Yup. Thanks for the suggestion, Diane. I'll have to pick one up for myself!

RED SEA
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~idproduct~RS3129.html

SALIFERT
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~Sea...ts~vendor~.html

*I just ordered a SeaChem Silicate Kit from MD, along with some other stuff...

Seachem Multitest: Silicate Test Kit $14.99
Titanium Ground Probe $14.99
Marine Depot Aquarium Refractometer $49.99

Tried out some "CoralPlankton" and DT's Oyster Eggs today. SPS and everything else look happy Now I have a nice food regimen put together. No excuses now. I expect my SPS to color up quickly. We shall see.

Performed a 50% water change today. Matched params and temp to the best of my ability. I'm thinking I'm gonna do 35-40% water changes for the next couple of weeks, so I can get the silicate out faster. I HATE DIATOMS.

How much did you get that coral plankton for and what size bottle is that? I know it's way expensive!

$27.99 for a 60ml bottle but MD charges $24 for frozen shipping, so I had to buy a bunch of other stuff too for it to make sense!

So I'm thinking of following this weekly feeding schedule, using only the recommended amount for each product:

• Mon: 8am DT's Phytoplankton, 12pm LiquidLife's MarinePlankton, 3pm LiquidLife CoralPlankton
• Tues: 8am Reef Nutrition's Roti-Feast, 12pm DT's Oyster Eggs, 3pm H2O's Life Coral Food
• Wed: 8am LiquidLife's BioPlankton, 12pm LiquidLife's CoralPlankton, 3pm SF Bay's Cyclops
• Thurs: 8am Reef Nutrition's Roti-Feast, 12pm DT's Oyster Eggs, 3pm H2O's Life Coral Food
• Fri: 8am DT's Phytoplankton, 12pm LiquidLife's MarinePlankton, 3pm LiquidLife's CoralPlankton
• Sat: 8am Reef Nutrition's Roti-Feast, 12pm DT's Oyster Eggs
• Sun: 8am LiquidLife's BioPlankton, 12pm SF Bay's Cyclops

In addition to the Mg, Ca, Alk supplements, I'll be adding:

Elos Pro Skimmer - Coral Nourishment (SPS) Food
Elos Omega Amino Acid Coral Food

Somewhere in between this rigorous feeding routine, I'll need to FEED THE FISH mysis shrimp and vitamin fortified marine food by Elos. I also have Spirunila brine shrimp by H2O and Marine multi-pack by SF Bay.

***MY NEW SKIMMER CAN'T ARRIVE SOON ENOUGH!***

I wish I would have done this sooner. My Blueberry Gorg frags might have had a better chance of survival (sigh). But they're nowhere near dead yet.

Thanks for all the info, Randy! I'm most curious to do this test myself, now, tho I never use tap water...will have to test the other sources...

RE your last post: are you keeping this tank or is it keeping you?

--Diane

No prob. And yes, my tank keeps me - keeps me happy that is

Oh and I got some new product to try out...

SeaChem's new aquavitro line.

I posted more info about it here:
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry1522042

Purple, are these feedings with the lights off or on?

Elos Pro Skimmer is powerful stuff, definitely make sure your skimmer can handle it before adding that.

I really like Elos AA, you should dose this before feeding your corals. It will cause increased PE, and then about 1 hour later you can feed them. I have noticed it will even cause my gorgonian to open up its polyps.

Also I would start off much slower than your planned schedule, and using less than the recommended dosages. See how your tank responds after a week before each increase in dosage.

