roblox84 Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 Today I finally got a reading of 5ppm nitrate, hopefully things turn around for the better. Quote Link to comment
risk1994 Posted May 2, 2020 Author Share Posted May 2, 2020 check phosphate, it drops fast once nitrate is present. 1 Quote Link to comment
roblox84 Posted May 2, 2020 Share Posted May 2, 2020 1 hour ago, risk1994 said: check phosphate, it drops fast once nitrate is present. Thanks, I think I wasn't dosing enough phosphate. Hopefully I didn't shock the corals too badly. Quote Link to comment
risk1994 Posted May 5, 2020 Author Share Posted May 5, 2020 Update; Cyano (or dino) are coming back fast, need to clean glass every day Bubble algae starting to make a comeback. Torch corals are splitting and are much less washed out. Colors are deep. Mushrooms look great, really opened up and one of them has split twice since this thread started. Monti has deep color and bright blue polyps...I've never had one look so good. GSP seem to be withering away. Ive NEVER been able to keep these. Dragons breath looks awesome, such rich orange/red...never had color like this. Euphylias are hard to say, they seem to have better color but also seem smaller.. I really dont see how Ill be able to dose this stuff. Theres no way I can keep up this testing regimen but I cant see enough of a pattern to feel safe dosing without the constant testing. It holds steady for a few days then I need to aggressively dose, then its good for a few more...but if I dose more frequently Im worried it will accumulate. Perhaps Ill try 2ml of phosphate every 2 days and track daily to see how it goes. nitrate nitrate dose (after test) phosphate phosphate dose (after test) 4-11 0 3.75ml 0.012 4-13 0 3.75ml 0.04 4-14 0 2ml 0.018 4-15 am 0.75 3.75ml 0 1ml pm 1.5 1.8ml 0.034 4-16 am 1.5 2ml 0 2ml pm 3 2ml 0 4ml + 4ml 4-17 am 4 2ml 0.04 1ml pm 4 0.02 1.5ml 4-18 am 4 0.055 pm 2 3.7ml 0.024 1.5ml 4-19 am 4 0.024 pm 3 2ml 0.018 1.5ml 4-20 am 4 0.024 1.5ml pm 2 3.75ml 0.04 4-21 am 4 0.001 4ml pm 4 0.06 4-22 am 2 3.75ml 0.05 4-23 4 0.05 4-24 3 0 4ml 4-25 am 2.5ml 0.05 2ml pm 5 0.02 4ml 4-26 0.04 4-27 0.07 4-28 am 0.05 pm 5 0.03 4ml 4-29 0.05 4-30 0.05 5-1 0.05 5-2 0.75 5ml 0.02 4ml 5-3 1.5 4ml 0.02 4ml 5-4 4 0.05 Other levels: Ph - 8.3 Alk - 10.4 Cal - 475 Really happy with the Monti... deep rich color, check out the pic at the beginning of the thread, much more washed out. FTS: Check out the 2 shrooms in the middle between the 2 gorgonians, theyre actually 3 and were just 1 when this started. note: 2 clowns not killing each other 🙂 Will this ever go away? Coming in faster now.... Quote Link to comment
roblox84 Posted May 5, 2020 Share Posted May 5, 2020 That's great! My experience is going similar to yours and 2 mushrooms look like they're already splitting maybe. My star polyps look unchanged though and don't extend much. What if you dosed.5 or .75ml per day or a little more? Maybe that is better than constant testing. I'm not going to be able to keep up with testing either so I figured adding some trates/phates into the water is better than testing everyday or every other day. Quote Link to comment
risk1994 Posted May 5, 2020 Author Share Posted May 5, 2020 14 minutes ago, roblox84 said: What if you dosed.5 or .75ml per day or a little more? Maybe that is better than constant testing. I'm not going to be able to keep up with testing either so I figured adding some trates/phates into the water is better than testing everyday or every other day. My doser cant dispense such small amounts and i cant be trusted to dose manually every day. I need automation. Quote Link to comment
SliceGolfer Posted May 5, 2020 Share Posted May 5, 2020 Dilute the element with RODI and then double your dose amount. This should allow you to increase the dose that your pump can accommodate. 2 Quote Link to comment
risk1994 Posted May 6, 2020 Author Share Posted May 6, 2020 21 hours ago, SliceGolfer said: Dilute the element with RODI and then double your dose amount. This should allow you to increase the dose that your pump can accommodate. This would be great...can you do this with the brightwell neophos? I just assumed adding ro would ruin it, or cause precipitate or something. 1 Quote Link to comment
