FoD's SPS/NPS Wonderland - R.I.P.

looking forward to pics.

 

Small update with a pic.

List of corals is below, furthest back to front, left to right.



Pink Tipped, Green Base Millepora
Tri Color Valida
Pink Millepora
Blue/Green Tenuis (I think)
Yellow Tipped, Green Base Millepora
Sunset Millepora
Neon Yellow Acropora porstrata
ReefPets Gender Predictor
Really Cool Blue Polyp Acro (ID Unknown)
Purple Polyp, Purple/Blue Bodied Acro
Oregon Tort (Was removed from rock by crab, currently resides on the rack!)

Daylight pics to come tomorrow. Everything seems to have acclimated well, and looks great...primo stuff Gary! Thanks!

 

Coral frags are great !!!

I love this naked clown I see in the past photos !! Big guy/girl

 

Pshhh... Gary selling sps packs is like new drugs in a crack house.

Irresponsible. And Great... im an addict.

 

Andy-

I just skimmed through most of the thread(im at work) and everything seems like it is doing well.

Going on your question about feeding and your thought of pulling the pellets offline again, what is the reason?

Paramaters and or algae issues is what I'm guessing????

 

Water Chem params are fine...stable. My PO4 level is at 0.08 according to my Hanna Checker. I have been in a battle with bubble algae since I introduced my first corals. Crabs had it under control for a while, but have since been trained to eat mysis that floats by...so now they are lazy, and don't really touch the bubble. I have to clean my glass EVERYDAY which is getting old really fast. With the Vodka/Vinegar, cleaned it once a week, and it was just a slight film. Now, the film grows very fast, and turns into a green slime base film algae within 3 days...and my MagFloat will not touch it, I have to get the razor blade out. My lights (Raduims) will need to be changed in Sept., 1 year old...so I don't think it is spectrum shift related.

Colors of my SPS look amazing! Nothing is fading, everything looks great. PE is good. I feed less than you do Chris, and I have nutrient issues. I have discussed this with Jon Warner at length, and he keeps telling me to stick with it. I did EcoBak last tank for 6 months with poor results...ditched em for Vodka. I've had these going for 6+ months, and starting to see it again. :-/

I have had ZERO growth in the last month and a half...since the bubble started back. Colors remain strong, but no growth at all.

Suggestions?

 

Hows your sump? My sump was nasty and its not something I checked regularly. Another thing to check is looking into some bacteria diversification products. Probidio, Dr. Time, MB4, etc can help replenish any imbalance you've had.

Also might look into Vit C dosing. I know several people on RC and R2R that will dose smaller amounts of pure ascorbic acid every 6 months or so and it causes a bloom that eats 'gunk' in areas of their tank that flow doesn't shake loose.

 

Sump is pretty damn clean for a sump. I clean it once a month during my water changes. Nothing worth noting ever comes out of it.

I'll look into getting some bac supplements. I don't know about VitC dosing. I'll research it. But, I will note, I do not have any waste traps in my tank. 2 Vortech's and my closed loop keep everything in there stirred up...so no where for extra nutrients to build up. I know bubble algae can grow in zero nutrient environments, which is what makes it such a pain. But the bubble is not my complaint...it is the film algae and sprigs of hair algae I am seeing pop up.

 

yeah. Its crazy though what can get lodged into our rocks. Check it out see what you think. obviously there needs to be change. Oh the other hand if the acros look good.... lol

 

I clean my glass almost daily. Especially after dosing aminos. It gets a little old, but it definitely beats having to manually dose vodka.

If it were me, I would wait it out a little longer. Let the tank mature a bit more. Consistency is key. I have lulls in growth at times as well. Some stuff will be sprouting while others do nothing for months. I will say that I starting adding kalk to my ATO on top of 2 part dosing. It is a very conservative amount, but since adding it, my SPS growth has been insane.

I also agree that adding some bacteria wouldnt hurt. And I also dose a little ascorbic powder to my tank bi weekly, but it is more for my zoas than anything else.