30 day experiment tank: Experiment over, moved to Phyto dosing

[Mastiffsrule]

New 30 day trial starts today.

Going into this..bleach some acro due to high temps. Cyano and algae outbreak poss from high Po4 and No3.

This round of changes.
1. T5. Set up. Coral +, Blue +, Gies actinic, Gies actinic, Blue +, Coral +
When the purple when in cyano and algae grew bad. Interested what the light does with that.
2. Dosed Flux rx for algae.
3. Dropped Reef roids to 2x’s
4. Pulled the tops

ph 8, alk 8.3, No3 15, Po4 .75, ca 470, mag 1400.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Week 2.

Algae mostly gone. Next week I’ll do recommenced water change. Coral isn’t doing good since i had a big temp swing.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Week 3

Flux RX and Chemi Clean are done. Water change are done. Did not loose anything to the treatments. I lost a lepto and a acro that were on the way out before. Another acro that has not grow veritical has started to plate.

The tank needs more par, next 30 experiment

will be adding a bar, looking at SB right now.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Week 4. Last week of this run.

No signs of cyano, few small green film algae spots. No harm from the treatments to any of the corals. Did loose some prior to the treatment from the temp spike and cyano.

There is not much vertical growth, but encrusting is starting to become noticeable

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Last week of this run.

We did a lighting switch, chemiclean and Flux Rx. I think you will be surprised. I‘ll post pix then do side by sides. We 4 really saw a noticeable a growth in encrusting. No cyano and no algae. The light and treatments were all a

win.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Here is a months growth. It really does not take into account plating/encrusting. That is where it is noticeable. All the photos have been taken with the same iPhone 11 prod and with the regular camera , no adjustments or filter. I don’t know how to use that fancy stuff

The next 30 day experiment is going to be EPIC , stay tuned

Most recent on the left

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Howdy Y’all.

Back for another 30 day trial run on new thing to see how my tank responds. Excited about this month. I just hung an SB Reef Actinic reef bar to help my 6 bulb T5. I have big hopes for this thing. I am also trying out a homemade DE filter. I will run it once a week in place of carbon and other media except rowaphos. My final trial for this 30 will be AcroPower 2 times a week. 40 Mills for my 180.

Pumped for this 30. We shall see. Here are the pics. Added a few frags. I am thinking of an underwater camera. The encrusting is really what needs to be seen. It it what is really taking off..

 

[Mastiffsrule]

I started this new 30 day run on Sunday, but I left out a few things due to lack of time.

So, for this 30 day trial run I want to see how my growth, color, and PE will respond to 3 changes.

1. I have added an SB actinic bar to supplement my 6 bulb T5
2. I have pulled all media except Rowaphos and in it’s place I will run a DE filter 1 time a week.
3. I am dosing 40 mil Acropower 2xs a week.

Today I went thru and blew off all my rocks and got deep into the entire sand bed and under what rocks that I could with a turkey baster to clean the sand. I then rand the DE filter for this week. It was clear by 8. The filter was clogged by then. Attacing pics below.

Current #s ph 8, alk 8.6, ca 430, mag 1340, no3 3, Po4 .02., Sg .023 temp 78

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Busy week, just time for some pic updates.

Grabbed some new frags as well.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

going into week 2,

2 things I noticed. Corals is doing great and boy my phot skills stink.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Week 3 into this run, noticeable growth in the sps.

I will do side by side and water next week.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

This 4 week trial has ended. I’m a day late, sorry.

This was a 4 week run with a new light and supplement. I had to acclimate the coral so the light is just now at 100%. I had some loss due to getting behind in ALK. I was down to 6.4 before I caught it. The consumption crept up quick so I had to adjust my dosers to get caught up

Next up will be a run with a change in flow.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

There's a lot of info on your thread, and I didn't read it, where are you using the DE filter

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Here is side by side. Most recent are on left.

This is actually 3 weeks of growth since my first weeks pics stunk.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

There's a lot of info on your thread, and I didn't read it, where are you using the DE filter

I have been trying different things in my tank each 30 days. I have been using the DE as mechanical filtration right in the DT to help nutrient export and keep the water clean/polished this 30.

I stopped all carbon and other media accept Rowaphos. No forms of carbon dosing or things along that line. I went with all mechanical. 2 times a week I would stir the sand while running the DE. I put the intake and return right in the tank. After an hour the water was clear and the cartridge would be full of fish poo and other detris.

My #’s tonight were PH 8.15, ALK 6.4, Po4 .03, No3 5, Ca 420, MG 1320. I was feeding the tank 6 cubes a night for my sweetlips and other guys.

 

[JCOLE]

I have been trying different things in my tank each 30 days. I have been using the DE as mechanical filtration right in the DT to help nutrient export and keep the water clean/polished this 30.

I stopped all carbon and other media accept Rowaphos. No forms of carbon dosing or things along that line. I went with all mechanical. 2 times a week I would stir the sand while running the DE. I put the intake and return right in the tank. After an hour the water was clear and the cartridge would be full of fish poo and other detris.

My #’s tonight were PH 8.15, ALK 6.4, Po4 .03, No3 5, Ca 420, MG 1320. I was feeding the tank 6 cubes a night for my sweetlips and other guys.

That's a good idea. Did you notice flow decrease as the filter filled with detritus? If not then this might be a good idea to implement it permanently. Hmmm....got me thinking now.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

That's a good idea. Did you notice flow decrease as the filter filled with detritus? If not then this might be a good idea to implement it permanently. Hmmm....got me thinking now.

Howdy,

Unfortunately you cannot run my set up permanently. the filter uses diatomaceous earth powder that will get clogged with a short period of time. After that depending on the setup water still may flow but the filter effect will be useless. I just use it to grab all that fish waste and other gunk floating at that moment.

Let me know if you want to know more about DE, its main use really is for water polishing but can help in other applications

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Hey all

I got super busy, no real experiment I can speak of, and I am 5 weeks in instead of the usual month. But, wow. Some great growth. Some losses and changes as well.

For those that do not want to read back to the beginning ..Every 30 days I was making changes to see how coral reacted. I did weekly photos for folk to see. I skipped October due to schedule. I am posting current pics and then will do a post of side by side comparisons.

This month I have changed the water once. I had to dose Prazi for flukes, I run my t5 and SB Actinic 7:30 to 8. (Highly recommend the Sb bar). I feed reefbugs and use amino acids.

So here da pics

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Hi,

New on left. I wish I was better photographer. The height is nothing spectacular but plating is great, Color could still be better even with the actinic, I may grab mother geissman actinic and swap it for a coral plus T5.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Howdy,

Unfortunately you cannot run my set up permanently. the filter uses diatomaceous earth powder that will get clogged with a short period of time. After that depending on the setup water still may flow but the filter effect will be useless. I just use it to grab all that fish waste and other gunk floating at that moment.

Let me know if you want to know more about DE, its main use really is for water polishing but can help in other applications

I use to run a homemade DE filter, with this(see picture) last 10 days, then recharge. 4.5 x20 inches tall.