TMC Signature 600

[gex23]

Hi mate nice little you have here. Judging by the equipment and stock range I take it you are from the UK?

Found your thread after searching about the Deltec skimmer.

With regards to the algae; using zero TDS RO/DI water will most certainly help. Dont know why but whenever I use RODI water that has more than 2-3 TDS reading I get brown slime on my sandbed. As soon as I get a TDS reading anything other than zero, I switch out the DI resin.

Using Prodibio does help. I've used it many times over the years and as soon as I start using it various algaes start to disappear. Its not fast acting like with other systems like vodka dosing, but thats a good thing because your corals are safe. I've used BioDigest and Bioptim.

Sahin - I didn't expect an experienced keeper like you to be visiting my thread 0 but thanks for stopping by!

You're correct, i'm from Derby in the Midlands.

My equipment list tends to be geared towards good quality equipment to make up for my obvious shortfall in talent :lol:

I currently use an Osmotics 4 stage RO / DI system, but was guilty of running the consumables past the recommended exhaustion point (though interestingly it was showing 000 TDS on one meter and 001 on the other).... all in hand now though hopefully. Lesson learned, i'll be swapping out membrane / DI / carbon block and sediment filter every 6 months religiously.

The reason I don't want to go for Prodibio right now is I don't want to have a knee-jerk reaction to fixing the issue and for some reason any form of carbon dosing really worries me as I don't want to strip too much out of the tank? Is it a really simple system to understand and can it be integrated with my existing setup successfully?

Just to add i've read your thread from start to finish and am repeatedly blown away by how stunning your setup is!

I really think it's tank maturity, but I hope that the RO/DI helped with stability.

Sahin is right, prodibio is easy to use and does help, and as long as you follow the directions, you won't have too much of a problem. I used the reefkit and alternated biodigest, bioptim, and I think coralvites, then alternating week iodi+ and stronti+. I wouldn't use the lipid one.

That worked for me, but if I'm honest, the biggest gain you'll see is from the biodigest and bioptim, which are basically carbon dosing, with a bacteria supplement. You can probably get a lot more for cheaper if you bought some cheap bad vodka and some brightwell microbacter7 which is pretty inexpensive as well. That's how I brought my nutrients down from my last nutrient spike.

Low and slow whatever you do is always the most important part.

Reef wreak - thanks for stopping by and offering your input - I always make sure I listen to and take on board experienced members advice.

I've also been following your tank thread and it seems you're getting things back on track!

As you say low, slow and steady is the way to go - hence as I mentioned above i'm averse to using Prodibio right now to solve my algae issue as the corals are finally showing some positive signs.....

However i'm thinking it's the only way i'm going to shift the algae :uhoh3:

 

[sahin]

With carbon dosed systems you can wean off slowly. Prodibio is very "gentle" and so I dont think you'd see a knee jerk reaction like you would if one stopped Zeovit or Vodka dosing systems. Its two weekly dosed so one can dose monthly and then two monthly and etc.

In any event, if you want to stick to a natural method, then let things take it course. As long as you keep up with the maintenance, keeping the skimmer at top condition etc it will get better. May take another 3-4 months.

 

[gex23]

With carbon dosed systems you can wean off slowly. Prodibio is very "gentle" and so I dont think you'd see a knee jerk reaction like you would if one stopped Zeovit or Vodka dosing systems. Its two weekly dosed so one can dose monthly and then two monthly and etc.

In any event, if you want to stick to a natural method, then let things take it course. As long as you keep up with the maintenance, keeping the skimmer at top condition etc it will get better. May take another 3-4 months.

Cheers for the input and i'm hopeful that at some point I can integrate that into my setup / regime. As said I was worried it would be an aggressive method, like biopellets / vodka dosing / zeovit and make my current issues maybe alleviate but be replaced with an even worse situation to deal with.

I think i'll give it another 6 - 8 weeks and see how things are progressing before I make a decision on taking on Prodibio.

Maintenance wise :

- I empty / clean the skimmer collection cup weekly and vinegar bath the skimmer body every 4 weeks.

- 18 litre water change weekly using Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt.

- Paremeter checks weekly or as often as I get chance to.

- Inspect the refugium and remove cheato / other algae when it's getting full.

- Replace the GFO (Biophos 80) every 2 - 3 weeks.

