The 110 Tall (48x18x30) Project. Picture Intense!

[cerreta]

This is an update to what I have posted in other threads. I decided to move the info here so I can keep better tabs of the project success. Pay attention dates in the headings.

Well, I started my dosing on 6-10-06. So I might as well post what I am doing here so I can refer to it in the future if things start to go wrong. Furthermore, what does everyone think of this dosing scheme?

Reef is a 110tall with 40 gallon sump and adjacent 16gallon Nano plumbed into the main system. Total system water is 110gallons. Ca (425-475) and dKH (8-10) maintained by Ca reactor. See my tag for more details.

Prodibio Bio Digest: (Sat) 1 amp every other week x 2 then 1/2 amp every other week.
Prodibio Bio Tim: (Sat) 1 amp every other week
Salifert Amino Acids: (Sun) 25cc weekly
Salifert All-in-One: (Mon) 25cc weekly
Salifert Trace Hard: (Tues) 25cc weekly
Salifert Natural Iodine: (Wed) 10cc weekly
Salifert pH/dKH buffer: (PRN) when needed for dKH between < 8
Salifert Coral Calcium: (PRN) 25cc when needed for Ca < 425
Vodka: (Daily) 4cc
Coral Food: (Daily) 1/4 tsp Phytoplan & 1/4 tsp ZoPlan & 1/4 tsp Cyclop-eeze whole freeze dried
Fish Food: (Twice Daily Varied) Formula Two and frozen mysis (cyclopeeze enriched)


Notes: The tank is just over one month old, so I wanted to establish a good bacteria culture. The BioDigest recommendations are 1amp per 250gallons. I will dose a full amp for two events then back off to 1/2amp. Likewise, the BioTim recommendations are 1amp for 50gallons. Since this is an Amino Acid type product, I chose to just dose 1amp and supplement with the Salifert AAs.



OK, here are some reference pictures:

I should also note that the tank is going through a large algae bloom. This started before the dosing, and I do not think it is a result of the dosing, but rather from a normal cycle. I have had these algae blooms in every tank I have set up with these rocks, so it is not alraming to me, but it is a PITA.

I am on day ten after starting the Prodibio. I have been doing the Salifert regime since day one.

Now for the Pre-Prodibio pics:
Full tank shot. It is difficult to see, but the tank overflow and back wall are sprayed with black Handi-foam. The algae is growing on this just as if it were LR. Corraline algae is growing well on it too.

Green Damicornis, looks nice, bright green color and full. Good PE

Blood-Orange Zoos with green skirt. Looked good before dosing, but now along with several other zoos, they are not growing and are not fully open.

Purple-tip Acropora nana. This colony is large and the polyps come out partially on the tips, but never fully. The shaft color of the coral was on the tan side, with no PE.
This coral looks great today! The shafts are dark green with good PE and the tips have a deep purple color with full PE.

Blue Acropora tort. This coral has had partial PE pre podibio. Today it has full PE and the overall color looks the same.

Closeup of the Blue Tort

 

[cerreta]

Nice looking Neon-Green mouthed Blastomussa with a ring of clones around the base of the large polyp. This coral has always looked nice, but I do notice a bit less green in the center of the large polyp compared to previously when I had this in the old 80gal softy tank.

TrueBlueZoos, blue center with chocolate skirt. Looks good and has about 45 polyps.

Acropora sp. This coral has very small protrusion of the polyps. Today, it looks about the same, there may be a tad more PE, but not much if any.

Hydnophora sp. Looks nice and full. Very fast grower.

Millipora Orange. Doing well but has some algae growth around the base.

 

[cerreta]

6-24-06
Here is an update with pictures of the reference corals. The tank is now 1 month 2 weeks old. I have been using Prodibio as described in the previous response for 2 weeks and one day.

General notes: I have noticed a few more zoo frags closing up. I believe this to be more of a problem with nusiance algae growing on them rather than the prodibio. I will likely dip and prune them in the next few days.

I also have seen problems with the Hydnophora. I fragged off three limbs that were approaching a nearby candycane coral. Since that, there has been some recession on a few sections of this coral. I'm not sure the cause. Maybe a bacterial infection. Anyone have ideas?

Pics:
Pink Zoos. I did not have these on the original reference list, but will add it now.

