100 gallons Acros Tank

drawman

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Man those are some great shots Mr. V. You are running radions only correct?
 
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Mr V

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Some other shots.

This colony color up quite good. Still need a permanently location though.
APscIgS.jpg




lqojFbP.jpg


Tri-color area. :)

Lji8AJv.jpg


Rru the Vinh. I like how the purple comes out.

lfQk7fw.jpg


Vivid Confetti growing very good.

VJY6VCm.jpg




y9gHGLu.jpg



Bc Frankenberry

4b3jWfm.jpg


Rrc wonderland

OkRgx1R.jpg


Other two no name pieces. Look like they are ready to branching out.

bOHeihn.jpg



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Pc Rainbow. This frag is growing under the shade. It's the reason yellow comes out a lot
3JyyTOt.jpg



Rr Lady In Pink
dDu71QJ.jpg














Man those are some great shots Mr. V. You are running radions only correct?
Yes, only radions now. But I want to add some t5s supplements.
 

Johnson556

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Went through almost the entire thing, amazing. What are you currently dosing and how much?

I use ESV with a Dos on my 180G and am currently at 65ml(each) a day, not much in the tank. Was thinking about a CaRx for my downsize (SCA 100G as well) but after reading through this, it makes me want to stick with ESV.
 
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Mr V

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The corals are coloring up crazy since I am back from a long vacation. In fact, I never seen they color up that much ever since. However, I notice some stn recently on about 30% of the colonies on this system. Things doing great, colors outstanding, polyps are crazy. I live in the comfort zone for too long, I don't notice the problems. Think again, this system doesn't consume that much Alk and Calcium at all. (45ml per day at peak, now it's 30ml per day). And I realize that the corals in this tank don't grow...at all. Some frag I but in here for 3~6 months, still stay at frags, happy, but only encrust a very little. Huhm, what can be the problem here?!
As usual, I always do a big water change (50% this time) as an emergency response. Thing still the same, corals doesn't consume alk and cal (My Calcium gone off chart on Hanna Checker and I had to stop dosing Cal completely).
My tank doesn't have algae outbreak. And I always rely on algae availability to guess the nutrient level. But I know that one of the reason corals can't calcification is because of high phosphate in the water. So I try to test for phosphate using Hanna Phosphorus checker. It's off range! (Highest range on the checker is 0.61ppm)
I am so relieve right now because when we know the problem, we can fix it! I start using gfo and feed a little less. Hopefully corals will start growing again when phosphate is lower. I will update the process.
Here are some pictures I took when the phosphate was high. Blue light using Nikon D500 with Tamron 90mm and Sigma 17-50mm lens.
EKSSqXf.jpg


RRU Apple Jack
4y6C4xz.jpg


I have this little frag in the system for at least 6 months. No grow! but check out the coloration!
rfPdkdS.jpg



WWC Papaya, this frag stay in the tank even longer.
7cE1YZS.jpg


Greg's Unicorn
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Mr V's The French Wolverine. Always proud of this baby!

5ZSAhpd.jpg


RRU Red Bull
FvuNhiJ.jpg


RR Lady In piNK
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TCG Northern Crush
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Diabolic Pacman
DIygNt6.jpg


No name tenuis, but the color is amazing!
RJLScsg.jpg


RRU Rainbow Blossom.
oZYXDTo.jpg
 
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Mr V

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Those colors are absolutely amazing!
Yes, the colors are absolutely insane. I think high nutrient contributes to it!
Here are some quick photos I took with my Samsung Galaxy Note 9. The lights are about to went out so it a little dark.

40f3448b32021ae94bf57cfd51cad36f.jpg

40aad25a45f888152c92690a466ad385.jpg


Learned anew trick: put the phone under the water! Images are so much better [emoji847]
db69a9364799831dc0079d81f63cd065.jpg
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FTS, Frag racks in display are the worst. Totally ruin the scape![emoji25]
Can't wait to remove them.
12525f3ae44ad28ef3e5ebaf4b5aede7.jpg



Youbstill have beautiful colors!

