Hi Big E.
Can you explain your opinions about parameters and routines? I have my sps tank for 3 years and no good results. I need your support ...
Whats values are you keeping? Nitrates, phosphate, kh,ca, and mg.
Any additives to reduce it?
Any suplement?
Thanks in advance
Enviado desde mi iPhone utilizando Tapatalk
I stick with proven methods, so for me it's an oversized skimmer 3-4x the manufacturers recommended applications. This is my main export tool. That has always handled nitrate levels and if the tank isn't heavily stocked it will keep P04 in check as well.
An acceptable range for those levels are a ballpark range---
Po4- .03-.10ppm
N03- 3- 10.0ppm
A ratio of 50-200 to 1 nitrate to phosphate.
I don't use algae filters so my range will fall into what the corals uptake. I presume this because the symbiotic bacteria that live with the corals & other bacteria will uptake what they need and then some surface algae will take some. The skimmer takes up some nutrient laden bacteria and also waste before it's broken down, but there's always plenty for the corals as my test kits show it.
I feed the fish well and don't worry about overfeeding. If the skimmer can't handle the P04 I'll use some GFO approx 1/2 what is recommended. Because I feed heavy enough the GFO never strips the water. The system will fall into an equilibrium on the P04.
My systems are bare bottom so there are never any sequestered detritus or nutrients.
I do 7-10% water changes weekly
I don't use additives other than alk and calc per standard two part solutions I mix myself ( Randy's two part)
Alk- 8.0 +/- .5
Calc- 400-425
Mg- 1280-1300
That's it.........it's easy to control and there aren't a lot of variables.
I've tried out carbon dosing but after a year or two there are negative or unstable results that have to be fixed. It usually is a rise in P04 and the N03 dropping too low. I have to balance the fix with GFO, so to me why bother with this method? I don't want to be adding phosphate or nitrate dosing to the regime. Adding on the back end is not the same as a natural cycle.
---------------------
The other part of this is the lighting. You have to have a complete spectrum range of 400-600 across the whole system to satisfy the pigments for excitation. I don't know what each coral needs so if the whole tank is covered each coral will get what it needs. Along with that you need correct intensity which is simply placing the coral at a level it does best at.
How much blue-violet you add above what the sun provides is there for our viewing pleasure. The big blue spikes in most lighting is for our eyes, corals don't care.
There can get to be a point of too much of this which leads to it being hard to see certain colors or the the coral pigments that need something other than 420-450 is diminished.
-----------------------
Lastly is good random flow for oxygenation. This is just as important as the two other variables above. Look at all three as three legs of a table. If they all aren't in line you get a crooked table(corals that don't grow or color well)
That's it.........it's easy to control and there aren't a lot of variables.
It doesn't have to be complicated for success. In general, follow what works for hundreds of successful setups...............you don't want to be on the outer edges.
If you want some help specific to your system send me a pm.
