Top down shots

[Big E]

What can I say ? From the time you have sent me the link to your thread till now, I have read it atleast 5 times and everytime I am amazed at your reef keeping skill and humility .

Regarding flow - What do you use for flow in your tank and how have you positioned them ?
And skimmer - you use quite a big one for your tank size. How did you manage to tune it as I have found it a major pain in the ***** to tune an overly sized skimmer.

Regards,
Abhishek

Thanks, I appreciate that.

Look above at my other flow post..........I try to have some laminar flow around the tank and then some pumps that occasionally break that flow to give somewhat of a random overall flow.

If I could set up a perfect flow it would be to have lamiar flow in opposite directions at 6-8 hour long intervals, but it's hard to do that in our display tanks unless you specifically design/build your tank for that.

---------------------------------

If the skimmer won't hold it's bubble level or overflows, ect. it's because the pump doesn't match the reactor body especially for the internal skimmers. I've never had those issues though.

There are certain brands I avoid because they have a history of overflowing.

Make sure to keep the impeller clean......slimy bacteria will get on the impeller and cause it to slip. That's usually when the bubbles won't get up the neck high enough.

External skimmers struggle a lot less with overflowing ect. becasue they don't rely on sump levels and only one pump. Each pump serves a specific purpose and you can fine tune them easier. Unfortunately focus has been more about electrial use and quiet skimmers that fit nicely under that "pretty" area below and not about performance.

 

[abhishek@1985]

Thanks, I appreciate that.

Look above at my other flow post..........I try to have some laminar flow around the tank and then some pumps that occasionally break that flow to give somewhat of a random overall flow.

If I could set up a perfect flow it would be to have lamiar flow in opposite directions at 6-8 hour long intervals, but it's hard to do that in our display tanks unless you specifically design/build your tank for that.

---------------------------------

If the skimmer won't hold it's bubble level or overflows, ect. it's because the pump doesn't match the reactor body especially for the internal skimmers. I've never had those issues though.

There are certain brands I avoid because they have a history of overflowing.

Make sure to keep the impeller clean......slimy bacteria will get on the impeller and cause it to slip. That's usually when the bubbles won't get up the neck high enough.

External skimmers struggle a lot less with overflowing ect. becasue they don't rely on sump levels and only one pump. Each pump serves a specific purpose and you can fine tune them easier. Unfortunately focus has been more about electrial use and quiet skimmers that fit nicely under that "pretty" area below and not about performance.

Awesome explanation Ed . So my tank is almost same volume as yours with 70 gal and 15 gal sump and running Deltec 1351 ac .

Am on the fence to get a AP 600 external as it was so awesome 6 years back for me . With 7 Randall anthias , 2 clowns and 3 blue star leopards, you think it makes sense to upgrade as I tend to feed atleast 3-4 times a day ?

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[sensei]

Ed,

you have made emphasis in stable parameters for acro succesfull tanks, and not to chase numbers.

please correct me if I am wrong: "I believe that the most important parameter to keep stable is alkalinity. " But, how stable is stable?
should we keep alk in a choosen value plus minus a small range?
I will give you an example of my tank:
I tested alk as follows:
4 March: 8.0
17 March: 7.8
25 March: 7.7
30 March: 7.6

I have been wanting to keep my alk bellow 8 but above 7.5 so 7.7 +-0.2 would desirable for me. I did not change my dose of alk in the above period until yesterday, that I increased a little dose to try to avoid alk going lower.

can you please elavorate on stability and which are the factors to keep most monitored.

What about the other parameters diferent than alk? how stable should they be?
Mag does not seem to change so given the water changes are done in the choosen range of mag we can rule out mag of the equation.

my second question is regarding skimming: do you preffer wet skimmimg? if so, how wet?
I have adjusted my skimmer somewhat wet but I still get dark black skimming, would it be better to have a somewhat brown more diluted weter skim?

Thanks a lot

 

[Big E]

Abhishek,

If your nutrient levels are where you want them I don't think I'd upgrade. The whole idea behind the larger skimmer is so you can limit or not use the other export tools. If you think going to the AP 600 will do that for you then go for it.

When I had my AP 703 it kept everything in check and all I did was water changes.

Those older deltec skimmers were monsters with the eheims powering them. Eheims don't have the wimpy magnets or power so they are much more consistent.

Again, like I mentioned, dedicated pumps doing only one function are going to perform much better and more consistently.

Right now though, I'd probably go with a newer Deltec model external instead of going with the old models as the replacement part prices will kill you.

 

[Big E]

Ed,

you have made emphasis in stable parameters for acro succesfull tanks, and not to chase numbers.

please correct me if I am wrong: "I believe that the most important parameter to keep stable is alkalinity. " But, how stable is stable?
should we keep alk in a choosen value plus minus a small range?
I will give you an example of my tank:
I tested alk as follows:
4 March: 8.0
17 March: 7.8
25 March: 7.7
30 March: 7.6

I have been wanting to keep my alk bellow 8 but above 7.5 so 7.7 +-0.2 would desirable for me. I did not change my dose of alk in the above period until yesterday, that I increased a little dose to try to avoid alk going lower.

can you please elavorate on stability and which are the factors to keep most monitored.

What about the other parameters diferent than alk? how stable should they be?
Mag does not seem to change so given the water changes are done in the choosen range of mag we can rule out mag of the equation.

my second question is regarding skimming: do you preffer wet skimmimg? if so, how wet?
I have adjusted my skimmer somewhat wet but I still get dark black skimming, would it be better to have a somewhat brown more diluted weter skim?