Blood Orange Zoos. These have been mostly closed up for about a week. They looked so great before. I think this is an algae issue.

 

[cerreta]

Orange Montipora Digi. The color may be better in the tips where they have become pink. It looks like the tips all have growth buds too.

Full Tank shot. See the algae growth on the foam back wall?

Damicornis. No change.

Blastos, no change.

Acropora sp. The polyps have still not fully extended on this coral. However, I do notice a bit more greenish color to a few branches.

Acropora nana close-up. This coral had the most notable change over two weeks. Colors are vibrant purple at the tips with great PE. This picture does not reveal the PE that I have been observing with this coral.

 

[cerreta]

Blue Tort and friends. Much better PE on the blue tort. Freinds look the same.

Blue tort Close-up

Hydnophora. You can see the recessed branches on the bottom left and bottom right. Not sure what happened here. I did not frag anything over on the right side either.

Blue zoos. Been closed up for a couple of days.

 

[cerreta]

Ok, that is the update for now. I did notice that today, Monday, the zoos are 50% open today. If this continues, I will hold off on dipping them.

 

[Satori]

Looking great Scott. Out of the stuff you're dosing, I only dose the fish food. So I don't know anything about any of them. Keep us posted.

 

[BonesCJ]

Ok, i must be missing something here but did you say VODKA in your list of additives?

 

[Satori]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7641280#post7641280 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BonesCJ
Ok, i must be missing something here but did you say VODKA in your list of additives?

Yep. People are using vodka for bacteria production. I have only read about it, but I've gathered you must be very careful with it.

 

[cerreta]

Yeah, vodka. It sounds really cool, huh?!

There are a few new trends in the hobby about dosing probiotics. It is a system of dosing live bacterial cultures and feeding them. The Vodka is a food source (carbon source) for the bacteria. The idea behind these methods is to replicate a more natural approach to nitrification and phosphate reduction. This is essentially how the ocean does it.

The system is new and certainly unproven, although many people have had success, but I have also discovered that many people have had failures too. The bacteria serve to feed corals too.

If you want more info, try googling the topics on zeovit, prodibio and ReeFresh. These are the three current systems available.

 

[lovelylinda]

I thought the vodka was for you. Sort of like the old
Irish cure for colic...

 

[lovelylinda]

I knew there was a correlation between reefing and alcohol consumption....my husband says my hobby makes HIM drink...

 

[cerreta]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[cerreta]

Bump for Adam and Matt. We should really start a 110 tall club

 

[McCrary]

I think we should. It would be fun.

 

[cerreta]

bumpo for me-o. I need to start updating on this.

 

[McCrary]

You need to throw up some photos of that sweet nano you built.

 

[cerreta]

okie dokie. I will be at it again tomorrow and I got my camera back too.

 

[McCrary]

Did you get the Nano plumbed into the main tank? I can't wait to see that thing all setup.

 

[cerreta]

Its plummbed. I hope it does not leak or I am in big trouble.

I had to remove a cap that was in the CLC. I never put a valve on this because I was unsure if I would ever do the CLC in the nano, but I did. I have not been so giddy in a long azz time. I feel less stress at work when intubating and working in codes. I had 100 gallons of water rearing to spew out. The worst part is that the cap would not come off cleanly because it was hitting the stand, so I had to cut the pipe. It went suprisingly well and I shot out about a half gallon of water before getting the valve on and attached. The cats ran like crazy out of the room

I was shaking for about twenty minutes after that one!:worried:

Then, as I was doing more plumbing, I had one open connection in the plumbing when a power surge went through the house and caused the Neptune controller to kick on the return pump. :mad2: Water came spewing out of the chiller and I quickly placed my hand over it and only lost about 1/4 gallon of water. But I was screwed. I could not reach any caps, or phone, or onything, so I just waited it out about three minutes until the controller sent another signal to power off the return pump. I unplugged the pump from the controller after that.:mad2:

Well, back to it. I am have to place the rock and sand, then water. I wont be using cement in this project since I am unsure of the purpose for the Nano. I was thinking of keeping some softies like it is now. I want to add about ten more tiny fish too. I think it would be kewl to cram this tank with about 15 tiny fish (all about 1/2" in length) and some seahorses / pipefish , ha! That would look awesome.