Will be waiting.
Mike, where are your nutrient levels these days?
Are you still feeding the Pappone?
Hey Matt,
Nitrae is zero always and PO4 is 0.01 to zero on some days and I am trying everything to raise it but between biodigest and the carbon source in my liquid genesis it just doesn't move. This can have a negative effect on your SPS and they don't get that pop in color but I work through this by feeding an entire cube of mysis to my four fish once a week.
I do not rinse the food and I want all the nutrients in it to go into the tank to try and raise PO4. I Have also noticed that when PO4 IS TOO LOW and my fixtures intensity was too high the sps would bleach out quickly and STN at the base. So lowering it has made some serious differences in the colors of my sps.
The Mitras light fixture is really not a toy at all and takes homework to better understand what It can do. I thought because my tank was 31 inches deep I needed to run it at 100% Well boy was I wrong as I was frying my sps that were at 17" to 20" from the light fixture.
The picture below was taken last night and is turning purple with green polyps and is almost on the sand bed. I have been using this piece to guide me in setting up my intensity as I no they like high light. At this point I may even lower my intensity to 50 % this week and see if there is any difference in color for the better.
Well I will say that the feeding of the pappone is now become the staple of my feeding to the tank. I must warn everyone that you really need to watch your tank not only with the PO4 and NITRATES but how much is left behind in the tank.
Here is what I have learned from dosing Pappone (liquid Genesis) and I am only using 5mls every seven days. >>>Please don't over feed <<<
"¢ You need to start with 2 or 3 mls per 100 gallons of water once a week or your tank will have too much nutrients and algae will bloom not to mention that if you have a sand bed it will start to collect in it. I say 2 to 3 mls but that's for medium to high sps load, Now by starting slow what will happen is it will feed the sps and all the life in the tank that will in return start multiply and start to filter your water and feed the critters that filter the sand bed as well. You will also start to see an explosion of sponge's feather tub worms on the rocks and on the glass in the shaded areas of the tank.
"¢ If you over dose it I have found that it will cause red slim in the tank almost overnight and then water changes and dosing of Chemi clean is a must as it will not go away.
"¢ Another sign that you are over dosing is your skimmer ski mate will be almost black in color and this is a clear sign your adding too much. But on the bright side of this is take the ski mate and place it in aluminum foil and let it dry up.
This is what I add back into the new batch when I make my pappone. I usually use two table spoons and this just makes the sps get some crazy PE when I add it to the tank in the new batch.
I usually feed pappone to my tank when just the hyper violet and royal blue is are on. I also shut off all the return pumps and leave on power head on for circulation and do this for about an hour or two depending on how I feel. I usually sit down and watch tv when feeding and its on a Saturday night or Sunday night when watching football.
Hope this helps others to better understand how to use it as you can easily over do it and this stuff is freshly made not diluted for profit or mass marking.
Now if i can learn more about a calcium reactor i may even consider getting out of the three part dosing business.
Michael
video of tank
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nvW5WIbGw8
I will be posting some updated pictures as well as its been 30 days.
that one is beautiful.
