Mr. Microscope's Cube 2.1

[hey]

I have the urge to buy a blueberry gorg after reading that. lol that thing is great

[Mr. Microscope]

I have the urge to buy a blueberry gorg after reading that. lol that thing is great

lol! I have to admit, it is tempting.

[Sk8n Reefer]

Wow- that nem has some great color! How's your dosing been- have you gotten it locked in now? I was stable for about a month and now Alk is taking an additional 5ml to stay around 8- 9. Pumped up Ca. too.

[Mr. Microscope]

Wow- that nem has some great color! How's your dosing been- have you gotten it locked in now? I was stable for about a month and now Alk is taking an additional 5ml to stay around 8- 9. Pumped up Ca. too.

I thought I'd try to shoot for a lower number (8ish) and see if it would stabilize, but I ended up losing Alk just as fast. So, I'm back up to aiming at 9. It's still a struggle and I feel like I'm swinging too much. One thought I had was about my mass of acans. I wonder how much they're contributing to loss of Alk/Ca?

 

An automatic doser is getting more and more temping.

[Sk8n Reefer]

I would think the Acans are pulling your numbers down. Are you dosing morning and night? ya- my b-day is this month so a doser is coming my way- probably get the bubble mag- about 300.00 and it doses 3 items

[Mr. Microscope]

I would think the Acans are pulling your numbers down. Are you dosing morning and night? ya- my b-day is this month so a doser is coming my way- probably get the bubble mag- about 300.00 and it doses 3 items

Thank you for your thoughts on the acans.

Yes, I dose AM and PM. Right now, I add 22.5mL Alk and Ca each time. I'm still falling short with that amount, but I don't want to push it any higher.

Happy Birthday!

I was looking at the Jebao dosing pump. It's got four heads, programmable, and $120. Not too bad, but still in the price range that would make my wife strangle me. lol

[sunburn]

 

First, one of my favorite acros, which I didn't realize is actually some kind of stag (really doesn't look like one), ORA Joe the Coral! I have it mounted near the top. Color and PE are awesome. lar and AK are big believers in feeding a lot and it shows in the health of this coral. Usually, I only see this coral in with a pale green and blue coralites, but this piece has a nearly yellow base and the coralites are almost royal blue. I hope I can maintain that intensity. I got the camera out to snap a few pics after mounting.

 

When I try to feed my corals more, I get hair algae. Did your friends mention if they get algae outbreaks from feeding a lot?

[jedimasterben]

When I try to feed my corals more, I get hair algae. Did your friends mention if they get algae outbreaks from feeding a lot?

Nutrient import must equal nutrient export or you'll have an excess, leading to issues. If you want to increase your feeding, increase your filtration along with it.

[Sk8n Reefer]

Thank you for your thoughts on the acans.Yes, I dose AM and PM. Right now, I add 22.5mL Alk and Ca each time. I'm still falling short with that amount, but I don't want to push it any higher.Happy Birthday!I was looking at the Jebao dosing pump. It's got four heads, programmable, and $120. Not too bad, but still in the price range that would make my wife strangle me. lol

Thanks- Nov. 30th but I might need a little early present?Hey- thanks for the Jebao info- I will look into that for sure! I think Mark mentioned that the problem with that pump is if there is a power loss it does not turn itself back on- something to consider. Are you also cking Mg. ( from your charts I see you are) I was having Issues trying to keep my Alk and Ca. Inline because my Mg. was below 1200- now I am running 1350 and it seems to help things out on the Alk. Side for sure. My Mg. Has seemed to be an issue- I was really struggling getting it above 1300. Like I said though - I was solid for a month now Alk. Is slipping again- probably with new growth. Your LPS definitely adds additional strains on your levels- I am sure with the growth you'll be experiencing you will have to watch as your coral age and start growing out of your tank?

[Mr. Microscope]

 

When I try to feed my corals more, I get hair algae. Did your friends mention if they get algae outbreaks from feeding a lot?

No, but they have a huge and well lit fuge with chaeto and dragon's breath (which, BTW they supplied me with some).

Thanks- Nov. 30th but I might need a little early presentHey- thanks for the Jebao info- I will look into that for sure! I think Mark mentioned that the problem with that pump is if there is a power loss it does not turn itself back on- something to consider. Are you also cking Mg. ( from your charts I see you are) I was having Issues trying to keep my Alk and Ca. Inline because my Mg. was below 1200- now I am running 1350 and it seems to help things out on the Alk. Side for sure. My Mg. Has seemed to be an issue- I was really struggling getting it above 1300. Like I said though - I was solid for a month now Alk. Is slipping again- probably with new growth. Your LPS definitely adds additional strains on your levels- I am sure with the growth you'll be experiencing you will have to watch as your coral age and start growing out of your tank

Been running Mg around 1400.

[Mr. Microscope]

My son picked out a new little addition to the reef yesterday. A nice purple porcelain crab.

As soon as I put it in it latched on to the underside of my prostrata. lol. I think it'll be really happy with all the micro feed I use every other day.

[FlowerMama]

Nice addition, I had to flip my head around to get a nice view of him. He's pretty.

[Mr. Microscope]

Nice addition, I had to flip my head around to get a nice view of him. He's pretty.

teehee

thanks 1st!

[larcat]

Hi!

 

First I want to say that Mr. Microscope is an unbelievable nice guy with a mind melting track. Thanks so much for letting us come see it! Great pics on the Joe!