Really wanting to replace the BM mini 70 reactor with something more efficient and better quality but don't want to tee off the return pump and am limited on space so a reactor using an additional pump (i.e - not integrated into the reactors body) would be a challenge.....

 

[gex23]

Took a few parameter measurements and got the following :

SG - 1.025
KH - 5.7
Cal - 580
Mag - 1380
NO3 - 0.3
PO4 - 0.01

I've always struggled with the 'big three' - KH always being low, Cal swinging and Mag swinging. In the past i've always attempted to change all three and never achieved the ideal figures or stability.

Now my aim is to maintain a stable KH of 7.5 - for this reason i've not reduced the Cal dosing as increasing KH will cause a reduction in the Cal figure.

Hoping i'm on the right track at least.......(and also wondering why my KH has historically always been low)

 

[gex23]

I switched the doser off 4 days ago and the calcium has now dropped to 485, while i've been dosing an additional 4g of sodium bicarbonate to increase the dKH which is now sitting at 7.1. I'll continue this until it's sitting at 8.0.

Also I have a few SPS frags on the way next week :

Spathulata
Acro 'raspberry lemonade'
Acro 'red dragon'
Acro 'pearl berry'
Oregon tort.

I'll grab some photos when they're here next Friday.

 

[gex23]

Another test of dKH and calcium is 7.1 and 470 respectively - so the KH is stabilising while calcium is dropping so it's heading in the right direction....

I've also added a few more SPS frags to the above :

Acropora valida 'Bonsai'
Myagi tort
Pink Prostrata
Pink Millipora

Also thinking of adding more rock for additional SPS real estate but unsure as to whether to make that branching rock or more plating 'islands'.

On a sour note - the Bryopsis is back with avengeance. Grrrr.

 

[gex23]

So the freshly cut frags I got last week are still struggling, though some of the established SPS are looking up with decent PE and a bit of basing out.

Still fighting bryopsis though, manually removing what I can and will do daily via tweezers.

Also looking to upgrade my reactor to the avast spyglass media reactor but the footprint size is seemingly an issue in my small sump

Also looking to add another fish as my current stock is :

2 x True Percula clowns
1 x Purple firefish
1 x Royal gramma

Unsure what else to add that will integrate will the current stock, be Zoa / LPS / SPS safe and be small enough for my tank......

Suggestions?

 

[gex23]

20160516_190635 by DEAF N1NJA, on Flickr

20160516_190626 by DEAF N1NJA, on Flickr

20160516_190605 by DEAF N1NJA, on Flickr

20160516_190618 by DEAF N1NJA, on Flickr

20160516_190551 by DEAF N1NJA, on Flickr

20160516_190535 by DEAF N1NJA, on Flickr

20160516_190519 by DEAF N1NJA, on Flickr

20160516_190445 by DEAF N1NJA, on Flickr

20160516_190612 by DEAF N1NJA, on Flickr

 

[ReefWreak]

Looking great!

What frag rack is that you are using? Do you like it? I need one for my nano....

 

[gex23]

Looking great!

What frag rack is that you are using? Do you like it? I need one for my nano....

Cheers, pulling some nice colours out from the top - just seem a bit dull / brown from the sides :uhoh3:

It's this rack (but with more tiers) :

and here's the link :

http://www.littleocean.co.uk/shop/magnetic-7-tiered-frag-rack.html

 

[ReefWreak]

Cheers, pulling some nice colours out from the top - just seem a bit dull / brown from the sides :uhoh3:

OMG I KNOW IT'S KILLING ME TOO!

The corals look so nice top down, but from the side, they look "okay". So frustrating!

It's this rack (but with more tiers) :

Thanks! I actually ordered a few weeks ago this one from Thrive Aquatics. I just forgot because I ordered it with my pet medications, and that took a few weeks for them to authorize and send out apparently:

Thanks for replying though, we'll see how these racks hold up!

 

[gex23]

OMG I KNOW IT'S KILLING ME TOO!

The corals look so nice top down, but from the side, they look "okay". So frustrating!

Haha i'm glad it's not just me then - looking at your lighting fixture you seem to have good coverage like me, so we can't even say it's down to shading.

Frustrating as you see so many stunning tanks on here with corals beautifully coloured up all over :sad2:

Thanks! I actually ordered a few weeks ago this one from Thrive Aquatics. I just forgot because I ordered it with my pet medications, and that took a few weeks for them to authorize and send out apparently:

Thanks for replying though, we'll see how these racks hold up!

