Gha (1 Viewer)

[PSXerholic]

Hey Guys,

well the tank you see in this beauty is partially my fault ;-)
This was a used tank suffering from OTS a year back.

Good job Wingut so far .... thumbs up!!!

I see the "Reef guide" you guys read shows results.
My first advise would be here as well to take GFO offline or reduce it to maintain a healthy No3 to Po4 balance ;-)
Wingnut, I have the low range Red field ratio tables in my Reef Guide, bring Po4 up to 0.06-0-.08 ideally and it will take about 2 weeks fro the algae to be at a point where not to worry about it anymore.

Also since the tank is now maintained and all the algae, cyano and this other crap is gone, careful not to run it too clean !!!

-Andre

 

[Wingnut]

Hey Andre , thanks I do have your reef guide , I have read most of it have not really implemented any of it yet need to read again to get a real understanding of it , I did remove the GFO and increased VSV to 1 ml a day and today.
No3 2 ppm
Po4 .03
Ca. 430
Alk. 8.0
changed bulb on UV on Sunday things are looking good so far.
Hey Andre some of the I got from are about 5 times the size they where when I got them from you except the purple bonzi it did not make it not sure what happened.

 

[PSXerholic]

Hey Andre , thanks I do have your reef guide , I have read most of it have not really implemented any of it yet need to read again to get a real understanding of it , I did remove the GFO and increased VSV to 1 ml a day and today.
No3 2 ppm
Po4 .03
Ca. 430
Alk. 8.0
changed bulb on UV on Sunday things are looking good so far.
Hey Andre some of the I got from are about 5 times the size they where when I got them from you except the purple bonzi it did not make it not sure what happened.

Lol, "Reef Guide Part#2 - Elements needed for a Colorful Reef" is on it's way, you may not want to miss this one ;-)

Keep the VSV amount as is, and observe the Po4 increase and where it ends up at after a week.
If it crawls over 0.08, just get GFO back online just with a smaller amount as you had before.

No3 at 2 is perfect, keep that ;-)
Remember the VSV will take a while to show effect to the new amount and resulting nutrient levels. Give it a week.

-Andre

 

[Wingnut]

Thanks , I will keep things as they are for now and keep testing.

 

[Reefahholic]

Hey Andre , thanks I do have your reef guide , I have read most of it have not really implemented any of it yet need to read again to get a real understanding of it , I did remove the GFO and increased VSV to 1 ml a day and today.
No3 2 ppm
Po4 .03
Ca. 430
Alk. 8.0
changed bulb on UV on Sunday things are looking good so far.
Hey Andre some of the I got from are about 5 times the size they where when I got them from you except the purple bonzi it did not make it not sure what happened.

These look good. Maybe a little more nutrient and hold it there.

 

[Wingnut]

Ok so today ,
Po4 .06
No3 is < 2 ppm
Alk. 7.9
Ca. 420
seems Po4 is rising very fast and No3 is dropping I cut Nori down to every other day just giving the tangs enough for a couple of hours , feeding drained and rinsed frozen 1.5 Cubes and feeding corals every three days. Does this seem excessive for 8 fish

 

[webster1234]

sounds good to me

 

[Reefahholic]

Ok so today ,
Po4 .06
No3 is < 2 ppm
Alk. 7.9
Ca. 420
seems Po4 is rising very fast and No3 is dropping I cut Nori down to every other day just giving the tangs enough for a couple of hours , feeding drained and rinsed frozen 1.5 Cubes and feeding corals every three days. Does this seem excessive for 8 fish

I think you're on the right track.

IMO, you can feed A LOT as long as your drain and rinse. It's a lot of work, but worth it if you want an algae free tank.

I feed a bunch and it really doesn't matter because the food I feed is so clean. I feed some fresh seafood from H-E-B. I chop it really fine and it's good to go. I like LRS food too.

My larger blue regal and my fat blenny like big pieces of shrimp. As long as I watch them consume it and none goes into the rocks or hits the bottom, I'll feed until they're full.

 

[FarmerTy]

Rinsing frozen food does very little to lower phosphate addition to the tank. You're removing less than 1% of the phosphate added to the tank with the food by rinsing it. It isn't worth it to me to take that extra step. I just throw the whole frozen chunk into my IM defroster and walk away.

Good read here:

Aquarium Chemistry: Phosphate And Math: Yes You Need To Understand Both ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

Everybody's suggestions on controlling feeding amount is spot on though. Fish food is the main source of phosphate added to any reef system by far. Limit the amount and you limit the amount of phosphate within your system. In those respects, any fed tank will have no issues with limited phosphate. Corals don't need much at all for their biological processes. I don't agree with suggestions to increase phosphate in reef tanks, you only need to increase nitrates to 5-10 ppm if its "nutrient" starved.

My mantra is not to ever limit feeding, I'll feed until I have fat, happy fish. I use GFO, an oversized skimmer, and a biopellet reactor to deal with the nutrients from the feedings. I aim to mimic nature as best as I can, tons of food in, export nutrients out as quick as possible. Why limit foods to control your nutrients when reefers have full access to remove as much nutrients as they want with all the technology these days. Feed lots, export nutrients lots. Don't starve the fish and corals! [emoji4]

I should mention this is with no water changes in my system. So if I can feed a metric ton everyday and still remove the resulting nutrients from it, all without doing any water changes, then those who actually do water changes should be able to accomplish the same feat even easier.

 

[Reefahholic]

I just throw the whole frozen chunk into my IM defroster and walk away.

Where does all the juice go that the food is frozen in?

 

[FarmerTy]

Where does all the juice go that the food is frozen in?

Into the water column... Which again accounts for 1% of the phosphate content of the food you're feeding so negligible. Its not worth the time to rinse when you look at the data.

 

[Wingnut]

Ok , I have removed GFO Po4 is still around .03 No3 2 ppm GHA still in a few spots , manual cleans up very easy just pulls right off , I believe I need a little more bio load. Right now just have seven fish in 90 gallon tank with sump and rocks probably 100 to 110 gallon total volume. My question what type fish could I add to the tank if any that would be compatible with a meadium yellow tang , meadium Kole tang , small puffer , two clown fish , and two pajama cardinals , any suggestions thinking about maybe a couple of small fish. Thanks

 

[PSXerholic]

Give the tank a bit more time to build up some more Po4. Don't rinse any frozen food and let Po4 slowly rise a bit more and you are good ;-)
I'm bad on fish selection, so I leave that subject to the other guys ;-)


-Andre

 

[Wingnut]

Thanks Andre , I will keep it up everything still seems to be the same again today , I will stop rinsing food.