There is free shipping on that Fauna Marin gorgonian food at: www.darklordcoral.com

Hey Wassup Uhuru. Whenever I add food to the tank, I turn the return pump off first. For the 8am feeding, the lights are OFF; for the 12pm feeding BOTH lights are ON; for the 3pm feeding only the 25W 20K is ON. But even when the lights are off, SPS polyp extension looks decent. What would you recommend? I'll be carefull with that Pro Skimmer stuff. Due to the increased feeding routine, I've upped my water changes to 25% every 5 days until I'm able to pick up my new AquaC AND it really starts to work. If you've seen wider polyp extension with Elos AA, maybe I'll dose it 1/2hr before the 8am feeding to promote food consumption. Sounds like a good idea. I agree with reducing the food dosage initially. Last night, I only dosed 1 drop of the AA and ProSkimmer. Man, I gotta tell you I'm maxed out with food for the moment. Everything including the SPS is already looking healthier since I've been adding roti-feast and cyclops EXCEPT the blue gorg. It's likely just a captivity issue. I'm gonna see how it reacts to this new regimen, and if I can keep it alive for another 2mos, I'll fork out the dough for some of that Fauna Marin. Thanks for the advice. Every bit of it helps.

That's great, sorry about the gorg though. Definitely give that FM food a try.

For SPS feeding I usually do this at night. However, I have lots of fish so I feed them a lot during the day and this in turn feeds the corals as well. In your case you may want to spread out your feedings more so they get fed well at night too. This is because in nature they extend their biggest polyps (the axial ones that are responsible for growth) at night, and actual food consumption is probably greatest at night. I would dose the AA's when the lights are off (and will stay off for several hours). I talked to Jesse @ Elos and he recommends dosing the Pro-Skimmer about an hour after that. You could probably add the other food at the same time.

I did not know that. So I've adjusted my feeding schedule to allow one SPS feeding after dark, with food that SPS are more likely to consume. Funny, I PM'd Jesse for suggestions on Omega & ProSkimmer and he said the same thing about night time dosing. Didn't know that SPS feed primarily at night though.

Here's my adjusted routine: (If I don't document it, there's no way I'll remember what to feed at what time!)

• Mon: 8am DT's Phytoplankton, 3pm LiquidLife's MarinePlankton, 9pm LiquidLife CoralPlankton
• Tues: 8am H2O's Life Coral Food, 3pm DT's Oyster Eggs, 9pm Reef Nutrition's Roti-Feast
• Wed: 8am LiquidLife's BioPlankton, 3pm SF Bay's Cyclops, 9pm LiquidLife's CoralPlankton
• Thurs: 8am H2O's Life Coral Food, 3pm DT's Oyster Eggs, 9pm Reef Nutrition's Roti-Feast
• Fri: 8am DT's Phytoplankton, 3pm LiquidLife's MarinePlankton, 9pm LiquidLife's CoralPlankton
• Sat: 8am Reef Nutrition's Roti-Feast, 3pm H2O's Life Coral Food, 9pm DT's Oyster Eggs
• Sun: 8am LiquidLife's BioPlankton, 3pm SF Bay's Cyclops, 9pm LiquidLife CoralPlankton
• everyday: 8pm Elos Omega, 8:30pm Elos Pro Skimmer

I decided to feed phyto type products early on, since the lights come on at 8:30am, and most of the softies dig it. LiquidLife's MarinePlankton gets quickly gobbled up by the fish so that's scheduled for later afternoon feedings. I'm sure the SPS will eat the cylopeez that's in MP, but I don't think I add enough for them to get their fair share.

How's that look? Better?

Wow that's a lot of feeding! I'm interested to see how this turns out. I only feed my fish cyclopeeze and mysis every 2 days and the corals get oyster eggs once a week. That's the only food my tank gets. I'm sure my tank is hungry too. Subscribed.

I know it seems that way, doesn't it. But I'll be feeding only very light portions of each food product at the scheduled times. I like Uhuru's suggestion to spread feeding into the night, as that's when SPS tend to eat more in nature. Already I've seen the SPS going through some transformation in feeding rotifiers and cyclops over the past 2 weeks. I'll definitely document what happens from here on out, both the GOOD stuff and BAD. Thanks for your interest.

GARF Bonsai Frag


It's now starting to reveal a pinkish hue after acclimating to my tank for one week.

