"Pappone" or "Blue Coral" method... anyone tried it?

Tswifty

New member
This was mentioned to me the other day when visiting a beautiful SPS tank back here in Pittsburgh. Anyway, it peaked my interest and was wondering if anyone has experience with it, or has tried it out?

The recommended water params were most surprising to me.

pH: 8.5
Ca: 500 ppm
Alk: 12 KH
Mag: 1500 ppm
Iodine: 0.06 ppm
Strontium: 30 ppm

The method also calls for dosing Amino Acids 1 hr prior to adding the Pappone Mix to the tank.

“Pappone” Recipe â€"œ Italian Coral Food (Updated 1/14/2007)

Materials:
5 Oysters
5 Mussels
5 Clams
5 Shrimp (NOT cocktail shrimp, the big scampi type w/o the head and the shell)
1 Tablespoon of Sugar (not corn syrup, etc.)
200 mL of RO/DI water
10 g of Red Algae (Palmaria palmata; Bisck uses Julian Sprung's brand)
and/or 10 g of Spirulina, 10 g of Nori (spirulina is what Bisck prefers)[/I]

Methods: Make SURE that all ingredients are the freshest possible and DO NOT use frozen foods (unless it is impossible for you). Make sure everything "live" is rinsed and cleaned before putting it into the blender. Put all the ingredients into the blender and blend for 5 min, wait 2 min for it to cool, 5 more min blending, 2 min of waiting again, then finally another 5 min of blending (the pausing is so that the solution doesn't get too hot and "cook" from the heat of the blender/blades). Pour into cube forms (approx 10 mL each). Then freeze it allâ€"you want to minimize how long everything is at room temperature.

Procedure: One hour prior to turning off your lights, you have the option of adding Amino acids to the tank*. (For example, 11pm Halides off, add AA’s, 12am, actinics off, then add pappone). Take off the cup of your skimmer, but leave the skimmer running (so you don’t have a massive drop in O2 levels overnight). After the lights are off, start with only a ¼ of a cube per WEEK for every 400 L of tank water (approx 100 gallons). Be sure to measure NO3 and PO4 the next morning so that these parameters don't spike after feeding. You can reduce the amount fed if you are having nutrient problems. Also don’t forget to put the skimmer cup back on the next morning before the lights go back on.

*If everything is going well. It is good to wait and see how the tank is doing for awhile before trying this. The whole point here is that you don't want to change anything too fast, because nothing good happens quickly in this hobby. (Another method to grind up amino acid pills in the next batch of food; however Bisck found that it sometimes causes diatom outbreaks in his tank).


Kind of hard to ignore. The shots of the guys tanks were amazing. Here is the lengthy thread:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=971190
 
I have, IMO I would not use the system. I feed the mixture I made now once or twice a week. It's just to much waste for even a super skimmer to handle IMO.

If his results were common more people would be doing it. When I was running mainly Nonphoto corals in my tank I really like the blended slurry of food.

IF your looking to feed your corals, Buy Nutramar ova , shell fish diet and roti feast.

8.5 for ph is hard to keep, and not all that safe to jump to when your corals are used to 8.0-8.2
 
A few other things I noticed. Most of the guys using halides were using 400w SE lighting w/ 20K spectrum's, and in order to hit that high of a pH, kalkwasser had to be used in combination with a Ca reactor.

Sounds like a lot of work, but I'm planning on giving it a shot once I get a few other questions cleared up.

Oh... and it was pointed out that if you're using a ZEOvit system, you should exclude the sugar portion of the recipe. A few guys tried using it in combination with ZEOvit, and experienced RTN with some of their SPS. Excluding the sugar (carbon source) from the food mix allows it to be used in combination with ZEOvit.
 
There also feeding very mature tanks, with large or GRANDE corals. A tank full of frags can't handle that amount of food. IMO
 
I think I would eat that....lol

My parameters run almost identical to those with the exception of not testing for iodine and strontium.
pH: 8.4
Ca: 480-500
Alk: 12dKh
Mag: 1480
Always used IO, but just switched to Reef crystals. I was curious about the alk at 12, having read that alot of ppl run around 8-10. Is there any negative long term effects to running a higher alk? The salt mixes for me are always that high. I run no skimmer so I don't feed that often anyways. Seems like everything LPS, SPS, softies, clam, fish, and CUC are doing really well. Still a young system, but all are showing signs of growth and color.
 
