Sick RBTA's

[aj2494]

It does have individual reflectors, and I know a few of my bulbs are geisemanns, but again, I cant remember what brands I put in.

 

[greg1786]

Sounds like you got enough light than for sure. How are they looking today?

 

[aj2494]

The clones of the one that split now have a fairly obvious green tinge on the tentacles. The larger one that didn't split has mor pink than the clones but not as much green. The smallest one that's hiding is lighter than the rest, but is opening up significantly more than it was. I'll be able to feed it now. PO4 just tested at .59, but I couldn't get to the LFS to test the water.

 

[greg1786]

Sounds like they are slowly recovering as the po4 is coming down so thats good news. Have you had any significant algae issues since the po4 got so high? At this point the water params may not even need to be tested. If the nems continue to improve as you continue to feed them and lower your phos you should be good to go. What range are you shooting for with your po4?

 

[aj2494]

I have been struggling with algae and cyano for a while. As soon as I found out my po4 was high I knew why. I just added a ton of hermits and snails to combat that too. Ideally I want the po4 at 0, but I'm not sure how realistic that is.

 

[greg1786]

If you did some sort of carbon dosing you could get it to zero. Mine is consistently at .04 with weekly water changes, gfo and chemi pure elite, and skimming the crap outta the water and at .04 i get very very little algae growth. Honestly anything under .04 and im worried my corals will start to starve and fade but the sps seem to do well at that level.

 

[aj2494]

I don't think I have to dose. My tank has a relatively low bioload, and im starting up an atb 840 skimmer soon to replace my sro xp1000s, but we'll find out if it's necessary soon enough.

 

[greg1786]

I agree you shouldnt have to dose carbon either. Unless of course your seeking a true zero reading on po4 and trates. The zeovit system seems to be popular for achieving this as well though its expensive and I have no experience with it. I have a moderate bio load in my 125 and I maintain a relatively low nutrient system without dosing. I think the main thing is to have very good husbandry and run a quality skimmer along with good gfo and you should have no problems keeping it really low. I also dont think its incredibly important to chase numbers. Meaning if its in the 'ballpark' of your target number and everything in the tank is thriving how you want it to, why change it just to get an 'exact' number ya know? For example if your goal is to get your po4 to .02 and you get it to .04 and everything in the tank is exactly how youd like it to be, why push it just to hit that .02 differential. The reason I believe its not so important to chase an exact number is because your tank will tell you when something isnt right just by looking at it. Your bta dilemma is a perfect example of that. Ok sorry for rambling, keep with you plan of action for the nems and keep me updated! Happy reefing -Greg

 

[aj2494]

I agree fully. I have never owned any testing equipment for reef tanks or FW tanks besides the new phophate meter and a refractometer. There are a lot of people that are obsessed with making their params perfect, when in reality, the perfect level is much different for every tank. I learned from people who used intuition, which is a very good thing to know how to use. The downside to this is that when I'm at school, my mom does not have this ability yet.

 

[greg1786]

Any update on the nems? Are they making a nice strong recovery??

 

[aj2494]

They seem to be coming along. I also upgraded my lights today. I'm running a 6x54w Current Nova Pro now. I'm due for a WC and PO4 check, and I'll update with the results and pictures as soon as I get that done.