(That's a pale bali green slimer frag in the background. Looking to turn that around as well.)

Not sure, but I believe this GARF Bonsai above really wants to become this GARF Purple Bonsai below. I sent Bluebastion a PM to find out if that's what its mother colony looks like. If so, Man O Man, that's a real nice coral. *For the most part, my system has been running COMPLETELY SKIMMERLESS. The RP4 skimmer has been non-functional for weeks now. Seems like the enhanced CUC committee and frequent water changes are keeping nitrates and phosphates at 0 (according to my API kits). Running skimmerless is definitely not by choice. I'm short $500 for my sump/AquaC upgrade In the meantime, it'll be a nice experiment to see if my CUC and beefed up water changes can keep up with my aggressive feeding routine.

Take looks good, i just spent some money too. Tunze doc skimmer for the frag tank, ACjr for the frag tank, custom sump for my 26 gal.

Gotta make the investment. let me know how that tunze doc works out for you. I might need a frag tank setup for myself soon.

Doing a 5Gal water change tonight. Decided against another 50% WC after learning that silicate quickly depletes itself on its own. As long as I don't replenish the system with new silicate infested water, I should be good.

Sweet shots Purp!

A few more tid bits of info to see if you can get that skimmer doing something for you while you gather funds for your upgrade. This is from Rand Kollman, Tom Aquarium products Customer Service....

" Richie,

Here are a couple suggestions that work for me and might help you with the Protein Skimmer. I change out the wood airstone every 3 weeks and clean the Collection Cup under running tap water weekly. I also found by keeping my water level in the filter sump about 4 inches above the recommended water line my skimmer will perform better."

I have been running the water level slightly higher and keeping the cup and collar clean and it does help.


It's not a Deltec mind you........but it does something. Kind of.

Thanks for sharing that info with me, Richie. Sounds like it might work, but I'm not sure yet if I'm gonna give that a try. The way I see it, there are 2 adjustments that need to be made in order to run the water level 4" higher. 1) The ATO unit also has to be raised 4" to maintain that new water level, which would be fairly easy. 2) The sump pump would also have to be raised 4" to prevent flooding if the power were to be shut off. You know what I will do now though is clean the collar and collection cup and see if that helps any. Thanks again for the tip.

WELL, WHATA YOU KNOW. I CLEANED MY COLLECTION CUP AND COLLAR AND I GOT MY FOAM HEAD BACK! LET'S PARTY!@#!

Happy to help when I can.

Purp!!! Here is a pic of my ADA 60P. It's all LPS.

Looks great gadgets! When did you set that up?

I almost have that cube I bought from you ready for water (yes I am slow). Hopefully I'll get it plumbed together this weekend. What was the brand of that light you had with the extendable arms (sorry for the thread hi-jack purple)?

Purple, your tank is still looking great. Love the garf frag! Your sunset monti frag must be over 1/2 by 1/2 inch by now. I'll try to get all three ready to ship this weekend.

Haha. Sweet ADA frag tank, gadgets! Mi casa su casa, Brshiver. Thanks for saving me those monti frags! Just when I thought there was nothing left to look forward to. I've got 3 spots reserved for em. Do you think one of the frags can thrive only 2-2.5" higher than the sandbed? It would only be exposed to the 250W halide, but it would be featured at front row center of the display.

****
Looks like my Rapids Pro skimmer has come back to life. Mistakenly I assumed a dirty collection cup would make it perform better. But it's actually quite the opposite. I exchanged emails with a Tom Aquatics guy today and he shared with me some promising improvements for the next release of their Rapids Pro this July, which includes a skimmer upgrade for existing RP4 units. Expected mods include a charcoal color overflow that will no longer require an aqua lifter AND a venturi skimmer that allows for more foam adjustment. I'll leave it at that so I don't completely blow the company's marketing plans for their official release. This might be good reason for me to at least delay my plans for a 10G sump and AquaC skimmer. I'd be curious to see what Tom Aquatics launches with first. My SPS can afford to wait a few months since the air-stone skimmer is up and running again and my frequent water changes keep params well under control. Things are looking great in the tank right now. My new stuff is starting to color up and my old stuff is looking better than ever. It's gotta be the Elos additives and the higher nutrient levels in the tank. I'll post some pics once things start to turn brighter.

