Becact's Zeovit SPS Cadlights 39g Sig

[Reefman36]

How's the skimmer working with the two holes covered?

[becact]

Reefman- it is working well. I have the two holes sealed off, all of the third, and a portion of the fourth (the largest), and with this setting I can keep the skimmer pretty high for a higher efficiency of the pump.

 

I got my tests in today! You all may be surprised at the results. First, I'd like to say that I'm always very careful with my testing procedures. I always wash my hands first, hold bottles vertically to measure drops, rinse test tubes first with RO/DI then tank water before filling them, don't cross contaminate, and I also wash everything with RO/DI when I am done. I also use syringes to measure volume instead of trusting a meniscus on a test tube. In addition, I wait several minutes each time the endpoint is reached, because it often will revert back to pre-endpoint color (this is especially true with the alk tests)

 

With that said, here are the results:

 

Calcium:

Salifert: 400

Elos: 420

 

These are close enough to be considered the same, within test tolerances.

 

Alkalinity:

Salifert: 9.3 at the first hint of color change, 9.6 with a solid discernible color change.

LaMotte: 7.0

 

I did the Salifert test twice and the LaMotte four times, and results were consistent. This means that when I was running an alk of 7.5 with Salifert, my true alk was 5.2 dkh! I had bumped my alk up before the Lamotte kit got here in anticipation of the Salifert readings being wrong.

 

To be fair, the LaMotte test is brand new, and the Salifert test has been open about 6 months. I am careful to quickly close reagent bottles, though, and the Salifert test expires in 2013. Also, the included check solution included in the Salifert kit did indeed test to the proper figure printed on the bottle (tested with the Salifert kit). The check solution had never been opened before testing it.

 

Hopefully this new realization of my actual dkh will cure my STN problems and help me get my pH up a little.

 

So be careful out there if you are using Salifert tests for alk!

[becact]

Ugh, just sorted my photobucket account and now all my links are dead. Bear with me while I get them back up...

[becact]

I suspended dosing Xtra as my coral colors were darkening a bit. I also started dosing Coral Vitalizer.

 

I am in the process of raising my magnesium to 1350 or so, and am now keeping my alk at 7.5.

 

I fully blame the salifert kit on my RTN. I still can't believe it was reading 2.3 dkh too high, and that I was keeping my tank at 7.5 with it. Needless to say, I threw it in the trash. If you are using zeo, please do NOT use Salifert for your alk testing! My tank is now up-taking alk and ca daily, whereas before the corals did not seem to be using any (levels were not dropping very quickly, if at all). So now I hope I can finally see the corals start to get some good growth.

[becact]

Have some cyano (I think that's what it is) growing on my clams' shells and in soft corals. Doesn't seem to be on the rocks. Anyway, I understand this is a common effect from dosing carbon in general. I asked the guys on zeovit.com what to do, but does anyone here have any advice?

 

 

[Rehype]

Hey B ive seen that algae in my tank as well mostly in the fuge area however its not cyano. Cut back on your dosings of zeofood 7 and zeostart for at least a week.

[becact]

Do you have any info on this stuff E? I agree it doesn't seem to be cyano because it stays put when I blast it with a turkey baster. It seems to like lower light because it is hiding in soft corals which shade it during the day when they are open (zoas and GSP), and on the clam shells because those are shaded by the clam mantles.

[Rehype]

Hey B im not sure of the exact name of the species but its directly related to overdosing zeofood/Zeostart From my experience it seems to love low light..Thats why it thrives in the overflow and refugium section And on the underside of my live rock. Most of my cuc wont touch it. The only way to slow down the growth is to limit the amount of food its getting from the zeo products. At least that has worked for me thus far. I would quit dosing until it starts to recede.

[becact]

Thanks, I'll try it. Just wondering- what do you dose for Start2? I am doing 0.1ml twice daily (0.2ml total daily). And what did you used to dose when you had a problem with this stuff?

[Rehype]

Hey B after closer inspection of your photos it doesnt seem like its algae. At least not one ive seen before. The algae i was describing in my tank tank is hair-algae like in appearance while yours is much more sponge-like.

