Not a typical doctor's waiting room... 450 gallon reef
- Thread starter KingfishJohn
- Start date
Dudester
Premium Member
Thanks for the positive comments everyone. Sorry the color isn't true, it looks much better in person. I'll need to bribe Gabriel again to come out and get some new shots.
I've gotta leave town so I don't have time to address everyone's comments individually, but again thanks to all of you and I'm glad you like the tank's progress.
GSMguy - I'll definitely be taking several frags from this tank for my home tank, but not most of them. I don't want to replicate this tank at home, I want them each to have their own unique personalitity.
Leonardo - Thanks for your compliment, means a lot coming from the king of stags!
I've gotta leave town so I don't have time to address everyone's comments individually, but again thanks to all of you and I'm glad you like the tank's progress.
GSMguy - I'll definitely be taking several frags from this tank for my home tank, but not most of them. I don't want to replicate this tank at home, I want them each to have their own unique personalitity.
Leonardo - Thanks for your compliment, means a lot coming from the king of stags!
Raskolnikov06
New member
Mr.john what is the glass thickness?
KingfishJohn
New member
Whoa all kinds of activity on my thread! Thanks for taking some pics Mike and getting them up here to at least slightly represent how the tank looks now 
Let's see what information for now...
Added a Klein's butterfly to control a serious aptasia outbreak. I was using peppermint shrimp but they can no longer come out as the blue throat triggers will snack on them. The Klein's did an AMAZING job wiping out the aptasia and is a model citizen so far.
I'm still dosing a modified concoction of Zeo products. We had what I consider to be a bad outbreak of cyano on the sandbed, then the Deltec skimmer went down (due to a faulty ball valve... then I made the problem worse) and the cyano went away within days. Very weird...
As for what's coming, I've never been happy with this tanks water clarity so I'm going to work to improve that with UV, ozone, or a combo of both. We'll also be installing a frag tank at some point to house Mike's coral assortment. I also don't like the return system and am going to swap the dart for a pressure rated sequence and feed the skimmer with a seperate Eheim.
Sorry to not have updated this thread I'm working on getting a photographer out to the tank to take pics for our forthcoming website and will share all of those with you.
Also be on the lookout for a new 1100 gallon reef that I'm just installing now :eek2:
Thanks everyone for your praise,
John
Let's see what information for now...
Added a Klein's butterfly to control a serious aptasia outbreak. I was using peppermint shrimp but they can no longer come out as the blue throat triggers will snack on them. The Klein's did an AMAZING job wiping out the aptasia and is a model citizen so far.
I'm still dosing a modified concoction of Zeo products. We had what I consider to be a bad outbreak of cyano on the sandbed, then the Deltec skimmer went down (due to a faulty ball valve... then I made the problem worse) and the cyano went away within days. Very weird...
As for what's coming, I've never been happy with this tanks water clarity so I'm going to work to improve that with UV, ozone, or a combo of both. We'll also be installing a frag tank at some point to house Mike's coral assortment. I also don't like the return system and am going to swap the dart for a pressure rated sequence and feed the skimmer with a seperate Eheim.
Sorry to not have updated this thread I'm working on getting a photographer out to the tank to take pics for our forthcoming website and will share all of those with you.
Also be on the lookout for a new 1100 gallon reef that I'm just installing now :eek2:
Thanks everyone for your praise,
John
melev
Well-known member
Hey John, can you take a look at Lunchbucket's build thread and see if he needs to support his plumbing? I remembered you discussing that earlier in this thread. He's got a number of pictures on the last couple of pages.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1367495&goto=lastpost
Keep up the good work with Mike's tank. I'm looking forward to seeing it in person again one day. When you do get the photographer over to his office, do it after sunset so he/she won't have to deal with all the ambient light and reflections.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1367495&goto=lastpost
Keep up the good work with Mike's tank. I'm looking forward to seeing it in person again one day. When you do get the photographer over to his office, do it after sunset so he/she won't have to deal with all the ambient light and reflections.
KingfishJohn
New member
Mark,
I have not turned on an ozone or UV unit but I will be very soon. I don't think it will affect the tank negatively for two reasons:
1. I'm not using the actual 4 part bacterial system, I'm just using the color enhancing additives.
2. I work really hard to size a UV appropriately for a reef tank AND drive it with the correct amount of flow.
http://www.aquaultraviolet.com/instructions/ultravioletuvchart.pdf
That is the UV sizing chart I use and stick to the 30,000 to 45,000 range for a reef tank. For this tank I'll probably take it down even further and just use a 25w unit and put it on the skimmer intake.
