rigleautomotive's Tank Pics Thread

[rigleautomotive]

In my little 70 gal SPS I have been having some color problems. I change out 5 gallons every week, religiously. I'm running an extreme 200 skimmer, alk, mg, and cal are all good. Phos is about .05 (Hanna) Nitrates are also 0 (Lamotte). My colors are a little faded and I have been seeing some tissue recession at the base of my corals, particularly where light is not penetrating. I know some recession is normal in areas of low light but this is a little more recession than I'm comfortable with. I haven't lost any corals but it continues to happen to almost every piece in the tank. Does this sound like corals that are stressed from lack of nutrients/food to you?

No,not at .05 phos via hanna.when you read zero phos and nitrates for long term you may deduce possible starvation but many other stressors mimic this symptom.

Off the top of my head I would think in adequate flow or lack of light.Or possibly alleopathy.Fouled sand beds will also cause this.I am not sure if you are running a substrate or not.

Personally,in a medium to heavy stocked tank,5 gallon a week is not nearly enough.I do not know your bio load.If acroporas with great color and growth are your goals,I would be doing about 15 to 20 gallons per week and paying close attention to matching your params on the new sea water to your targets


This alone will bring some pop to your acroporas in most cases.If you have sand,and its been in there a few years,removing it(and the crud it contains) in 4 steps(1/4 of the tank at a time) at one week intervals while doing water changes will also greatly improve coloration in most cases in my experience

 

[veloboy]

Thanks Dan- I was doing larger water changes of about 10 gallons weekly and that seemed to make things worse. I've been watching your thread and comments and noticed you have recommended removing the sand bed/replacing the sand bed for problems (including cyano - another problem I have been having). I've got a shallow sand bed of about 1 inch but its over two years old now... I've been removing the sand bed slowly and noticed things have been improving so I'll continue with that and also try upping the water changes again. Thanks for the information and for sharing your experience!

 

[rigleautomotive]

Thanks Dan- I was doing larger water changes of about 10 gallons weekly and that seemed to make things worse. I've been watching your thread and comments and noticed you have recommended removing the sand bed/replacing the sand bed for problems (including cyano - another problem I have been having). I've got a shallow sand bed of about 1 inch but its over two years old now... I've been removing the sand bed slowly and noticed things have been improving so I'll continue with that and also try upping the water changes again. Thanks for the information and for sharing your experience!

No problem at all.I try to get back as often as I can to answer so I apologize if it takes a bit sometimes.

As far as your "water changes making things worse"

That is not plausible to me if you are using zero TDS RODI,Aging and aerating for 24 hours, using a Good salt and matching your parameters on your mix to your target parameters (ie sg.cal.mg.alk.temp).I have never seen this have a negative effect on a tank that has issues and not thriving.Doing water changes in this fashion is like a breath of fresh air to any reef I have kept.

 

[ganjero]

Dan,

How old is your current tank (the actual piece of hardware)? I remember talking to you and if I reacall correctly you said you started about 20yrs or more ago. I was just wondering since some say the life expectancy of a tank is 15-20yrs. Do people that stay in the hobby for years have to replace their tanks at some point?

 

[rigleautomotive]

Dan,

How old is your current tank (the actual piece of hardware)? I remember talking to you and if I reacall correctly you said you started about 20yrs or more ago. I was just wondering since some say the life expectancy of a tank is 15-20yrs. Do people that stay in the hobby for years have to replace their tanks at some point?

current tank is about 10 years old give or take a year off the top of my head.I changed the tank from a 125 that was about 8 years old into the current tank and the answer to your question is yes.The 125 needed changing because the tank top frame was degrading from lights pounding on them for 8 years.It was also very scratched and the joints looked questionable.The corals had really outgrown this tank also so I upgraded to the 180.Currently the The top frame on the 180 is looking a bit white and I fear it will not live much longer.The stand is also a concern as is all the plumbing being brittle and quite old.A tear down and upgrade is inevitable in the next 1 to 2 years.I dread it knowing the last transition almost killed me ,lol and i am 10 years older now so I will need plenty of help this time around.