I have started dosing Pro Skimmer again and am noticing improvement in my corals too.

They should be fine. They are currently under 250s - probably 6 to 12 inches down in the water with another 6 to 8 inches of air above the water. You'll have to watch their color - it definitely changes with light intensity.

Thanks! I don't consider it a frag tank. I guess it looks that way since it's so neat and organized.

Monticaps in place


Hopefully, they swirl nicely up the backside. I'll be relocating the torch soon.


DIY Mag Rack courtesy of TJ Temporary fix until I figure out where to mount them.




Do you dose it everyday? If so, how much? I think it might just be psychological improvement for me right now. Hopefully, I get more noticeable results soon.

I dose it 3x's/wk.

hey purple,
how you keep the sand clean? siphon the dietrus?

Hmmm. I've been adding one drop every day, half an hour after one drop of Elos AA. Would you suggest that i alternate days? I figured I'm good since my skimmer is working again. Makes me think though, especially since my skimmer ain't nothin like the one you're drivin.



I've got a RIDICULOUS CUC, which includes 2 sand sifting crabs. Whatever they don't stir up, I blast with a turkey baster before every weekly water change. There isn't much room to stick a siphon in the sand, but if there were I would!

I think the instructions say 1 vial for every 25g per week. If it works out that you use up 1 vial per week then that's probably all that matters. I actually dump the whole vial in there, 3x's a week.

One of the purposes of this product is to replenish what powerful skimmers take out. Do your corals look pale to you? Is their color on the brown or beige side?

In your case I would probably do 1/2 vial per week and see how it goes. This is because your skimmer may not be up to the task - read the precaution in the instructions about this.

I thought I read my instructions correctly. Even a 2nd time over eating dinner one night. I've only been dosing 1 drop of each every night, so I assume I'm on the safe side. And yes, I recently received a batch of very brown frags and i do have some older SPS in recovery from my old BC14. Thanks again, Uhuru.

SPS experiment

Here is a test case of SPS frags. As you can see, the 4 along the back are beige/brown in color and will require extra special attention if they are to regain colorful health. The two "Unknown" frags are very brilliant in color, which were just purchased yesterday in a rare visit to the LFS. Consider those two the controls to this experiment. BTW: Can anyone help me ID them? The LFS didn't know. Go figure.







I guess the experiment is to find out if I'm doing the right things. If the new ones brown out, and the other 4 do not recover, then I'm definitely doing something wrong. The mag rack is now as far high as I'm comfortable bringing it up to the light, although the LFS had multiple 400W SE halides at a much closer range.

I hope they do well for you! Acros can be a PITA when it comes to keeping the color (or even just keeping the same colors it had when you bought it) since they change depending on the slightest change in conditions.

Nice mag rack btw.

I know what you mean, the other ORA Roscoe frag I picked up a few months back has lost its dark purple body. However, its tips are still growing bright fluorescent blue.

I should have followed your Mag Rack instructions to the T, b/c I glued the eqq crate on the wrong edge! After I realized it, the glue had already bonded. Still holds strong though. Thanks for the tip. Oh and how was your vacation?

Vacation was great, the reefs in Cuba aren't too shabby! Sunsets are beautiful there too. Now that I am back it's time to get that darn tank going!

I'm always down to snorkel a good reef. Let's see that tank TJ. By the time you get it up and running, your corals will have outgrown the 40B! LOL.

****
I don't want to speak to soon, but I'm starting to see some promising results from Elos' Omega & Pro Skimmer. I'm noticing some faint color enhancement in my frag collection only after a few days of use. I'm also gonna be dosing a sample packet of Elos SVC supplement starting tonight. I should also note that I've been strictly following the coral feeding regimen posted on the 1st page of this thread, which may also be contributing to these good results. I worry that my fish and shrimp haven't been getting enough food though, since I've reduced their feeding big time to balance things out.