[becact]

I don't think it's algae either. It looks like gray mold. Do you think it could be a type of sponge possibly? In any case, I'll get some better photos when the lights are on tomorrow.

[Rehype]

Hey B i looked at them a bit more(I did some cropping to look a bit closer) and it definitely looks like harmless sponges. I had some that attached to a zoa colony of mine in the same fashion. They are nocturnal filter feeders so it didnt bother the zoas at all. Nothing to worry about IMO.

[becact]

Here are some better photos:

 

 

 

They definitely look like sponges to me. The defining characteristic is the round hole like structures throughout the body of it.

[Rehype]

Yep definitely sponges. Thats a good thing..Sponges are a sign of good tank health

[becact]

Great! I'm not even dosing sponge power or phytoplankton. In my old 90g, I dosed live phytoplankton for a while, and had a q-tip sponge explosion. There were thousands of them in the sump and shaded areas of the rocks.

 

I hope this sponge does not irritate the corals too much.

[Rehype]

Nah i wouldnt worry about it my zoa colony didnt seem to mind at all and continued to grow uninhibited.

[timdanger]

Yep definitely sponges. Thats a good thing..Sponges are a sign of good tank health

 

definitely sponges. i had a huge "outbreak" of these sponges in my tank. i mean, i probably had 30 of them at one point. most of them disappeared over the course of a month or so, but a few patches like the ones in that picture still remain.

[becact]

Small update. I sold the dendros as the shrimp kept stealing from them, and I didn't really want to bother with spot feeding (the shrimp would pull the food out of the closed dendro even after covering them with a cup for a while). also, I made a small frag rack out of eggcrate and a mag float and painted it with krylon fusion, but my skimmer went nuts. This is after letting it cure for a week both in air and under water, so I guess I won't be using it. I also stopped using the mesh top and am just going open top.

 

The rest of the corals seem to be settling in finally and taking on some nice color. I am dosing about 4-6 drops of coral vitalizer daily, and 0.5ml Xtra.

 

Here are some pics! I've edited some of them in photoshop, but only to get them to look as they do in real life (they come out with an over-saturation of blue or purple from the camera, and too dark generally).

 

First, some top down shots:

 

 

 

Yes, that bright green acro really does look like that in real life, but only from the top unfortunately, lol. Also, those two shots were with an actinic and blue bulb only, so that might have some effect.

 

Red planet is doing well. It is just reaching the edge of the plug, I'm curious to see if it tables out or just stops growing at that point and continues to encrust in other directions:

 

 

Grape watermelon grew a new eye (this pic is a few days old):

 

 

And I think the bubblegum monster is doing very well! I haven't noticed much growth, but the color has drastically improved. Here it is currently:

 

 

And here is is only 4 weeks ago:

 

[Nemo Niblets]

That red planet will be sweeet! I've read they encrust about as far as they can go before they start tabling... I just got one myself. I like the green of yours, mine is more pink.

[becact]

Thanks Nemo I still am not getting the polyp extension they are known for, but hopefully that will come as it matures a bit.

 

I also wanted to add that recently I've started seeing the feeding tentacles on the SPS. I don't think I've ever seen them before now. They look like tiny white threads about 1/4" long that come out of the SPS, and are distinct from the normal polyps.

[timdanger]

why'd you stop using your mesh top?

 

i'm going to have to get rid of mine after my jawfish incident. I talked to Eddie today about one of his new glass lids.

[becact]

why'd you stop using your mesh top?

 

i'm going to have to get rid of mine after my jawfish incident. I talked to Eddie today about one of his new glass lids.

 

I just don't see a need for it, and it gets in the way of feeding. I've never seen my jawfish leave his burrow, but I'm willing to take the risk.

[imcosmokramer]

wow, nice corals!

[becact]

wow, nice corals!

 

thanks! Do you have any threads here on NR for your tanks? Or do you only update the blog?

[pismo_reefer]

Hawkfish