Looks good that - using magnets or suckers?

I've got a few more frags arriving at the end of the month :

- Strawberry shortcake (slightly different variant)
- Bali shortcake
- Ruby red Hyacinthus tabling Acro
- Un-named tabling Acro

 

[ReefWreak]

I'm going to try some things to get my corals to color up. Now that my parameters back under control (about 2 months since I had a big alkalinity swing that browned everything out) I'm seeing some color peeking out of the corals, and some nice new growth as well.

I've been dosing vodka every other day for 3 weeks now, and I think it's helping, and it's definitely improving skimmate production, and I'm going to start adding prodibio ReefKit again (except for the coral food one, which smells and clouds the tank for 2 days).

Hopefully their bacteria and carbon will help keep nutrients low without vodka additions, and then hopefully the coralvites, stronti and iodi solutions help with the corals. I know, just another acrohead buying excessive snake oil to make their tank color up more...

I'm sure you'll find ways of getting the colors to explode too. Just takes time and trial and error. Nobody has a perfect solution (though I think there's something to just a lot of fishes and a lot of filtration, but can't try that in a nano...).

Also, the frag rack uses suckers (suction cups). We'll see how it sticks longer term. Just have to make sure the glass is pristine before placing it.

 

[gex23]

I've found that since i've kept a much closer eye on Alk and kept it stable, my SPS have started growing and colours have at least improved.

My parameters as of yesterday are :

Alk - 7.7
Cal - 375
Magnesium 1260

Nothing to be concerned about, looking to increase calcium to 400 but thats about it.

I'm VERY interested in the prodibio dosing, but how does the system even work? Just dose X number of capsules every day / week depending on system volume? Will they work with a basic filtration system like mine? Any changes in maintenance regime needed? How exactly do they work?

Agreed, it seems everyone is searching for that specific sweet spot. It's 90% pain and 10% pleasure with this hobby

I need to test for Potassium and Iodine at some point as a matter of intrigue.

 

[ReefWreak]

Prodibio is carbon source driven, like zeo or just carbon dosing, so you need a skimmer with it. The others are just coral food, trace elements, strontium, and iodine (if you get the whole reefkit, which is what I have been doing)

I've been using the full sized kit which is one ampule per 30 gallons every 15 days. I dose the biodigest (bacteria) and bioptim (carbon source) together with the skimmer off for 24 hours, then in 7 days dose all other ampules, so that way I'm not adding everything all at once and overwhelming the system.

Right now I'm trying to remember if I kept vodka dosing while doing prodibio. I think so, so I think I'll continue since I'm only dosing very small amounts of vodka (0.5ml M-W-F).

Then just keep skimming and water changes.

They'll work with all filtration and maintenance, just remember carbon will strip out anything you're adding, and you MUST skim when carbon dosing, which this is.

 

[BubbleMyTip]

Prodibio is carbon source driven, like zeo or just carbon dosing, so you need a skimmer with it. The others are just coral food, trace elements, strontium, and iodine (if you get the whole reefkit, which is what I have been doing)

I've been using the full sized kit which is one ampule per 30 gallons every 15 days. I dose the biodigest (bacteria) and bioptim (carbon source) together with the skimmer off for 24 hours, then in 7 days dose all other ampules, so that way I'm not adding everything all at once and overwhelming the system.

Right now I'm trying to remember if I kept vodka dosing while doing prodibio. I think so, so I think I'll continue since I'm only dosing very small amounts of vodka (0.5ml M-W-F).

Then just keep skimming and water changes.

They'll work with all filtration and maintenance, just remember carbon will strip out anything you're adding, and you MUST skim when carbon dosing, which this is.

Also dosing prodibio. Good idea to dose right after your water change so you don't waste any.

 

[gex23]

 

[ReefWreak]

Nice video. What camera/app are you using for that? I'd love to get something similar where the colors look right and I can zoom in and out.

 

[gex23]

It was filmed using a stock Samsung Galaxy S7 edge with the music added via youtube video editor...

Considering adding an L2 turbo algae scrubber - not cheap as out works out at £350 shipped to the UK, however it may help me overcome the Bryopsis ...... just wondering if an algae scrubber can be used on an SPS dominant tank?

 

[ReefWreak]

Yes it can, but if it is bryopsis, have you looked at peroxide dosing? I would expect that to work, but a scrubber not to.