should have stated that in IMO if you are growing xenia in your tank, your nutrient level is too high.
There are several sources that will back this up. Anthony Calfo books for one. Actually, Xenia have been found growing on sewage pipes where SPS would not survive.
Thanks for clearing this up Jeff and Chris.
Mike
So my statement should have stated that in IMO if you are growing xenia in your tank, your nutrient level is too high.
There are several sources that will back this up. Anthony Calfo books for one. Actually, Xenia have been found growing on sewage pipes where SPS would not survive.
Thanks for clearing this up Jeff and Chris.
Mike
yeah I am sure we could debate this for a very long time. especially were authors get there info. most of us probably feed enough to keep it alive though. I have always kept a good portion of xenia even back in the day when I used zeo for a little while. if it does die off I will be sure to report back and let everyone know. sorry if I took it wrong I should sometimes bite my tongue.
reefsahoy
I can see thru you!
i still don't get it. I have good readings as noted above unless there is something that i am overlooking or i/we cannot measure with the kits available. Yes, I've heard and read that xenias need nutrient in the water to thrive but as i've measured everthing looks good as far as sps requirement. so if the measurements are right then the nutrients are low to unmeasureable, so i would think there might be something else. I'm not discounting there might be some nutrient we can't measure but could there be possibly be something else?
Aussie Koi
New member
Hi Iwan
Thank you very much for a long but very imformative thread, thanks for spending the time. It has taken roughly 20 hours over two days to get to this point! I have visited your web site many times before finding this thread however (cant speak or read Swiss German though).
Your tank is inspirational and the best acro tank I have ever seen and even though I live on the door step to the Great Barrier Reef have never seen such a variety of colour and species.
Australia has very strict importation rules and I cant just order the products you use over the net and hope that a local company gets import permits soon. In the interim I am going hunting for similar products that are available here and give my mixed reef what it has been missing up to now.
I also use a DSB in my tank (Seachem merdian and then pearly shores on top of that to keep the fine meridian in place) as this makes "sense" to me but it is only on average 80mm deep. Do you think this is enough or should I look at going deeper? I think one of your secrets is the DSB has the surface area to colonise the bacteria you introduce (and then feed and maintain)????
Thanks again and just once more fabalous tank Iwan.
Regards
Tim (Australia)
PS Simon thanks for the points and tables!!!
Thank you very much for a long but very imformative thread, thanks for spending the time. It has taken roughly 20 hours over two days to get to this point! I have visited your web site many times before finding this thread however (cant speak or read Swiss German though).
Your tank is inspirational and the best acro tank I have ever seen and even though I live on the door step to the Great Barrier Reef have never seen such a variety of colour and species.
Australia has very strict importation rules and I cant just order the products you use over the net and hope that a local company gets import permits soon. In the interim I am going hunting for similar products that are available here and give my mixed reef what it has been missing up to now.
I also use a DSB in my tank (Seachem merdian and then pearly shores on top of that to keep the fine meridian in place) as this makes "sense" to me but it is only on average 80mm deep. Do you think this is enough or should I look at going deeper? I think one of your secrets is the DSB has the surface area to colonise the bacteria you introduce (and then feed and maintain)????
Thanks again and just once more fabalous tank Iwan.
Regards
Tim (Australia)
PS Simon thanks for the points and tables!!!