I always wanted to do this.With Zeo its gets old when I need to monitor and dose my tank daily its turns into a job not a hobby.

TJ does this need to be done on a daily basis with the blue coral method.

Click on my homepage.
 
I'm not familiar with the Zeovit systems other than hearing the name. It seems like if you had enough automated systems in place to keep your levels stable that this would be pretty maintenance free, besides the day/day after you feed the tank and monitor the PO4 and NO3 levels.

I'm hoping to be able to have it run pretty automated, because like you eluded to, I want to be able to sit back and enjoy my tank and not constantly feel like I'm working on it.

I still need to finish reading the article, and get some systems in place on my tank before I try this out. In all reality I'm probably a month or two away from giving it a shot.

I need a few things before I can start:

- Stabilize Ca Reactor system
- Bring Kalk Reactor ATO online
- Purchase Hannah PO4 meter
- Purchase dosing pump for Mag & Supplement
- Purchase additional DC8 or DC4
- Purchase Strontium Test Kit & Supplement
- Purchase Iodine Test Kit & Supplement
- Purchase Seachem Reef Plus Amino Acids

I'll shoot the guy who mentioned it to me a PM, and see if he can help answer your question better. Since he has ran the system, and could offer more accurate reply's.
 
Good luck, I have a brand new Potassium kz test kit if you go the zeovit way if interested. Where are you going to keep us posted (thread).
 
I'll be posting all the details/daily observations on my build thread in the reef discussion forum... but will post a monthly picture update on here.

I need to look into the Amino Acids a little more, I think there are quite a few manufacturers of them now. A lot of people on that thread (who were located in the US) seemed to be using the Seachem Reef Plus Amino Acids, but Elos, Brightwell, Prodibio, and Zeo are also very popular now.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14512782#post14512782 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tswifty
Oh... and it was pointed out that if you're using a ZEOvit system, you should exclude the sugar portion of the recipe. A few guys tried using it in combination with ZEOvit, and experienced RTN with some of their SPS. Excluding the sugar (carbon source) from the food mix allows it to be used in combination with ZEOvit.

That statement above applies to all bac driven systems also from what I got out of it. So if you are doing Zeo, Neo-Zeo, Fauna Marin, Prodibio, or even vodka or vitamin C-dosing you would leave out the sugar.

Those Tanks are Amazing! You can get all the fresh seafood down in the Strip District. I might have to give this a shot for feeding. I was going to make the DIY fish food so I already have the baking pan and egg crate cut out to fit in it and a cheap blender I got at Wal Mart. I have some ZEO AA's also so my only extra cost would be the food and the meter. Jeff has a great price on ZEO, same as if you bought them online from them.

Let me know when you get a Hanna PO4 meter. I'm in the market for one and can split shipping with you if I'm ready when you order.

Who in here in Pgh ran this system?

Thanks,

Paul
 
Correct... Yeah I asked around a little and everyone told me that was the place to go to get the fresh seafood. I wrote down the sizes they referenced as well. I believe they said the shrimp were 1.5-2" and the clams were a little larger than a silver dollar.

Pat ran the system, but I didn't ask all the specifics as far as how long or what all went into it. Sometime before I start the system I'll have to talk to him about it in a little more detail.

I'll let you know when I find a place to order the PO4 meter as well. Like I said though, a month or two is really the earliest I would be able to begin this. I'm just entering my first algae cycle, and would like the whole new tank break in period to be cleared up before I start.
 
I didn't know he ran that? It must have been some time ago. That time frame for the PO4 meter will work for me. I am still trying to order my 150 Marineland cube from Jeff @ Aqua World. Every time I get most of the cash together I get something else I have to dish out a few hundred bucks on around the house and with our second car.

I'm still trying to battle the HA outbreak I had when I killed off all the Bryopsis in my tank. I won't try anything until I get it wiped out any way.
 
Just an FYI for anyone interested in this method. I'm hoping to start this within the next few weeks, and will post a beginning FTS and update it monthly.
 
TJ,
great can't wait to see some results, Great build thread, i may not comment all the time but im always lurking between threads
 
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