Thanks a lot

I would say .2 to .3 consistency is fine, but a lot goes into that as far as accuracy of what you use to test and also when you test. Try to test the same time of day for every test. I try to use a target for example between 8.0-8.5.

Alk is the only one I watch closely.....I test once a week. I would just watch the trend like you're doing and adjust accordingly.

I try to keep Calcium balanced with alk......there are tables for that as I have mentioned previously here.

Mg near or around NSW.......I rarely test that as I know my water changes keep it consistent.

Since I don't dose other trace elements I don't test for them.

Best testing is visual examination of what's going on in your tank on a daily basis. If you look close you can see corals growing almost every day...........new sprouts popping up, acro bases killing coralline, white or colored growing tips. I scan the tank for a good 15-20 minutes a day when the lights come on......you develop a keen eye for noticing what looks off or good.

-----------------------------------
Skimmer--
I honestly don't micro manage my skimmer to wet or dry but I prefer the cup to fill up versus having the neck get all gunked up. I have to clean it weekly either way to keep it working good. Constantly fiddling with it may be why some people have trouble with some skimmers.........just set it and let it run.

 

[m1923]

Amazing tank! Just wondering why all your photo have a purple and red hue, since you only have blue and white light? Is it because of your camera white balance?


从我的 iPhone 发送，使用 Tapatalk

 

[seanb19]

Oh snap!

 

[markalot]

My opinion, since I run the same bulb combo: Coral+ has plenty of red in it as it's a combo of blue plus, aquablue special, and purple plus. To the eye the bulb is quite pink, not white. It's almost too red sometimes but not as bad as purple plus.

In my opinion.

 

[seanb19]

Rumor has it he doses his tank with the blood of gingers. That's how he gets the deep red colors.

 

[Gunner2012]

Brutal Sean

 

[reefmutt]

I'd dose my OWN blood to get those colours and health.

 

[Useful_Idiot]

Ed, you definitely colored up those favias better than when you got them. You said you're about 200 par on the bottom. Are they getting that much light? I've had most of my LPS color up better under very low light.
Also any experience/advice with getting more pink out of a watermelon chalice?

 

[Big E]

Ed, you definitely colored up those favias better than when you got them. You said you're about 200 par on the bottom. Are they getting that much light? I've had most of my LPS color up better under very low light.
Also any experience/advice with getting more pink out of a watermelon chalice?

Favias probably a little under 180 or so, max 200. Favites can't handle that much for example the UC Fascination..........I had to completely shade that one. Overall I think it's more coral specific than actual species.

I can keep the J FoxDay Glo, at 200, it has more pink coloration.......less par more red.

When Dan's chalices were looking awesome under the 50-50 combo the par was in the upper 80's, max was 100.

If you want more pink in the chalice don't over do the blue lighting. More blue is going to help orange, green and yellow.

 

[sensei]

Ed,
How ofter do you change your GFO?
how many grams do you dose for what volume of water?
do you ever test the water coming out of reactor to see the drop in PO4 after tank water passes the reactor?

Thanks

 

[Big E]

Rumor has it he doses his tank with the blood of gingers. That's how he gets the deep red colors.

Pam told me she tried dosing it in her tank and it didn't work. She said at first she got some good polyp extension, but long term it didn't have any affect, just like all those over hyped commercial amino products.

Besides like I said, I don't dose any additives to my tank.

Btw, how's your Red Planet and Shortcake doing?

Red Planet and short R 040218 by Big E 52, on Flickr

 

[Big E]

Ed,
How ofter do you change your GFO?
how many grams do you dose for what volume of water?
do you ever test the water coming out of reactor to see the drop in PO4 after tank water passes the reactor?

Thanks

I change it about once a month. I replace about 125 grams (4 ounces) for my 90g total volume.

No, I don't test the water coming out.........when I start to see the algae on the glass start to show up faster than usual, I may test to see what the level is of the actual tank water before a change out.

 

[sensei]

Thanks Ed,

beautifull colors in that photo!!

have you ever tested your PO4 before you changed your GFO when you start getting more algae in glass?
I would like to know the PO4 range in your tank at the end of the GFO cycle and with new GFO.

Thanks again

 

[Bratyboy2]

How many bulbs would you recommend for a 120 thats 4x2x2?

Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk

 

[Big E]

Thanks Ed,

beautifull colors in that photo!!

have you ever tested your PO4 before you changed your GFO when you start getting more algae in glass?
I would like to know the PO4 range in your tank at the end of the GFO cycle and with new GFO.

Thanks again

Jorge,

I seldom test like that..........again, I don't focus on the actual numbers and force the system to some mythical perfect PO4 level. In my experiences it makes no sense to micro manage that.

The actual readouts are inconsequential as a few hundredths difference doesn't matter to me, especially due to the fact I use the 713 hannah. With it's +/- at .04 it's not worth the trouble.

Again, it's the pest algae and cyano I want to curb against, so I watch out for that more than test numbers. When they are struggling it's much easier for the coral bases and coraline algae to cover the rocks and give that algae nowhere to proliferate.

Like I mentioned, a lot of it is in observation..........you know immediately when a coral is off or film algae starts to show up faster.

I'm not saying I don't put stock in the actual numbers, but I think the balance of the P04 and N03 is more important than the actual numbers of P04 at .02 versus .06 for example.

 

[Big E]

How many bulbs would you recommend for a 120 thats 4x2x2?

Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk

6 will work fine but I'd probably go with 8 on a tank like that. It gives you a bit more flexibility in where to mount corals as well as setting up the layout.

8 will give a brighter look and less shadows as well as light hitting the corals from more angles. This proves more important also if you wanted to do a peninsula type setup versus one side being against the wall.

What I'm mainly getting at is 8 will provide a better visual presentation.