roblox84 Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 1 hour ago, risk1994 said: This would be great...can you do this with the brightwell neophos? I just assumed adding ro would ruin it, or cause precipitate or something. I'm pretty sure the stuff we're using is already diluted with RO, so adding more shouldn't cause any issues. BTW... How are you getting rid of that hard algae in your last pic? I have the same stuff growing fast now and my scraper just doesn't cut it. 1 Quote Link to comment
Saultman Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 Any updates? I’ve been following along and started dosing neophos and NeoNit since 4/30 and been having similar experiences. I was having Dinos in my tank for a couple weeks but they were not out of control, corals and fish happy but put my snails in a coma. I decide I was going to hit the Dinos from a few different areas, I added a 8watt aqua advantage UV , dosing algae barn phyto, brightwell phos+and nitrates. waterbox cube 10 2ml phytoplankton daily, UV on 24hrs I started out undetectable no3 and .02 Po4 , day 1 1ml nit and .5ml phos day 2 2ml nit and .5ml phos day3 3ml nit and .5ml phos day4 undetectable no3+po4 -dosed 3ml nit and 1ml phos day5 dosed 3.5ml nit and 1.5ml phos day6 3ppm no3 +0 phos - dosed 3ml nit and 1.8ml phos day7 4ppm nit, 0.02 phos - dosed 2.5ml nit and 2ml phos day8 5ppm nit, 0.03 phos- dosed 1.5ml nit and 1.5ml phos day9 5 ppm nit, 0.04 phos - dosed 1ml nit and 1.5ml phos day 10 5ppm nit, 0.04 phos Quote Link to comment
Saultman Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 As of today I can’t see any visual dinos and my snails have come back to life and are feeding and corals look great and my hammer started splitting. I feel the nutrients have some what stabilized and I’m going to continue to dose 1ml of nitrate and 1.5ml of phosphate for the next couple days and test again , Quote Link to comment
mipster Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 This is so so interesting. When I had my first reef, I was told I had to keep things as low as possible and now with more learning and information we're realizing that isn't the case. Quote Link to comment
Saultman Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 17 minutes ago, mipster said: This is so so interesting. When I had my first reef, I was told I had to keep things as low as possible and now with more learning and information we're realizing that isn't the case. That’s the same for me and believe why I was not successful in the past (oversized skimmers , chemical filtration) especially on new tanks starting with dry rock everyone sees those high nutrients after a cycle and wants to do a water change and add chemipure, I think it would be better to just let them come down naturally over the next few months how else is different bacteria and micro fauna suppose to get established if you take all that back out right away Quote Link to comment
mipster Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 I'm cycling my second tank now after over 5 years since having a tank so I'm excited to apply these principles from the beginning and hopefully start it out really strong. We shall see! lol Quote Link to comment
justinkdenny Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 On 4/9/2020 at 11:33 AM, Clown79 said: The issue with coral health and even nuisance algae is due to the low to no phos and nitrates. Low phos can cause numerous issues and with low nitrates, its double whammy. Lack of growth, lack of colour, nuisance algae, and even dino- all caused by lack of nutrients Using media that reduces nitrates and phosphates is an issue. If you don't have any nutrients, you are stripping any tiny bit of it that may be present. Try a more natural approach. Floss and activated carbon(small amount for just toxin control) Stop using rox, gfo, turn the skimmer off, feed daily, feed coral food 2 times a week, maybe dose some phyto. You need to get the nutrients up. This ☝️ 1 Quote Link to comment
roblox84 Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 2 hours ago, mipster said: This is so so interesting. When I had my first reef, I was told I had to keep things as low as possible and now with more learning and information we're realizing that isn't the case. Same here. Funny thing is my most successful coral growth was in my very first tank when I basically figured things out on my own. So now I'm very skeptical about any new advice. 1 Quote Link to comment