Other Marc
,
I'll go check out that thread now. Come on back down and see it after I get a chance to install all of these fun new toys. Aaron's tank is definitely worth seeing again too!
I have not turned on an ozone or UV unit but I will be very soon. I don't think it will affect the tank negatively for two reasons:
1. I'm not using the actual 4 part bacterial system, I'm just using the color enhancing additives.
2. I work really hard to size a UV appropriately for a reef tank AND drive it with the correct amount of flow.
http://www.aquaultraviolet.com/instructions/ultravioletuvchart.pdf
That is the UV sizing chart I use and stick to the 30,000 to 45,000 range for a reef tank. For this tank I'll probably take it down even further and just use a 25w unit and put it on the skimmer intake.
Other Marc
,I'll go check out that thread now. Come on back down and see it after I get a chance to install all of these fun new toys. Aaron's tank is definitely worth seeing again too!
KingfishJohn
New member
I hear you on drain feeding anything
I'm actually curious as to what a UV inline with a skimmer will produce. I'd think that if you kill an algal cell then inject it immediately into a skimmer it will float and be skimmed out?
I'm actually curious as to what a UV inline with a skimmer will produce. I'd think that if you kill an algal cell then inject it immediately into a skimmer it will float and be skimmed out?
ReefEnabler
Premium Member
I am curious what the "color enhancing" zeo additives are.
KingfishJohn
New member
Ryan,
Right now those additives are:
Potassium Iodide Flouride
Sponge Power
Pohl's Xtra
Coral Vitalizer
B Balance
Coral Snow
I may add an iron supplement to the mix to enhance greens as well.
Hope that helps,
John
Right now those additives are:
Potassium Iodide Flouride
Sponge Power
Pohl's Xtra
Coral Vitalizer
B Balance
Coral Snow
I may add an iron supplement to the mix to enhance greens as well.
Hope that helps,
John
ReefEnabler
Premium Member
Thanks John!
Ive actually wondered about that before, if anybody chose to use some of the zeo additives without committing to a full zeo system, so your method intruiges me!
How long have you been using it? did you notice much difference?
Thanks!
Ive actually wondered about that before, if anybody chose to use some of the zeo additives without committing to a full zeo system, so your method intruiges me!
How long have you been using it? did you notice much difference?
Thanks!
KingfishJohn
New member
3 or 4 months on the zeo additives and I can absolutely tell a difference.
What I think people have a problem understanding with zeo (or any other color enhancer) is that your reef needs to be stable and sound BEFORE you start tweaking with color. You can majorly mess corals up with Zeo and never get them back if you overdose.
As an example: Zeospur is an additive that forces corals to shed excess zoanthellae algae which equals less brown and more green/yellow. If you overdose (and it's easy) you're talking the lifeblood of coral away from the source and it's all but impossible to get it back in my experience.
I've come up with some pretty general guidelines for gaining color using the zeo additives but am unsure if it's kosher to post them here. Marc?
John
What I think people have a problem understanding with zeo (or any other color enhancer) is that your reef needs to be stable and sound BEFORE you start tweaking with color. You can majorly mess corals up with Zeo and never get them back if you overdose.
As an example: Zeospur is an additive that forces corals to shed excess zoanthellae algae which equals less brown and more green/yellow. If you overdose (and it's easy) you're talking the lifeblood of coral away from the source and it's all but impossible to get it back in my experience.
I've come up with some pretty general guidelines for gaining color using the zeo additives but am unsure if it's kosher to post them here. Marc?
John
GSMguy
New member
if you have devised a dosing schedule for additives you are welcome to post them here, its not as if we have to buy the additives from you.
Ryan there are lots of people who use the color enhancing stuff from zeo without their Carbon and zeolites.
Chrismunn has great colors using them
Ryan there are lots of people who use the color enhancing stuff from zeo without their Carbon and zeolites.
Chrismunn has great colors using them
Reeftanks6
Active member
Amazing looking tank.
KingfishJohn
New member
Ok then so let me explain what these additives do (to my understanding) and how I dose them.
First in my LPS nano I run an entirely different system. I believe LPS like a tank rich in plankton therefore I run no skimmer, just a cryptic zone and physical filtration (filter pad, carbon).
