questions on "starving your coral"

[knukles55]

hellp everyone so first off let me start off with my tank parameters
ph 8.0
nitrate 0 API test
nitrite 0
ammonia 0
cal 460 API
alk 8 API
mag 1290 salifert test
salt 1.025
temp 77.0

deep blue 30g rimless
20g sump
etss 600 skimmer on a timer for 4 hrs
chemipure elite
refugium chamber only has 6 in of miracle mud and live rock tried growing chaeto and it would die within the month

t5 24in 6 bulb
2 hamilton 460nm
2 hamilton 420nm
1 geissman pure atinic
1 geissman blue +

any more questions on my equipment just ask ill be posting pictures up as well.

 

[knukles55]

so heres the main question I have for you guys how do you run a low nutrient system and still keep your corals happy. its not that my sps or my corals in general are dieing im just not seeing polyp extension like I see on alot of other threads as well as color in some of my acros. I change out 2 gallons a week with reef crystals I feed marine snow everyday as well as dosing fuel twice a week.

 

[rovster]

What are you asking?:wildone:


Edit: LOL, sorry our posts crossed. Easy answer is feed more. In my rookie experience, the ideal situation for an SPS tank is massive import of nutrients with MASSIVE export. Nutrients are readily available so corals can consume them, but not long enough for the nuisance stuff to take hold. What you don't want is to strip your tank and leave it stagnant in terms of water being too clean. You need to figure out a way to balance all that out. That is the hard part. The way I did it was adding a ton of fish to my tank and feeding multiple times a day. At one point I had 12 fish in a 30 gallon, albeit smallish fish. Combined with aggressive skimming and carbon dosing, my tank was looking ridiculous until it got hit with AEFW.

Now I'm not saying go out there and carbon dose or use what I use or do what I do. I would start by adding more fish slowly, feed them like pigs and run your skimmer more. Re-evaluate every 2 weeks. Anyone that says "I dosed X product and in 2 days I see color and growth" is full of it. Listen to this or not, but I went through this a while back and it totally changed how I do things. Be prepared for an algae outbreak. Compensate by adding CUC and upping the waterchanges but don't back off. I have observed this enough times to believe that these things will go away, but the tank needs to reset. Something as simple as a spectral change or changing a light can spur an outbreak of cyano or algae. I think it screws with the balance until your tank can adjust and get back to equilibrium.

Here is a cut and paste from a post I made in the SPS section on a similar thread....


Here is bleached out aweful looking frag back when I was running to clean a tank....

This frag......


Turned into that Crayola piece in the middle.....sorry about the crappy pics....




This mille.....


Getting color.....


And settled into this..... (phone pic)


What did I do? Added a LOT more bioload and started adding all kinds of coral foods.

Notice the algae in the first pale picture. When I was getting the more saturated colors, I did not have algae even though I was throwing a ton more crap in the tank. Go figure!!

 

[knukles55]

I have a couple pics that ive had on my phone the green cap with a purple rim has now gone brown with a green tint.

 

[knukles55]

how do you keep your systems low nutrient and not starve your corals. is there reactors to help you achieve this (other than zeovit) is this were biopelets reactors come in handy or just make the issue worse. any input helps sorry if i just put a whole bunch of junk into 3 post.

 

[rovster]

We crossed again. OK, things look pretty decent actually. It may just be a time issue. It takes months for these things to reach their potential, and months of stability. One hiccup sets you back weeks to months depending on how bad the hiccup.

One thing I will mention is SPS like a TON of flow. I've noticed the more flow, the more the polyps come out. So much that the placement of those acans would not work for the typical flow and light for SPS. Just an observation and my opinion. I also don't see any powerheads. On a tank that size I'd run a couple MP10s or similar without even thinking about it. That should help with polyp extension. You will have to get creative with the placement of the non-SPS, but you can't make everything happy, LOL! GL....