risk1994 Posted May 11, 2020 Author Share Posted May 11, 2020 21 hours ago, Saultman said: Any updates? In all my years I've never had a tank look like this. Im growing stuff I could never grow before (GSP,macro) and the colors on everything are fantastic. Torches are splitting, Ricordia is huge and fluffy and fat, I have a Rhodactis that has split 3 times already! With all the feeding my clowns have started getting along too. They now swim together in a corner they've chosen, just like clowns are supposed to. Man its great! My wife even comments on how nice the tank looks. I got so sick looking at a tank full of washed out corals clinging on the edge of death, and clowns tearing each other to pieces. As far as chemistry goes...the testing continues...every 2-3 days now. I hate this part. I want to be able to go a week with no testing, but I think Im somewhat stabilized. I've been feeding much more, I added frozen to the mix every few days and I started auto dosing a 50/50 RO/Phosphate 2ml every other day to start. Im sure Ill need to bump this up eventually. I'm keeping nitrates around 5 and phosphates around .04 or so. Now I think I might need to start looking at Magnesium. I haven't checked this in forever and whenever I do Im around 1350 or so which I gather is too low. Although I just know that messing with it is going to throw everything else off kilter. One thing I've learned, doubling the number of parameters to control doesn't double the difficulty, it quadruples it... It's a crazy juggling act. I think for sure this is where a small tank really sucks..With 50 or 100 gallons I bet its much easier to get this stuff in check with a nice fudge factor. With a nano you're never more than a couple of teaspoons away from destruction! 19 hours ago, Saultman said: That’s the same for me and believe why I was not successful in the past (oversized skimmers , chemical filtration) especially on new tanks starting with dry rock everyone sees those high nutrients after a cycle and wants to do a water change and add chemipure, I think it would be better to just let them come down naturally over the next few months how else is different bacteria and micro fauna suppose to get established if you take all that back out right away I can honestly say I think this is the secret sauce I have been missing. I thought it was the lack of a skimmer (hence that ridiculous thing in my tank). Things did perk up a little when I added it (maybe due to extra oxygen) but no luck. Phosphates/nitrates above zero is what brought this tank to life. I also started with dry rock which I think probably doesn't help. I was always fastidious about keeping nutrients down (ran carbon with GFO mixed in, barely fed the fish) if I only knew. 19 hours ago, mipster said: I'm cycling my second tank now after over 5 years since having a tank so I'm excited to apply these principles from the beginning and hopefully start it out really strong. We shall see! lol Man I'm with you. For years I've been wanting a bigger tank, but theres no way I was going to spend a small fortune when the best I'd ever been able to get was a struggling barely alive tank of sadness. Im already starting to think about where I can put a nice Red Sea Reefer 350! 1 Quote Link to comment
roblox84 Posted May 11, 2020 Share Posted May 11, 2020 3 hours ago, risk1994 said: In all my years I've never had a tank look like this. Im growing stuff I could never grow before (GSP,macro) and the colors on everything are fantastic. Torches are splitting, Ricordia is huge and fluffy and fat, I have a Rhodactis that has split 3 times already! With all the feeding my clowns have started getting along too. They now swim together in a corner they've chosen, just like clowns are supposed to. Man its great! My wife even comments on how nice the tank looks. I got so sick looking at a tank full of washed out corals clinging on the edge of death, and clowns tearing each other to pieces. As far as chemistry goes...the testing continues...every 2-3 days now. I hate this part. I want to be able to go a week with no testing, but I think Im somewhat stabilized. I've been feeding much more, I added frozen to the mix every few days and I started auto dosing a 50/50 RO/Phosphate 2ml every other day to start. Im sure Ill need to bump this up eventually. I'm keeping nitrates around 5 and phosphates around .04 or so. Now I think I might need to start looking at Magnesium. I haven't checked this in forever and whenever I do Im around 1350 or so which I gather is too low. Although I just know that messing with it is going to throw everything else off kilter. One thing I've learned, doubling the number of parameters to control doesn't double the difficulty, it quadruples it... It's a crazy juggling act. I think for sure this