For this tank I use:
Spongepower: (Food for LPS?, definitely helps tunicates and sponges grow thus helping my cryptic zone)
LPS Amino Acids: Admittedly I have no idea how these differ from normal amino acids but I figure they can't hurt
Pohl's Xtra: A micronutrient blend of coral enhancing nutrients (hah!)... Again I don't know what exactly is in this additive but they definitely work as I've seen enhanced colors across the board
Coral Vitalizer: Plain and simple coral food that does not contribute to phosphate and nitrate (baceria?). I've been told that corals layer this stuff inside them and grow like crazy with it. While I'm not sold on its effects on LPS I am on SPS
For the office tank (SPS dominant) I use the supplements ONCE a week, all at once. The directions call for daily but I see the distinct possibility of overdose with those instructions. I also have seen result with once a week and believe in keeping my hands out of that tank as much as possible.
Coral Snow: This binds phosphate and nitrate and allows corals to soak in the other additives. The best way to describe it is a clay like substance. The skimmer pulls out any excess within about 3-4 hours and it supposedly directly feeds corals as well. DO NOT use this additive without a skimmer and if you are using socks/filter pad as they will clog up instantly.
In the coral snow cup I also combine the Pohl's Xtra and Coral Vitalizer. The idea is that the snow allows the corals to absorb these elements more readily. The Xtra is for color and the Vitalizer is for food/growth.
Sponge Power: Awesome supplement with very visible sponge growth occuring. You can overdose this and screw up a tank although it takes dosing it everyday. Less is more here... 1 drop per 25 gallons WEEKLY
B Balance: Supposedly brings out reds and therefore blues and purples (red is a primary color) but I'd not sold on this one yet. I did see my blues get bluer but it didn't do much to the red milles. I would imagine you could kill alot of coral with this supplement if overdosed.
PIF (Potassium Iodide Flouride): I read somewhere that this helps coral color as well and coral snow helps it to be absorbed. No idea if that is true but an iodine supplement I do believe in so why not?
In conclusion I do believe the SPS combo of supplements I've used has greatly improved coloration and have an idea about which ones have helped me. I still don't have a firm grasp on what some supplements do and am not patient enough to test each one seperately.
There you go, John's Manual to Coral Witchdoctery
First in my LPS nano I run an entirely different system. I believe LPS like a tank rich in plankton therefore I run no skimmer, just a cryptic zone and physical filtration (filter pad, carbon).
For this tank I use:
Spongepower: (Food for LPS?, definitely helps tunicates and sponges grow thus helping my cryptic zone)
LPS Amino Acids: Admittedly I have no idea how these differ from normal amino acids but I figure they can't hurt
Pohl's Xtra: A micronutrient blend of coral enhancing nutrients (hah!)... Again I don't know what exactly is in this additive but they definitely work as I've seen enhanced colors across the board
Coral Vitalizer: Plain and simple coral food that does not contribute to phosphate and nitrate (baceria?). I've been told that corals layer this stuff inside them and grow like crazy with it. While I'm not sold on its effects on LPS I am on SPS
For the office tank (SPS dominant) I use the supplements ONCE a week, all at once. The directions call for daily but I see the distinct possibility of overdose with those instructions. I also have seen result with once a week and believe in keeping my hands out of that tank as much as possible.
Coral Snow: This binds phosphate and nitrate and allows corals to soak in the other additives. The best way to describe it is a clay like substance. The skimmer pulls out any excess within about 3-4 hours and it supposedly directly feeds corals as well. DO NOT use this additive without a skimmer and if you are using socks/filter pad as they will clog up instantly.
In the coral snow cup I also combine the Pohl's Xtra and Coral Vitalizer. The idea is that the snow allows the corals to absorb these elements more readily. The Xtra is for color and the Vitalizer is for food/growth.
Sponge Power: Awesome supplement with very visible sponge growth occuring. You can overdose this and screw up a tank although it takes dosing it everyday. Less is more here... 1 drop per 25 gallons WEEKLY
B Balance: Supposedly brings out reds and therefore blues and purples (red is a primary color) but I'd not sold on this one yet. I did see my blues get bluer but it didn't do much to the red milles. I would imagine you could kill alot of coral with this supplement if overdosed.
PIF (Potassium Iodide Flouride): I read somewhere that this helps coral color as well and coral snow helps it to be absorbed. No idea if that is true but an iodine supplement I do believe in so why not?
In conclusion I do believe the SPS combo of supplements I've used has greatly improved coloration and have an idea about which ones have helped me. I still don't have a firm grasp on what some supplements do and am not patient enough to test each one seperately.
There you go, John's Manual to Coral Witchdoctery
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