Your phosphates were that high after the 50% water change?
Yes, I didn't think it's phosphate at first so I didn't test it. And it was still out of range after water change.
The salifert Nitrate test kit arrive today and it says my Nitrate is about 100ppm or more!!!
9d7d49b093704cb1c93ccc9f0d51cb36.jpg
 

zzl630

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Are you going to lower you nitrate and how? I’m in the same boat with you, high nitrate and phosphate. Growth is really slow. Thanks
 

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What is your alk at? Pulling those
colors with such high nutrients is not supposed to happen! (I’m guessing above 9)
 
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Mr V

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Are you going to lower you nitrate and how? I’m in the same boat with you, high nitrate and phosphate. Growth is really slow. Thanks
Yes, they are in a real danger zone. With those number, the system can crash any time. My plan is cut back feeding, dosing bacteria in the bottle, water change and clean the sump. it's so dirty with detritus accumulated for over a year.
What is your alk at? Pulling those
colors with such high nutrients is not supposed to happen! (I’m guessing above 9)
Good guess! I tried to keep it between 8~9dkh but it's always stay high.
I think the old thinking high nutrient make corals brown out doesn't 100% correct in this case.
00b9f81ea17a6f214ac21d87f6a5400b.jpg
 

IxTCxI

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Dosing bacteria in a bottle. How much do you dose and what would that achieves? Are you referring to dr Tims?
 
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Dosing bacteria in a bottle. How much do you dose and what would that achieves? Are you referring to dr Tims?
My filtration relies on bacteria and skimmer to remove nutrient. Dosing bacteria in bottles is for boosting the bacteria population (well, I hope so). I usually use Bacter7. Reason: it's cheap. About dosing amount, I just blind dose. Around 30ml a day still thing gets better. (Note that you can't "overdose" bacteria)
I hooked up an emergency GFO (using 1/2 recommend amount) to lower phosphate but then I shutted it down when I realized the nitrate is also high so GFO will make the tank unbalance.
 
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reef_ranch

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Yes, they are in a real danger zone. With those number, the system can crash any time. My plan is cut back feeding, dosing bacteria in the bottle, water change and clean the sump. it's so dirty with detritus accumulated for over a year.Good guess! I tried to keep it between 8~9dkh but it's always stay high.
I think the old thinking high nutrient make corals brown out doesn't 100% correct in this case.
00b9f81ea17a6f214ac21d87f6a5400b.jpg

Yeah, I agree and I think it’s better of alk is high as well. Low nutrients low alk. High nutrients higher alk. I am noticing higher nutrients in my tank (5 NO3, .2-.3 PO4) so I’m letting the alk get into the mid 8s.
 

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Hey Mrv,

Do you have any recent photo of this beauty? This by far the most amazing milli I have seen. Am intrested to see what it turned to :)

In the spirit of holiday season...Mr V 212 Mille. The polyps are crazy you can't even see the coraline.
S0nQGj4.jpg
 

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Just finished this thread and ur 45g thread

Thanks for posting and sharing !

Ur corals have freakin fantastic colors. Just amazing to look at.

Are u planning to go back to Radion/t5 combo? U had some nice colonies on ur 45g tank. Perhaps the t5 helps with the growth.

Also, I thought I read somewhere that u removed the refugium/chaeto. Will u add it back on?

Let me know if u need help trimming. Lol
I am not to far from knotts and would love to see the tank in person.
 
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So it's been a while since I post.
First off I want to go through some problem I am dealing with right now. I hope I won't sound like whining!;Facepalm I want to share my experience so the other can avoid it.
If you read my other thread, the 45 gallons. You know that I feed a lot, against using reactors and not testing nutrients. Instead rely on algae availability in the display to guess for nutrients level.
My mindset is heavy import AND heavy export. On my 45 gallons, I was very successful with this method. However, I fail on this tank.
Since I set up this system, I fed a lot, and didn't test for po4 and no3 ever. In fact my test kits expired at that time. I had good color, no casualties (except that one big crash I mentioned), algae still available in the display but not outbreak.
One thing I notice that my corals almost has no growth for the period of 6 month to a year. I then test the water to see what's wrong. Surprisingly, my nitrate and phosphate was both out of test range (>100ppm nitrate, >0.62ppm phosphate).
So what did I do wrong? My method of reefing is "heavy import AND heavy export". I did the first one right: heavy import with a lot of fishes and food. But I was too relied on marinepure block (which works very well on my 45 gallons). Turn out, for some reason, I had 5 blocks totals and they just didn't work on this system.
How do I know? Well I fed the fishes way less, I stopped reefroid completely , I did big water changes frequently ,... two months later, my nitrate and phosphate still out of range. Look like the tank incapable of nutrient export.
It made me rethink about marinepure. I can't rely on those as the main method of nutrient export. My initial plan was change out difference sump with refugium chamber. Because my current sump doesn't have one. But the plan failed after I realized the sump was too long to remove from the front. And the tank is putting next to the wall so there's no way to remove current sump unless I break it. And I can't put new sump in anyways!!!
So I modified the current sump. Cut off the filter sock holder to make room for chaeto. The sump now simple and clean. I also invest the kessil 380 which I think grow chaeto like crazy.

