Devoted Reefer 250

[pelphrey]

Pics look great but better yet the corals look happy!!

I've got a positive outlook! Hope it keeps the corals healthy! haha Thank you!

3 Questions:

How much longer did you make your new pipe? How did you decide where to place the gate valve on the pipe?



WHAT IS THAT CRAB?!? So beautiful!

The new drain is the same length or pretty close. As far as the gate valve I just made a cut that I thought looked right and went with it!

That is a Halloween crab!

 

[powers2001]

pelphrey, you run two filters: skimmer and ATS, yet you also add nutrients. Couldn't you take one filter offline and stop adding nutrients?

 

[pelphrey]

The ups and downs continue! haha It never ends with me... So the top picture is a piece I got from AquaSD probably a year ago or more, it took months for the coral to adjust and finally started to thrive. It really held on tight as I took this piece for a roller coaster ride! Over the last few weeks I thought it was 100% gone, I was wrong. Last night I looked at the tank, the tank is in a high traffic area so I always see it and look at the corals. The bleaching of this piece happened between yesterday morning and last night.

Below the fully bleached piece is a coral I picked up locally a few months ago, or maybe a month and a half ago. It did well at first and all of a sudden went downhill, the bleaching of this piece accelerated yesterday. Obviously I am concerned about what is going on, and the fact I just got 11 more frags in. Those at the moment are doing great, which seems to be my ongoing issue. They do great for a short period and then decline, I understand part of the problem.... Well all of the problem is the owner!

I'm religiously checking salinity - 1.026, also checking alk daily 8-8.1 need to test calcium and magnesium this weekend. RODI water is zero TDS, and the ICP test I sent in awhile ago showed no issues with my RODI water. I make 80 gallons at a time and store. I've been doing water changes weekly with CoralPro salt, the Blue bucket will be here today. T5's are on a 7 hour schedule with the max intensity of the kessils hitting 62% for 4.5 hours.

Recently I did replace the t5 bulbs and removed the carbon reactor last weekend. I don't typically run carbon, I just decided to for a short while. Aside from that there haven't been any other changes to the tank (That I can think of).

The battle continues, stay tuned....

 

[Scurvy]

I really didnt want to like that post but it was thorough so ya know...

Are you still at non detecable N&P levels? Lowering the alk was a good starting point but i gotta believe its the long term zero’s that are killing you....

If you still want to avoid dosing to keep levels up then IMO you gotta try consistent supplemental feedings of some sort. Be it fuel, roids, acropower etc... a couple days a week should suffice.

They gotta have something to eat! Theyll survive a while w/o food but long term is whats starving them out I think.

#savethebattlebox!

 

[revhtree]

Sorry for the losses buddy.

 

[pelphrey]

I really didnt want to like that post but it was thorough so ya know...

Are you still at non detecable N&P levels? Lowering the alk was a good starting point but i gotta believe its the long term zero’s that are killing you....

If you still want to avoid dosing to keep levels up then IMO you gotta try consistent supplemental feedings of some sort. Be it fuel, roids, acropower etc... a couple days a week should suffice.

They gotta have something to eat! Theyll survive a while w/o food but long term is whats starving them out I think.

#savethebattlebox!

I add reef Roids to a frozen cube once or twice a week. I think it’s time to get some acropower on a doser again. I haven’t tested nitrates and phosphates, but I’d bet they are zero yet again. Probably wouldn’t hurt to dose 1-2ml of nitrates a day into the tank.

As always thanks for your help, wouldn’t be here without all of the assistance!

Sorry for the losses buddy.

They happen with me more than I like!

 

[Scurvy]

They happen with me more than I like!

They happen to us all more we like.... Our boat is big and there's lots of us in it!

 

[RedneckReefer68]

If your nutrients are running zero or close to it your ALK is still in the high side. I recommend 7-7.5 and see how things go. I've been there and at those ALK levels I saw improvement in colors and growth.

 

[pelphrey]

Having my ups and downs with the tank. Mostly downs, with that said the battle coral frags are still looking good. Alk has been stable at 7.5 for 2 days, started dosing acro power again.

 

[pelphrey]

Between balancing alk and nutrients it's been a roller coaster. When I say balancing nutrients I mean having any that are detectable, I've been dosing small small amounts of potassium nitrate into the tank. Reef Roids typically help keep phosphates elevated.

 

[tenurepro]

Between balancing alk and nutrients it's been a roller coaster. When I say balancing nutrients I mean having any that are detectable, I've been dosing small small amounts of potassium nitrate into the tank. Reef Roids typically help keep phosphates elevated.

View attachment 788491

I feel your pain... My alk has been on a roller coaster ride, and a few of my sps are not happy ...

 

[siggy]

Nice battle box! Hey I'm having the same problem I have a fuge and it stripped everything to zero, so I turned off the light and started to feed heavy. Now my problem is p is high and n is still at 2. Im going to start to feed nitrates and slow the feeding.

 

[pelphrey]

I feel your pain... My alk has been on a roller coaster ride, and a few of my sps are not happy ...

Still dosing kalk?

 

[tenurepro]

I love kalk in ato but my tank suffered a big dip in Alk this spring; warm temp -> less evaporation -> less kalk going in tank per day.
So I decided to cut down on kalk, to only 2 tsp per 5 gallon of top off water (from 5 tsp). I did so gradually so I can compensate by adding more two part. Then I ran out of Redsea foundation buffers and decided to switch to esv bionic two part instead (cheaper) but the concentrations are different so it took a while to figure out the dosage. Then I went on vacation and forgot to compensate Alk dosing while away (because of higher ph)... all of these changes have caused my alk to yo-yo around. Hoping things will stabilize now! Really wish I had an alkalinity monitor and controller!

 

[pelphrey]

I love kalk in ato but my tank suffered a big dip in Alk this spring; warm temp -> less evaporation -> less kalk going in tank per day.
So I decided to cut down on kalk, to only 2 tsp per 5 gallon of top off water (from 5 tsp). I did so gradually so I can compensate by adding more two part. Then I ran out of Redsea foundation buffers and decided to switch to esv bionic two part instead (cheaper) but the concentrations are different so it took a while to figure out the dosage. Then I went on vacation and forgot to compensate Alk dosing while away (because of higher ph)... all of these changes have caused my alk to yo-yo around. Hoping things will stabilize now! Really wish I had an alkalinity monitor and controller!

I hope you got it resolved, you have WAY to many amazing pieces in that tank! How do you like ESV? That is what I have dose in my tank, granted its on a small small scale at the moment!

 

[tenurepro]

So far - seems the same as the Redsea stuff. I am doing 20 ml of Alk per day... less for calcium because my calcium is out of balance a bit

 

[Savo]

Did you get your par reading higher? I also swapped to instant ocean after you advertised there sale. Been working great but I’m new to the hobby. Every day I look for new growth and do not see much expect for for my zoas, getting new heads weekly

 

[Savo]

So far - seems the same as the Redsea stuff. I am doing 20 ml of Alk per day... less for calcium because my calcium is out of balance a bit

I’m doing 34 alk daily to maintain 8.7 using bulk reef supply

 

[pelphrey]

In the summer months my tank receives a short period of natural light in the mornings!

 

[pelphrey]