Carbon dosing - method testing started

Thanks Steve that makes me feel better..Also great thing your doing here for everyone..glad you are taking the time to do this..K+

 

Steve,

Something to consider before converting your primarily SPS DT to pellets-If you do decide to do that after this second go. For some reason SPS bio-pellet tanks show better coral growth/color with dKH ranging in the lower scale of 7-9.I've read of some SPS bleaching in pellet run tanks with too high dKH-that wouldn't normally be considered too high if not for the pellets.

I haven't been able to find an explanation for why this is other than it has to do with low nutrient levels. I'm sure your's is fairly low nutrient now and yet you maintain a generally acceptable dKH with undoubted success. Perhaps it isn't a big deal. Just thought I'd mention it.

Keep up the great work!

 

Saw your reactor thread, certainly looks very good
the reactor I have came with a cone shaped plate in the base
and I definitely noticed more swirling from this reactor than I had on previous ones

Thank you matiL

thanks jakt21

Thank you Nismo
I had picked up on the fact ULNS with Alkalinity levels to high could be responsible for Alk burn on the tips of SPS corals
as a result I allowed my reef tank to drop from 9.6 to 8.0 - 8.30 and have maintained it in that range ever since

Steve

 

Shoulda known you'd know all about that already Steve!

 

Updates?!? You know we all love pictures! lol

 

Awesome thread and idea.
Thanks for your time, effort and money.
I'm still working my way through all 30 pages, but jumped ahead to see the final results.

 

I have been following this thread andjust read this post...BTW thank you for this bit of info...
Since I'm doing a build right now with biopellets from the get go, I am interested in following this info up...can you (or anyone else) gimme some references?

 

This does not appear to be a prerequisite for carbon dosing, it appears to be a sign that you do not have enough food for you corals. When you decrease nutrients, you allow the corals skeletal growth to increase, assuming alk and ca are high. So, the skeleton grows, but the coral can't generate enough tissue, due to low nutrient levels, to keep up with the skeletal growth. If you feed more though, it can, problem solved. I run 9-10 without issue, with PO4 <.009 per Hanna Ultra-Low Range Phosphorous checker and NO3 undetectable, Salifert and API. I know other people running 12+ without issue. The key is their tanks aren't anorexic.

 

Just for your reference, I attach the article that helped me, when I 1st took an interest in carbon dosing although in my case it was with Bio Fuel to start with and then progressed to Vodka after seeing the below article as the guidelines it contained , are easy to follow, and for a novice, thats important to me.

whilst I totally agree that increasing growth of the coral skeleton, at a rate that out paces the growth of tissue, due to restricted nutrients

when I, 1st started, my thinking was that as 7 - 8 is within the norm for natural sea water, and as long as I keep up with demand in order to prevent my DKH dropping below that level, then running on the low side in order to prevent the possibility of Alk burned tips, was a good move on my part



Vodka Dosing by 'Genetics' and 'Stony_Corals' - Reefkeeping.com

 

Thank Mati L
your right on needing more images
I have put the torch corals back into these set ups, in advance of employing the various methods
I have also purchased 4 more Torch corals, but flouro green this time and they are in and settling nicely ( although they looked a lot smaller in the LFS)
so we will have additional reactions to observe

Thank you SkyFire