20190626_221853.jpg



I also get another Maxspect 350 to improve flow in the tank. So now it has 2 mp40 on one size and 1 maxspect 350 on the other. All run 100% power, changing different mods during the day.
20190626_222011.jpg

I am down to 1 marine pure block, a lot of marine pure spheres. For the past 2 weeks my nitrate in between 25ppm and 45ppm. My phosphate is 0.13ppm~0.24ppm. Things definitely go the right way. Well, finger crossed! ;Pompus


So how're the corals after those changes? As of today, they look like crap! I lost about 30% of the colonies, frags in the tank. But it's necessary, it's for the better good. It happened once on my 45 gallons system when I changed from ultra clean method to heavy import/heavy export method. I lost 50% corals in the tank that time.


So what did I learn? Well, every systems are different!:)
 
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pelphrey

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Curious what salt you are using?
 

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So it's been a while since I post.
First off I want to go through some problem I am dealing with right now. I hope I won't sound like whining!;Facepalm I want to share my experience so the other can avoid it.
If you read my other thread, the 45 gallons. You know that I feed a lot, against using reactors and not testing nutrients. Instead rely on algae availability in the display to guess for nutrients level.
My mindset is heavy import AND heavy export. On my 45 gallons, I was very successful with this method. However, I fail on this tank.
Since I set up this system, I fed a lot, and didn't test for po4 and no3 ever. In fact my test kits expired at that time. I had good color, no casualties (except that one big crash I mentioned), algae still available in the display but not outbreak.
One thing I notice that my corals almost has no growth for the period of 6 month to a year. I then test the water to see what's wrong. Surprisingly, my nitrate and phosphate was both out of test range (>100ppm nitrate, >0.62ppm phosphate).
So what did I do wrong? My method of reefing is "heavy import AND heavy export". I did the first one right: heavy import with a lot of fishes and food. But I was too relied on marinepure block (which works very well on my 45 gallons). Turn out, for some reason, I had 5 blocks totals and they just didn't work on this system.
How do I know? Well I fed the fishes way less, I stopped reefroid completely , I did big water changes frequently ,... two months later, my nitrate and phosphate still out of range. Look like the tank incapable of nutrient export.
It made me rethink about marinepure. I can't rely on those as the main method of nutrient export. My initial plan was change out difference sump with refugium chamber. Because my current sump doesn't have one. But the plan failed after I realized the sump was too long to remove from the front. And the tank is putting next to the wall so there's no way to remove current sump unless I break it. And I can't put new sump in anyways!!!
So I modified the current sump. Cut off the filter sock holder to make room for chaeto. The sump now simple and clean. I also invest the kessil 380 which I think grow chaeto like crazy.

20190626_221853.jpg



I also get another Maxspect 350 to improve flow in the tank. So now it has 2 mp40 on one size and 1 maxspect 350 on the other. All run 100% power, changing different mods during the day.
20190626_222011.jpg

I am down to 1 marine pure block, a lot of marine pure spheres. For the past 2 weeks my nitrate in between 25ppm and 45ppm. My phosphate is 0.13ppm~0.24ppm. Things definitely go the right way. Well, finger crossed! ;Pompus


So how're the corals after those changes? As of today, they look like crap! I lost about 30% of the colonies, frags in the tank. But it's necessary, it's for the better good. It happened once on my 45 gallons system when I changed from ultra clean method to heavy import/heavy export method. I lost 50% corals in the tank that time.


So what did I learn? Well, every systems are different!:)

Sorry for the losses, every tank is different but, imo, low nutrients suck, corals need those nutrients as well, don't strip them too quickly! ;)
 

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Bummer about the losses but it definitely sounds like you've got things under control or at least getting there man :) Looking forward to watching the system come back over the next 6 months :D
 

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