 

Nutrients/algae -- we used to keep very low nutrients. We had no algae but we also had pale, slow growing sps.

 

When we started dumping food, algae has absolutely come with it, but our sps has colored up so well and is growing fast enough that we are happy with the trade off.

 

Not saying it is *the* way to do it but we decided to listen to our sps over everything else, even if it means some aspects of our tank are sub optimal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I try to feed my corals more, I get hair algae. Did your friends mention if they get algae outbreaks from feeding a lot?

[owenj]

Glad to read that the nems got their color back. So pretty! And your son has a good eye the crab is cute!

[Mr. Microscope]

Hi!

 

First I want to say that Mr. Microscope is an unbelievable nice guy with a mind melting track. Thanks so much for letting us come see it! Great pics on the Joe!

 

Nutrients/algae -- we used to keep very low nutrients. We had no algae but we also had pale, slow growing sps.

 

When we started dumping food, algae has absolutely come with it, but our sps has colored up so well and is growing fast enough that we are happy with the trade off.

 

Not saying it is *the* way to do it but we decided to listen to our sps over everything else, even if it means some aspects of our tank are sub optimal.

Thank you for your kind words larcat! It was great meeting you and AK. I can't wait to see your setup and fully stocked 40.

Glad to read that the nems got their color back. So pretty! And your son has a good eye the crab is cute!

I'd say I'm about 70% of the way there. Near 100% with some of the nems, but others have a little ways to go. Thanks Jaime! He really enjoys our trips to the LFS.

[Mr. Microscope]

Hello All,

 

It's that time of the month again for another FTS.

 

I'm starting to see bryopsis coming back. So, I invested in a 64 oz. bottle of Kent Tech-M from Marine Depot. I'm a little skeptical though. The bottle ingredients lists only MgSO4, MgCl, and distilled water. To my understanding, Kent makes two types of Tech M, the other having a lot more ingredients and is useful for fighting bryopsis. However, according to the reviews on Marine Depot and a Marine Depot rep I chatted with, I have the correct stuff for fighting bryopsis.

I'd love to get more opinions on this before I get started. Please chime in if you have experience with this.

 

Here's a couple pics of more treats that larcat and AK brought over for me. For starters, Dragon's Breath!

I only have it in one spot of the tank, but I have more in my fuge and plan to add a little more to the display so that I have a more balanced look. After only a few days, it developed the flame edges that glow in actinics. This is a really pretty macro. I keep finding little pieces of it floating around my reef. It turns out that one of my clowns has been nipping at it. I'm not sure it he's even eating it. I think he just feels destructive. Haha!

 

Lastly, this is what larcat calls the, "Fauxkins." According to him, it started out looking like a Hawkins turaki, but as it's grown it looks more like some other type of acro. It's a really beautiful piece and I'm looking forward to seeing it fill in.

[Sk8n Reefer]

Great looking tank- nice FTS . Both those corals look really cool- that dragon's breath is really nice!

[4x5]

Tank is look most excellent.

[jedimasterben]

It isn't an ingredient in Tech M that does it, it is the unlisted impurities that do.

 

Beautiful tank that just gets better!

[defender.TX]

This tank looks great! I love your Acan colonies at the bottom...just awesome.

[Mr. Microscope]

Great looking tank- nice FTS . Both those corals look really cool- that dragon's breath is really nice!

Thank you Sk8n! Dragon's Breath is actually a macro algae.

Tank is look most excellent.

Thanks 4x5!

It isn't an ingredient in Tech M that does it, it is the unlisted impurities that do.

 

Beautiful tank that just gets better!

Thanks Ben!

 

I found this on a different website selling Tech M.

From: http://www.thatpetplace.com/tech-m-magnesium-supplement-1-gallon

"Deionized water containing the following elements (as ions): magnesium, chlorine, sulfur, calcium, potassium, bromine, strontium, boron, fluorine, lithium, rubidium, iodine, iron, molybdenum, zinc, nickel, copper, manganese, vanadium, cesium, cobalt, tungsten, selenium, and chromium."

 

Any thoughts? I've read some people see this written on their bottles.

This tank looks great! I love your Acan colonies at the bottom...just awesome.

Thank you defender! I love the acans too, but I think they're severely contributing to my rapid decline of Alk. I may have to either get a doser or get rid of some of my LPS. Perhaps, I'll sell off a colony or two in order to get a dosing system.

[Sk8n Reefer]

?Got me with that one- I zoomed in but still thought it was an Acro! Still cool looking- deep color to it.

[Mr. Microscope]

So, I just added some of the Tech-M. Only 100mL which should only take it from 1400 to about 1460. I'll continue to raise it slowly over the course of the next few days. I think I'll hold off and document progress once I get to 1650 as many have reported positive results on bryopsis around that mark.

 

Although the bottle only lists MgSO4 and MgCl, there's definitely got to be some other stuff in there because it is not clear like the BRS MgSO4/MgCl mixture I have. The Tech-M was a bit milky opaque and my water is currently a little cloudy.

[kguske2]

I did the Tech M treatment a couple months back, raised mag by 100 a day until it got to 1800. Kept it above 1800 for an entire month, and manually removed any patch of bryopsis I could see (most of it was on frag plugs). Within probably 2 weeks the bryopsis was noticeably more frail looking, and began to turn white/die off. After the month, I couldn't see it anywhere so it definitely works! I still have the last bottle I used and it only lists the three ingredients as well.