 

[ganjero]

When is time, I wouldn't mind helping you at all. You will probably have tons of help from your club.

 

[tnyr5]

A tear down and upgrade is inevitable in the next 1 to 2 years.

*cough* 300 *cough*

 

[rigleautomotive]

*cough* 300 *cough*

haha,yea and then divorce cough divorce lol
Maybe if I can design the room around it .It would be a long arduous job and downsizing or staying the same may be more realistic.Either way I need to get rid of all the old PVC,rusty clamps,degrading wood stand and old tank.I will feel much safer if I can manage that.I have been aggressively trimming the large colonies and removing rouge soft corals from the structures for the last 5 months so the tank looks much more open and natural now.I will get some new FTS up when I get a chance to shoot some new photos.I tossed the huge leathers to a few friends and got rid of 95% of the softies that were polluting the pillars where the sps are growing from so I have made some progress.The huge 20 inch Derasa will be the next to go I believe.If i can remove the clam I will have about 1/4 of my tank back to grow a few more corals.

 

[bagz727]

Are you using uvl 454's or super actinics? Thanks

 

[rigleautomotive]

Are you using uvl 454's or super actinics? Thanks

Super actinics.I have no love for the 454's

 

[bagz727]

Super actinics.I have no love for the 454's

Do you think the actinics would be a good supplement for my 250w 14k bulbs? I want more pop from my corals. I plan to replace my 2 39w t5's to 2 95w uvl vho's. Ty

 

[rigleautomotive]

Do you think the actinics would be a good supplement for my 250w 14k bulbs? I want more pop from my corals. I plan to replace my 2 39w t5's to 2 95w uvl vho's. Ty

Yes,these bulbs excite the florescence in corals like no other I have encountered.The only thing that comes close IMO is LED supps but unfortunately I have not been able to get accustomed to the way my corals look under diodes.What T 5 were you using?The ATI blue plus seems to have the right spectrum to excite the pigments although to my eyes the effect is less then desirable.And I must stress we are talking about personal preference in this case and this will vary with each individual

 

[bagz727]

Yes,these bulbs excite the florescence in corals like no other I have encountered.The only thing that comes close IMO is LED supps but unfortunately I have not been able to get accustomed to the way my corals look under diodes.What T 5 were you using?The ATI blue plus seems to have the right spectrum to excite the pigments although to my eyes the effect is less then desirable.And I must stress we are talking about personal preference in this case and this will vary with each individual

Thanks for your input! Last question, are the 95w vho brighter than my 39w t5's if you know? Thanks

 

[rigleautomotive]

Thanks for your input! Last question, are the 95w vho brighter than my 39w t5's if you know? Thanks

Brighter,well I don't know what bulbs you are referring to.There is no exact match for the VHO actinic in a T 5 size that I am aware of so comparing would be like comparing apples to oranges..The true actinic T 5 bulbs are not known for there par and neither are the T 12 actinics.I am not sure brighter is what you desire but possibly more actinic punch and if that is the question then I would say T 12 have more actinic punch and IMO seem to be more pleasing to the eye then the T 5 version.Again I must emphasize that what you perceive as desirable may be different then others so carefully make lighting changes and only do what pleases you and not another or you will be disappointed with your results.

 

[bagz727]

Thanks dan! I have no doubt in your taste, you've been very helpful!

 

[rigleautomotive]

your welcome,glad to help

 

[rigleautomotive]

 

[x2uranium]

colors are off the HOOK as usual.

 

[dvanacker]

hot dang........that FTS looks better than the one in the TOTM article.

Keep it up! So many people who get TOTM fall off the planet once they reach that status....its nice to see that you are in it for the long haul and still enjoy to share information and photo's......we all appreciate it.

 

[tegee]

Super actinics.I have no love for the 454's

Hello Dan...

Can you elaborate why you ditched the 454's? I am running (2) Super Actinics and (2) 454's and I am contemplating ditching the 454's too. My blue's seem to get washed out and feel I am not getting the overall deep colors I am looking for and may be attributing it to the 454's?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated......

Thx