is where a small tank really sucks..With 50 or 100 gallons I bet its much easier to get this stuff in check with a nice fudge factor. With a nano you're never more than a couple of teaspoons away from destruction! I can honestly say I think this is the secret sauce I have been missing. I thought it was the lack of a skimmer (hence that ridiculous thing in my tank). Things did perk up a little when I added it (maybe due to extra oxygen) but no luck. Phosphates/nitrates above zero is what brought this tank to life. I also started with dry rock which I think probably doesn't help. I was always fastidious about keeping nutrients down (ran carbon with GFO mixed in, barely fed the fish) if I only knew. Man I'm with you. For years I've been wanting a bigger tank, but theres no way I was going to spend a small fortune when the best I'd ever been able to get was a struggling barely alive tank of sadness. Im already starting to think about where I can put a nice Red Sea Reefer 350! Good too hear! BTW... What salt do you use? Quote Link to comment
risk1994 Posted May 11, 2020 Author Share Posted May 11, 2020 20 minutes ago, roblox84 said: Good too hear! BTW... What salt do you use? Red Sea Blue bucket, details on the tank in the first post. On 5/10/2020 at 12:10 PM, Saultman said: I started out undetectable no3 and .02 Po4 , day 1 1ml nit and .5ml phos day 2 2ml nit and .5ml phos day3 3ml nit and .5ml phos day4 undetectable no3+po4 -dosed 3ml nit and 1ml phos day5 dosed 3.5ml nit and 1.5ml phos day6 3ppm no3 +0 phos - dosed 3ml nit and 1.8ml phos day7 4ppm nit, 0.02 phos - dosed 2.5ml nit and 2ml phos day8 5ppm nit, 0.03 phos- dosed 1.5ml nit and 1.5ml phos day9 5 ppm nit, 0.04 phos - dosed 1ml nit and 1.5ml phos day 10 5ppm nit, 0.04 phos Numbers look good on day 10, however the trick is holding it there. For me it fluctuates quite a bit every day. Quote Link to comment
risk1994 Posted May 11, 2020 Author Share Posted May 11, 2020 On 5/10/2020 at 12:14 PM, Saultman said: As of today I can’t see any visual dinos and my snails have come back to life and are feeding and corals look great and my hammer started splitting. I feel the nutrients have some what stabilized and I’m going to continue to dose 1ml of nitrate and 1.5ml of phosphate for the next couple days and test again , I still have dino's (or cyano, its nasty smelly brown stuff) and bubble algae. To be fair its not quite as bad as I feared but I need to clean glass like every other day. I gather at some point it will slow down. Quote Link to comment
Saultman Posted May 11, 2020 Share Posted May 11, 2020 35 minutes ago, risk1994 said: I still have dino's (or cyano, its nasty smelly brown stuff) and bubble algae. To be fair its not quite as bad as I feared but I need to clean glass like every other day. I gather at some point it will slow down. Are you running UV? I am thinking that’s what helped clear it up in my tank, now I am debating on taking it offline now or maybe just part time. Quote Link to comment
risk1994 Posted May 12, 2020 Author Share Posted May 12, 2020 6 hours ago, Saultman said: Are you running UV? I am thinking that’s what helped clear it up in my tank, now I am debating on taking it offline now or maybe just part time. I have a 10 gallon tank, I doubt Ill be running UV anytime soon. Quote Link to comment
risk1994 Posted May 13, 2020 Author Share Posted May 13, 2020 This is a bad pic, this thing is glowing deep red with bright blue polyps. Never had a monti look like this. Check out how faded it was in the first pic of the thread. Note the torch on the left, I've had it for a year, it used to be like the ones on the right which are a couple of months old. It faded badly over time. It has since grown at least one new head and has colored up MUCH more (check out the pic in the very first post). Hopefully it will become as deep purple as the ones on the right (and they wont suffer the same fate) Also note the 3 heads of Rhodactis, actually its 4 now. Also that large orange mushroom has gotten huge fat and happy. Its hard to tell with these pics but everything looks SO much better. 1 Quote Link to comment
Saultman Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 So I haven’t seen Dinos in a couple weeks and am starting to get hair algae taking over my zoas. Any idea on how I can clean up the zoas? was thinking about pulling out the Rock and manually removing what I could and spot cleaning with peroxide 1 Quote Link to comment
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