Red sea program

[Tweaked]

So much going on, I neglected the tests for a couple weeks. I continued Nopox at 1ml per day which is nothing considering I am at about 75g actual water. I noticed the sps doing great with good PE, but saw my zoos stay closed. Kept looking for parasites and saw nothing. LPS doing fine as well with good colors.

Sg. 1.026

Kh 3.0/8.4
Ca 500
Mg 1400

NO3 0.0
PO4 .04

Dose of 1/4 of the small scoop daily ABC+ and obviously that is still too much for where I want to be with Ca and Mg.

Questions.
Stop ABC+ for now and just dose alk daily, and or lower my sg each day slowly? What do you contribute the zoos and mushrooms not liking the water to? I moved them all a couple days ago to my other tank and they are all open now, mushrooms too. Also dose the RE daily too like clockwork every night half hour before lights out.

Other than that a couple spots here and there I'm seeing cyano, but playing with flow to pick it up. Since added power heads to all the sump chambers - fuge too to allow for the skimmer to grab it.

 

[my2girls]

Yes, I would only dose the alk part until the calcium comes down. IME mushrooms and zoas don't like zero nitrate, especially when changes are happening in the tank. I'm sure in time they will get used to the parameters. Also, Ca of 500 is when corals start to get pi$$ed.

Keeping a mixed reef is often a balancing act.

 

[Tweaked]

Thanks, like noted, moved all my Sosa and shrooms to my 7.5. Moved over 16 different colonies including my awesome Rastas. My bar tank never looked so good lol. Also went out and got the smallest clown fish I ever seen, so cute.

Ok, stopped dosing ABC+ for a few days and will slowly ramp up the alk. Any thoughts on adding kalkwasser to my ato? I have a huge jug of it from BRS I never used. Currently I go through 3 gallons of ro/di via the ato every 24 hours.

 

[my2girls]

You can used kalk if you want, but not yet as it raises calcium. Get your parameters where you want them first. you will use less ABC+ when you used kalk in the ATO.

 

[Reefir]

my mixed reef did well untill the the zero nitrates and po4 happened , then it was all love for sps and i lost most of my zoas . when you play the nopox game you end up an sps dominated tank . not to say you cant have a mixed reef but it tends to favor the sps . i still do a mixed reef but try not to let my po4 hit zero . its a tough balance . you basically strip the tank of natural bacteria and start introducing an artificial water column. imo. I swear by it , and it works great . but it does have its mystery to quality factor , just smell it . i think it will strip nail polish .

 

[Tweaked]

Yep my moved allot of colonies of zoos over to the 7.5. I recently upgraded the LEDs on this tank too, so it looks great now. Every inch of rock is covered in zoos.

As for sps dominated, yes i am now moving this way and went out and picked up 7 more frags yesterday including a large pearl berry piece, and leprechauns beard from pc. The only good thing about all of this, is no algae in the tank still, and I am approaching epic proportions of sps frags lol.

 

[Tweaked]

Sps looking great, lps fine, and the few zoos that I left behind are open again. Algae non existent, and cyano just about gone. Added uv light I had laying around, and a fluval as vacuum running chemi pure and floss changed daily.

Dosing 1 to 2 ml of Nopox daily. Did not dose ABC+, but added 30ml of alk every other day at dusk.

9/8
Kh 3.6/10.1
Ca 450
Mg 1200

NO3 0.0
PO4 .04

Still won't be adding anything except 30ml of Mg now every other day.

 

[Tweaked]

Quick lunch time readings.

Kh 2.9/8.1
Ca 440
Mg 1300

NO3 0.0
PO4 0.04

Now I'm about there, just need to continue the Nopox, and hopefully the PO4 readings will go down. Plus my rodi is back to 0.0tds on the output. More to come.

 

[my2girls]

I would dose 1/2 ml of Nopox for a week to 10 days. This will allow NO3 to accumulate to measurable levels. Then hit the tank with 2 ml of Nopox daily for a week or so and watch your PO4 and NO3 come down together. You really don't want absolute zero for NO3. Continual Nopox dosing to force PO4 down while NO3 is zero only fuels cyanobacteria and limits PO4 reduction.

