As close to science as I will likely get.

[Mschmidt]

For posterity, ease of reference (for me), and another entry into the supporting members giveaway I will use this thread to track the progress of my new nutrient export and tank maintenance routine.

Background:
I have a (roughly) 100-gallon mixed reef where seemingly only the sunset monti and a couple of acros grow. The two sides and back are fairly caked with coralline from an explosion early in the setup. The tank has been going since Feb. 2023.

I have heard that coral snow and mb7 work well to clarify water and lower nutrients. I have been snowing for a bit, but no mb7.

(relevant) Equipment:
3x kessil 360s
2x skimmers maxing out in effectiveness at 100 gallons. One Reefbreeders, one OIAIO
filter socks
maxspect gyre 350
Hanna n, p, and k testers
icecap probe for salinity and temp.
API for calcium

Roughly 200# dry rock, 10# TBS live rock
60-100# aragonite and crushed coral

Stocking:
Powder brown tang - 5-6"
Kole tang - 4-5"
FIlefish - 4"
falko hawkfish - 4"
2x black ocellaris clowns - 2"
springer damsel - 1"
fighting conch
3-6x small hermits
serpent starfish
(maybe) long spine urchin
asterina starfish

hypothesis
With the addition of Microbacter7 and clean to my normal routine, I will see a decrease in nutrient levels to a level that supports ideal coral health.

Method
I will add coral snow twice a week, dose microbacter 7 and microbacter clean per the bottles' recommendations for "difficult" or "neglected" (whatever they call it) tanks. After the initial two weeks of heavy dosing, I will alter my snow with the addition of the MB7 and drop dosing to weekly.

I will not dramatically change my other maintenance (or lack thereof) from weekly glass scraping, sock changing when I remember (historically tied to scraping and snow), water changes every "few weeks" (realistically 15-20 times a year, whatever that breaks down to be). I will continue to dose carbon when I remember, but am in transition from vinegar to vodka. Alkalinity and calcium are dosed via auto-doser and I use Randy's 2-part with soda ash. Evaporation is replaced via auto-doser as well.

All of these activities will happen after work, as I don't do anything tank-wise before.

 

[Mschmidt]

Baseline readings from yesterday:
n: 43.5
p: out of reagent
alk: 185
calc: 460
salinity: 1.026

(will add first picture today)

 

[MnFish1]

For posterity, ease of reference (for me), and another entry into the supporting members giveaway I will use this thread to track the progress of my new nutrient export and tank maintenance routine.

Background:
I have a (roughly) 100-gallon mixed reef where seemingly only the sunset monti and a couple of acros grow. The two sides and back are fairly caked with coralline from an explosion early in the setup. The tank has been going since Feb. 2023.

I have heard that coral snow and mb7 work well to clarify water and lower nutrients. I have been snowing for a bit, but no mb7.

(relevant) Equipment:
3x kessil 360s
2x skimmers maxing out in effectiveness at 100 gallons. One Reefbreeders, one OIAIO
filter socks
maxspect gyre 350

Roughly 200# dry rock, 10# TBS live rock
60-100# aragonite and crushed coral

Stocking:
Powder brown tang - 5-6"
Kole tang - 4-5"
FIlefish - 4"
falko hawkfish - 4"
2x black ocellaris clowns - 2"
springer damsel - 1"
fighting conch
3-6x small hermits
serpent starfish
(maybe) long spine urchin
asterina starfish

hypothesis
With the addition of Microbacter7 and clean to my normal routine, I will see a decrease in nutrient levels to a level that supports ideal coral health.

Method
I will add coral snow twice a week, dose microbacter 7 and microbacter clean per the bottles' recommendations for "difficult" or "neglected" (whatever they call it) tanks. After the initial two weeks of heavy dosing, I will alter my snow with the addition of the MB7 and drop dosing to weekly.

I will not dramatically change my other maintenance (or lack thereof) from weekly glass scraping, sock changing when I remember (historically tied to scraping and snow), water changes every "few weeks" (realistically 15-20 times a year, whatever that breaks down to be). I will continue to dose carbon when I remember, but am in transition from vinegar to vodka. Alkalinity and calcium are dosed via auto-doser and I use Randy's 2-part with soda ash. Evaporation is replaced via auto-doser as well.

All of these activities will happen after work, as I don't do anything tank-wise before.

What is your goal?

 

[Mschmidt]

What is your goal?

n:10-15
p: .1

 

[MnFish1]

What is your goal?

By that I mean your theory - i.e. expectation.

