Perry's 120 Gallon Reef
- Thread starter plyle02
- Start date
ViktorVaughn
Member
Man what great color you have. In post 121, what is that fuzzy beauty in pic #3?
plyle02
Active member
plyle02
Active member
Nice to see all your corals doing great buddy. Apologies if you've already went over this in your thread, but can you explain your feeding scheme for the tank? Thanks.
Thank You Sahin!
I feed a nice pinch of Spectrum Marine Pellets, 3 times per day, and every 3 days I feed a 1" by 1" slab of Larry's Reef Frenzy frozen food. I also feed cyclopeeze every week, usually before lights go on, this is mainly for my lps, however, I feel the sps may also pick up a bit of extra nutrition too.
plyle02
Active member
plyle02
Active member
Small update:
I decided to pull the chaeto algae from my sump, this will free up my center compartment, I then plan to add a light and make it a frag area. The chaeto was doing well, my colors are coming, but I feel I can achieve even better coloration by running a hybrid of SunnyX's old tank. I will be using zeostart3 for carbon source, and Brightwell's MB7 for bacteria source. My phosphates are up a bit to .08, but not alarmed, I just started dosing MB7 a few days back, adding 5ml. every 3 days. I am currently adding zeostart3 at 1 ml every morning, likely I will step that back and allow NO3 which is 1-2ppm to rise a bit, allowing balance. Colors are still improving, I did add 1.5ml of zeospur last week, and have seen a slight improvement in base tissue, many corals are showing a lighter pigment in the base, with improved coloration towards the tips. I do not plan on a full out zeovit regiment at this time, I feel the stones are not necessary for what I am trying to achieve. I feel the skimmer does just fine as the heart of the system, the C-Source and Bac source are there to aid me in remaining ULNS, and feeding heavy to the fish. My recent parameters are in check:
Alk~ 7.33dkh using Lamotte
CA~ 420ppm using Salifert
Mag~ 1410 using Salifert
S.G.~1.025 using 2 different refractometer's
PO4~ .08 using Hanna handheld photometer
NO3~ 1-2ppm using Salifert
I decided to pull the chaeto algae from my sump, this will free up my center compartment, I then plan to add a light and make it a frag area. The chaeto was doing well, my colors are coming, but I feel I can achieve even better coloration by running a hybrid of SunnyX's old tank. I will be using zeostart3 for carbon source, and Brightwell's MB7 for bacteria source. My phosphates are up a bit to .08, but not alarmed, I just started dosing MB7 a few days back, adding 5ml. every 3 days. I am currently adding zeostart3 at 1 ml every morning, likely I will step that back and allow NO3 which is 1-2ppm to rise a bit, allowing balance. Colors are still improving, I did add 1.5ml of zeospur last week, and have seen a slight improvement in base tissue, many corals are showing a lighter pigment in the base, with improved coloration towards the tips. I do not plan on a full out zeovit regiment at this time, I feel the stones are not necessary for what I am trying to achieve. I feel the skimmer does just fine as the heart of the system, the C-Source and Bac source are there to aid me in remaining ULNS, and feeding heavy to the fish. My recent parameters are in check:
Alk~ 7.33dkh using Lamotte
CA~ 420ppm using Salifert
Mag~ 1410 using Salifert
S.G.~1.025 using 2 different refractometer's
PO4~ .08 using Hanna handheld photometer
NO3~ 1-2ppm using Salifert
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
When things are going well...Are you sure you want to change things up? A small amount of phosguard run for 3-4 days will easily mop up a bot of PO4. I dont know man...I like how your tank looks at the moment.
Just had a scan of your coral shots again...and if it were me, I'd stay put another 3-4 months and maybe change up if things arent to your liking.
Let us know how things go in any event.
plyle02
Active member
Thanks Sahin,
Chaeto started to breakdown, loosen, and fade, to me this means nutrient limited for continued growth/absorption. Perhaps PO4 coming from re-releasing back into water column. Either way, I am not going over board with dosing. My skimmer keeps nutrients down, the light addition of bac and carbon source are there to assist the skimmer in performance. I really do not feel it is necessary for daily additions of either, in fact, I will base my plan on coral health and observation. While the chaeto helped, the real state that I am gaining will allow for a 18"x14" area for a frag rack. This allows me to move frags that my goby so kindly moves all throughout the tank, to a more secure area for grow out. This same goby keeps my sand well turned over, as well as the cucs, this is what keeps things running so well, IMO, they stir the sand up, which in turn serves as a constant food supply to sps, until the goby burrows for the evening. For this reason, I also do not run filter socks, as I feel the leftovers the skimmer does not catch also serve as a food down the line. As far as zeospur goes, I have used this product in the past with phenomenal results, I dose only 1/2 to what is recommended, I learned this from experience I am not dosing any aminos, or other zeo products at this time, as I do not feel they are relevant to my current program. I use Salifert Hard Trace one per week, at 5ml, it seems to keep me locked in to ionic balance. My alk and ca are stable, I attribute this to the E-shopps liquid doser, it is very precise. So many ways to skin a cat, I will post some pics soon to reveal + or - results.
Thanks
Chaeto started to breakdown, loosen, and fade, to me this means nutrient limited for continued growth/absorption. Perhaps PO4 coming from re-releasing back into water column. Either way, I am not going over board with dosing. My skimmer keeps nutrients down, the light addition of bac and carbon source are there to assist the skimmer in performance. I really do not feel it is necessary for daily additions of either, in fact, I will base my plan on coral health and observation. While the chaeto helped, the real state that I am gaining will allow for a 18"x14" area for a frag rack. This allows me to move frags that my goby so kindly moves all throughout the tank, to a more secure area for grow out. This same goby keeps my sand well turned over, as well as the cucs, this is what keeps things running so well, IMO, they stir the sand up, which in turn serves as a constant food supply to sps, until the goby burrows for the evening. For this reason, I also do not run filter socks, as I feel the leftovers the skimmer does not catch also serve as a food down the line. As far as zeospur goes, I have used this product in the past with phenomenal results, I dose only 1/2 to what is recommended, I learned this from experience
I am not dosing any aminos, or other zeo products at this time, as I do not feel they are relevant to my current program. I use Salifert Hard Trace one per week, at 5ml, it seems to keep me locked in to ionic balance. My alk and ca are stable, I attribute this to the E-shopps liquid doser, it is very precise. So many ways to skin a cat, I will post some pics soon to reveal + or - results.Thanks
plyle02
Active member
Here is are a few pics of the sump area today, I still have some serious cleanup to do, but put my old geismann elite fixture up @ 250 watts with 14k phoenix bulb, not running the t5's in the fixture, just running the halide only at 5 hours per day.
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plyle02
Active member
Good grief, how hot does it get in there?
It gets pretty hot, but I have a 1/3 horse chiller that does the job. I also start the hours when the main tank dims. I try and leave the doors open, the hours are set to when the kids go to bed, lol... Otherwise, the doors to the sump are closed
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