 

[Tweaked]

I would dose 1/2 ml of Nopox for a week to 10 days. This will allow NO3 to accumulate to measurable levels. Then hit the tank with 2 ml of Nopox daily for a week or so and watch your PO4 and NO3 come down together. You really don't want absolute zero for NO3. Continual Nopox dosing to force PO4 down while NO3 is zero only fuels cyanobacteria and limits PO4 reduction.

Word-that makes total sense! Darn Cyano, which is all but gone, but still on the sand where the lights shine brightest. I did drop to 1ml a day which still seemed like nothing compared to actual water volume, but this stuff is obviously strong. Will do and will report the findings back in 10 days. Thanks as always.

Also, my guy at PC was showing me a ponape birdsnest colony you dropped off there- very nice! Almost picked it up, but had way to many frags as it was- lol. Did grab a cool ORA Marshall Islands Purple and Green Acro. He also cut me a piece of that blue bottle brush I've been drooling over.

 

[Tweaked]

@ my2girls

You are a genius bud. Cheers :beer:

Dosed 1/2 ml for the past week and a half.

Sg. 1.026
Kh 3.0/8.4
Ca 430
Mg 1220

NO3 1.0
PO4 .04

Now we begin dosing again in hopes to lower the phosphates once again. Dosed 2 1/2 ml and will continue for a few days then retest. Cyano almost non exist ant and still no sign of algae. Now have 45 frags of sps alone (85% ORA) and all is looking great. Also added an Apex controller. I'm an iPhone guy so this thing is so awesome. Love it. Thanks again. :thumbsup:

 

[my2girls]

You are doing it the smart way by dosing and testing. Most guys forget about the testing...

Glad I could help. Have fun with the Apex!

 

[Tweaked]

Waited too long between testing and the ABC+ dosing raised Ca and Mg, but not Alk. Will stop for a bit and dose red sea alk manually ever day slowly to raise back up. Just dropped in 10ml. Phosphates have remained the same since the beginning. Added chemi pure elite to my pellet reactor and placed in sump. Will see I guess.

10/14

Sg. 1.026

Ca 450
Mg 1400
Alk 7.0/2.5

NO3 .5
PO4 .04

 

[my2girls]

If you are dosing ABC+ everyday, calcium will rise more than alk. Don't be concerned about Mg. Correct with the buffer to achieve balance. Now you are getting the real ups and downs of the system. Don't sweat "idea" numbers. Keep yourself on track and test often.

 

[Tweaked]

If you are dosing ABC+ everyday, calcium will rise more than alk. Don't be concerned about Mg. Correct with the buffer to achieve balance. Now you are getting the real ups and downs of the system. Don't sweat "idea" numbers. Keep yourself on track and test often.

Thanks as always. I'm on the fence with using the brs kalk in my 6 gallon ato tank. Might be too soon is what I was thinking. I have a boat load of sps, but most are still frags. Thoughts?

 

[my2girls]

I'm a huge fan of kalkwasser. It is tried and true, albeit an unnatural chemical compound found on the reef. If you have faith in your ATO then go for it. I prefer to drip kalk.

 

[Tweaked]

I'm a huge fan of kalkwasser. It is tried and true, albeit an unnatural chemical compound found on the reef. If you have faith in your ATO then go for it. I prefer to drip kalk.

Simple drip method, or dosing pump? Whats your mix? Details for the data hungry please :reading:

Thanks

 

[my2girls]

There are several ways to use kalkwasser. My favorite is to mix 2 tsp on kalk per gallon of RO/DI and manually drip it. Dosing pump is good too, but I prefer hands on. The idea behind dripping is to top off and replenish Ca/alk while boosting pH safely. Do a search- there are lots of articles about how to...

 

[slavver01]

Whoops, looks like I've stumbled into the wrong corner with this thread.....lol, interesting read tho. Funny how these same elements can wreak havoc in humans when they are not properly maintained.

 

[Tweaked]

Adding alk manually daily at about 10ml a day, and small amount of abc+ every other day

Ca 450
Alk 7.9/2.8