The RP4 skimmer has also kicked in gear, producing nice skimmate from the added nutrients.

BTW: I'm starting a 10G frag tank using live rock and egg crate for my displaced softies. Need to order some inexpensive LED strips to light it up. Oh and my BC14 might become more presentable in the coming months. It's never stopped running! It was just overcrowded with live rock.

Hey Purple, how did you connect the black tubing to the surface skimmer/ overflow? I am having a hard time finding the right tubing at Homedepot, Etc.....

I'd be happy to explain it, but can you clarify which tubing you are referring to? The black elbow pipe from the MJ600 to the surface skimmer or the black inflow and outflow tubes for the rapids pro overflow?

***
Here's an updated FTS. Moved some mushrooms around but essentially everything remains the same, just larger perhaps.

the black inflow and outflow tubes for the rapids pro overflow

Thanks, in advance.

PS: I'm planning on taking a similiar ps4 apart because its too loud next to my bed. so i figure ill use the overflow, and the auto top off somehow

No prob. It's their 3/4" black tubing found in the plumbing/landscaping section. From what I recall it was precut in 10' sections. I believe the tag even says OK FOR AQUARIUM USE. Even though the stock outflow tubing uses 1", I chose to offset the reduced return flow caused by my rotating HydorFlo attachment.

Here's a pic was what the tubing looks like connected to the sump. See that I used a piece of a 1" clear tube to hold it together nice and snug. Check out the foam in the skimmer collection cup! It's been that bubbly since I decided to clean it out.


Sounds like a good idea to use the overflow and ATO. I'm going to wait until Tom Aquatics comes out with their next version, which is supposed to eliminate the need for the aqua-lifter. Hopefully the new protein skimmer and surface skimmer perform better.

***
I was worried something like this would happen.

And here is an article on superman montipora lighting requirements as well as other husbandry.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2008/2/aafeature2

Thanks for the link. Looks like a good read. I'll definitely be ready for them when they arrive. Don't forget, I WANT ALL 3!!! Thanks B.

Tank looks Awesome!

Thanks Stoney! Lately I've been focusing on maintaining ideal water params for my SPS to grow and show more color. That, and I also lowered my lights to 4" from the surface for the 250W/20K and 6" from the surface for the 150W/14k. Judging from the slight color improvement in only the past two days, my lighting from a much higher distance was seriously inadequate. We'll see how things start to look after the next few weeks...

You got it!

AT LAST.

WHEWEEEEE!@#! Came with a drinking water spout too! One less reason to leave the house.
[/quote]


Nice tank been following this for a while collecting equipment for my own reef.

Since your using a bladder tank you should get a permeate pump to increase output and save waste water. Talk to them about a restrictor too.

pattykat99<~~~ devoted follower of this thread. WOWzers !! 40 pages and going strong

Wild acro is screaming to turn purple. Will it ever happen?


Wild milli completely browned out in my BC14. Now it has blue tips.


Same milli now showing longer polyp extension.


Idaho Grape in the middle has grown A LOT.


Light purple skirt is all new growth over the past 2 weeks.


Previously brown slimer is starting to reveal a greenish hue.


Ca Tort still sportin nice blue polyps.


Installed the AquaC EV-120 last night.


Hooked it up externally and drilled a drain hole directly into the RP4 sump.
It's now in its break-in period. Hopefully it's not too much power for this 25G nano. NO MICRO BUBBLES IN THE DISPLAY. Gimme some skimmate



Great idea. I'll look into that but I may be moving soon...

Thanks Patty! Let's see YOUR tank thread. Your beautiful corals deserve the attention.

Looking good man!

I am going to have some serious tank competition between you and SPS20. You guys seriously keep me motivated to improve!

Keep it up!