 

[MnFish1]

@Randy Holmes-Farley With all due respect this is usually a forum to discuss an experiment - with controls, design, etc

 

[Mschmidt]

By that I mean your theory - i.e. expectation.

ah: the addition of mb7 will provide the decrease and control of nutrient levels in my tank. Clean will further assist in the ease of maintenance.

@Randy Holmes-Farley With all due respect this is usually a forum to discuss an experiment - with controls, design, etc

So a different forum is more appropriate? wouldn't this fall under a qualitative study?

 

[MnFish1]

No - not really in my opinion (I started/suggested this forum) it would not be a qualitative study - Instead it would be an anecdote.

As to the first question, My personal recommendation - is that these are not needed. .

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I think it is ok here. Tests do not need to be perfect studies to be a test of something. The issue will be not knowing for surewhat would have happened in this same tank with no additions.

 

[Mschmidt]

My assumption is that, as everything has been stable (except when a doser went crazy and dumped everything) for the past 8ish months, without an external change, nothing would continue to change internally.

That assumption neglects a number of facts:
1) 8 months is a short time for a reef
2) increased coral growth will change nutrient uptake
3) in the act of attempting one thing, I am likely going to change other behaviors as well, even if less deliberately (cleaning socks more regularly, making sure skimmers don't overflow...).
4) probably more things.

 

[Mschmidt]

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My assumption is that, as everything has been stable (except when a doser went crazy and dumped everything) for the past 8ish months, without an external change, nothing would continue to change internally.

Other things change that are harder to control, such as the CO2 level in your home air impacting pH and hence impacting how fast corals calcify and possibly how fast various algae species grow.

 

[Mschmidt]

Other things change that are harder to control, such as the CO2 level in your home air impacting pH and hence impacting how fast corals calcify and possibly how fast various algae species grow.

How useful are ph spot checks? My assumption is without fairly regular monitoring, via something like apex, Daily or weekly ph data isn't worth much.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

How useful are ph spot checks? My assumption is without fairly regular monitoring, via something like apex, Daily or weekly ph data isn't worth much.

An accurate pH measurement is useful. More than one over the course of one day is even more useful. Repeating on other days doesn’t usually add much.

 

[Spare time]

By that I mean your theory - i.e. expectation.

You mean hypothesis and prediction

 

[Mschmidt]

n: 39
alk: 186

snowed last night, emptied skimmers and swapped a sock. one sock because that's all I had clean.

Also, just realized I oopsed. Been dosing 120 ml of clean for the past days, rather than 120 day one, then down to 20 ml daily for two weeks. was wondering why I thought I had bought enough, but was running out quickly. will correct dosing tonight. That said, I don't see much change from it yet.

 

[MnFish1]

Just a comment. If you could, I would define some of your outcomes more specifically. For example:

I will see a decrease in nutrient levels to a level that supports ideal coral health.

What decrease are you expecting (i.e. what would you consider a significant decrease)? What nutrient levels are you measuring? What is 'ideal coral health'? If you mean an improvement - photos before during and after would be great.

I will continue to dose carbon when I remember

I would wait until after you're done changing over your carbon - and I would TRY to keep everything stable (PS - just forgetting carbon may also play a role in poor coral health (i.e. not ideal)

 

[strich]

Not to derail this test, but is 2 skimmers in 1 tank at all common? I've never heard of that setup, and the last paper I read indicated any amount of skimming can only remove about 37% of TOC.

 

[Mschmidt]

Some of the coral I have in mind as "canaries".

Not sure what I would call a substantial drop, but I think I'd know it when I see it. Measuring n and p for the test, all others for regular monitoring. Not looking to affect them in this experiment.


2 skimmers because I have them ,they were free, and each has this tank volume right at its upper limit. Reefbreeders says 120g max, oiaio has 100g.

 

[Mschmidt]

latest test:
n: 38
p .6 (changed gfo)
alk: 189
calc: <400 (gotta fix that)

Glass may be staying cleaner than it has been, but there is no noticeable difference in the sand bed or on the rocks, that can't be attributed to the urchin.

I suspect mb7 is doing something, I've just had high p for so long, there is a lot of work to do.
Clean, for what the bottle says, takes more than a few weeks to show noticeable changes, so I'll reserve judgement till June or so.

Of note, I am not giving it the four hours without filtration that they want. some days are an hour, most days two hours. additionally, I will need to find a solution to the budget manufacturing of the OIAIO skimmer. the drain pops off when I try to empty the cup, probably don't need to explain in depth why that would be an issue. A zip tie may work, there may be something 3dprinting can do, and I'll puzzle a longer-term solution for both skimmers.