 

[knukles55]

What are you asking?:wildone:


Edit: LOL, sorry our posts crossed. Easy answer is feed more. In my rookie experience, the ideal situation for an SPS tank is massive import of nutrients with MASSIVE export. Nutrients are readily available so corals can consume them, but not long enough for the nuisance stuff to take hold. What you don't want is to strip your tank and leave it stagnant in terms of water being too clean. You need to figure out a way to balance all that out. That is the hard part. The way I did it was adding a ton of fish to my tank and feeding multiple times a day. At one point I had 12 fish in a 30 gallon, albeit smallish fish. Combined with aggressive skimming and carbon dosing, my tank was looking ridiculous until it got hit with AEFW.

Now I'm not saying go out there and carbon dose or use what I use or do what I do. I would start by adding more fish slowly, feed them like pigs and run your skimmer more. Re-evaluate every 2 weeks. Anyone that says "I dosed X product and in 2 days I see color and growth" is full of it. Listen to this or not, but I went through this a while back and it totally changed how I do things. Be prepared for an algae outbreak. Compensate by adding CUC and upping the waterchanges but don't back off. I have observed this enough times to believe that these things will go away, but the tank needs to reset. Something as simple as a spectral change or changing a light can spur an outbreak of cyano or algae. I think it screws with the balance until your tank can adjust and get back to equilibrium.

Here is a cut and paste from a post I made in the SPS section on a similar thread....


Here is bleached out aweful looking frag back when I was running to clean a tank....

This frag......


Turned into that Crayola piece in the middle.....sorry about the crappy pics....




This mille.....


Getting color.....


And settled into this..... (phone pic)


What did I do? Added a LOT more bioload and started adding all kinds of coral foods.

Notice the algae in the first pale picture. When I was getting the more saturated colors, I did not have algae even though I was throwing a ton more crap in the tank. Go figure!!

well thats a huge help of the bat sounds like ill be a little more generous on my feedings and a school of chromis won't hurt

 

[rovster]

I think that would be a great start. Just don't freak out if you start to see algae or cyano. Your tank will need to adjust to the higher bioload. That will also give you an opportunity to run your skimmer a little bit more. If you're truly interested in keeping a lot more SPS consider adding more flow and possibly relocating some of your LPS and softies.

 

[knukles55]

yeah there was a period were I turned off the skimmer for almost a week and at that point I did have a GHA outbreak and my corals encrusted quikly a noticeable amount. I didnt think anything aboit it and just barely fed the tank and did water changes to get rid of the GHA and that did it. this time around ill feed more and monitor my lvls and skimmer.

for flow I have a mag 250 for the return and a mp10 taking care of flow in the tank. ill post before and after pictures of some acros and progress

 

[Alex1524]

Rovster is a show off ;-) listen to him Tony, he knows his stuff!

 

[AquamanE]

I agree with Rovsters assessment.

Ill add two thing:
1. that is an old style downdraft skimmer. Not knocking it, but requires a large amount of flow to keep it running. for a 30 gal, you can get a relatively cheap skimmer that will more than match its efficiency.
2. Dont worry so much about PE. Growth and color is more important.

 

[knukles55]

I agree with Rovsters assessment.

Ill add two thing:
1. that is an old style downdraft skimmer. Not knocking it, but requires a large amount of flow to keep it running. for a 30 gal, you can get a relatively cheap skimmer that will more than match its efficiency.
2. Dont worry so much about PE. Growth and color is more important.

thanks yeah im gonna try to push this skimmer it has a 900gph iwaki pump just for it. if I see its not working for me onto the next one.

 

[knukles55]

im going to start feeding these a little more often than I already have am I on the right track with these food or should I look into something like oyster feast

 

[rovster]

Give it a try. Just start with one and use very little and do that for a couple of weeks. I personally add something like reef chilli (reef roids) to my fish food blend. Maybe add a cube of the frozen coral food over the course of a week. The progression I posted above May have taken 4-6 months to see that amount of change to put things in perspective.

 

[knukles55]

sounds good thanks again