Well, here is my experience thus far with C dosing...
First, background tank info...
26g bowfront dislpay
29g sump w/10 gal fuge in-sump
175w Hamilton14K MH in luminarc L3 large....
32w current dual actinic for dawn/dusk
Filtration is...
1- Octo DNW110 recirculating dkimmer pulling 8-10scfh, fed from overflow at aprox 125-150gph
1- modded CSS125 pulling 4-6scfh
3oz GAC changed monthly.
aprox 60#LR
1.5-2" sandbed in display
3" sandbed in fuge section of sump w/ Cheato and caleurpa MA
Ca/Alk is kept up by dosing 20 drops of AragaMilk to the top off RO/DI daily.
Coral stocking...most corals are still frags except where noted.
1 -
Favites sp. brain (softball size)
1 -
Acanthastre sp. (7 polyps)
1 - small
Euphilya paranchora (2 heads)
1 -
Caulastrea sp. (3 polyps)
1 -
Echinophillya sp. (colony 3" x 6")
1 - small
Echinophyllia sp.
2 -
Montipora sp. frags
4 - (currently unspecified)
Acropora sp. frags
1 -
Acropora millepora
1 -
Turbinaria renformis (2" across)
1 -
Turbinaria peltetta (3" x 4")
Fish stocking...
1 - Sixline Wrasse (1.5")
1 - Speckled Hawkfish (2.5")
1 - Powder Brown Tang (4")
Before C dosing feeding schedule...
1 cube varied frozen per day
Current feeding schedule...
1 cube SFBB (SanFrancisco Bay Brand) Marine cuisine around 12:00 PM (dawn on reef time)
1 cube SFBB plankton around 5:00 PM
1 cube SFBB Omega-3 Brine, 1 cube SFBB Reef Plankton (small, under .5mm), 1 cube SFBB Plankton, 3drops Kent PhytoMax or ChromaPlex, 3-5ml 2LF Marine Snow....All at 12:30 AM (between dusk and night on reef tank).
C dosing/supplementing...
I started dosing 1 tsp/day granulated sugar about 5wks ago...had a bloom on day 3...cut back to 1/2 tsp/day and have stayed there since. Started dosing Mark Wiess Combo Vital from day 7. Started dosing Kent Coral-Accell at week 4. I'm currently waiting on ZEObac and ZEOspur2 from AS. Will start dosing bac as soon as it arrives. I'll wait to dose the spur until I see signs of a ULN enviroment (pastel corals)
Observations...
I had a slight diatom bloom right after the first bacterial bloom, but that cleared up on it's own in 3-4 days. I never had much HA (I think with all of the skimming, and MUCH smaller feedings before C dosing that the system was fairly nutrient poor to begin with). Still getting a slight film on the glass daily, but I just scrape it off and assume it's either being skimmed out or the corals are feeding off of it (similiar to the ZEOvit mulm). There is less diatom on the glass and LR (never a HUGE problem). MA still growing in fuge...but appears to be slowing in growth.
The corals that were initially fairly brown (ie, all
Acropora sp.) are still fairly brown, but starting to show signs of color as well as a LITTLE "pasteling". All other coral coloration has stayed the same with the exception of the
Favites sp. which is showing more grren in its's polyp centers, and the "brownish-red" polyp walls are turning more "reddish-purple" PE has been improving since week 1. Growth on all but
Acropora sp seems to be faster.
Acropora sp. growth is steady at .5"/mo ( I expect to see greater growth when ULN is achieved and frags become colonies that are able to "catch" more light)
I do not have ANY reliable test kits (I know...I'll be waiting on the flames for that :lol: )...I've always just kind of guessed at water params. I will be investing in some good test kits in the near future.
Future plans...
I plan on adding Matrix in a seaclown that I'll be modifying to act as a HOT "ZEO" reactor.
I'm going to try increasing to 1 tsp/day of sugar over the next week. I MIGHT consider doing V/S/V dosing, but I'm leery of that (I'm a recovered alcoholic).
I'm stilll curious as to everyones experiences with moving corals into and out of a ULN system as I'm setting up a frag growout system and would like to be able to take frags from the ULN display to the prop system (which will NOT be a C dosed system for fear of corals not acclimating well in other peoples non-ULN systems)
Thanks to all in this thread and the MANY other ZEO and V/S dosing threads
