What you have learned - Others might can try. (1 Viewer)

[Timanator]

So i've been through a few tank crashes and other problems. After looking at my tank for the past few weeks, I've decide to write down somethings that really helped me out. Maybe this will help some people and I know some of you prob have secrets to share as well.

1. Water changes, atleast 20% every few weeks. Made the biggest difference in my livestocks health.

2. Dont dose unless you have issues that requires it. After Vitamine C and Fuel, which triggered multiple issues with SPS and algae growth. Now I only dose 2 part for the SPS.

3. Dont dose anything to change the behavior of a few things in the tank when the majority are doing well. See #2.

4. Use good quality gear. Vortec, Current Sundial and Sapphire products have reduce maintenance to almost zero in my tank these days. Less meddling inside the glass box, the better things grow for me.

5. Good test kits for Alk and PH. If there is alot of swing on Alk you will always have mystery issues and growth problems.


And just a side note about zoa growth since thats what I predominately grow. High flow and High light will speed up almost all zoas to grow in a short time. Only exceptions for me are Purple Death, Nuclear Green and Fiji zoas. Most zoanthids will also grow longer tentacles shortly before the growth explosion.

 

[Raymond]

Fuel doesn't kill sps so...??? As for the test kits I just pick out one brand and stick to it until the kit is empty. I'm using API dkh test kit and Seachem Ca. That's all I test for.Alk swings will hurt you bad along with temp.

 

[Timanator]

Fuel does not kill anything, it has a side effect of making Algae grow and turning SPS more green than normal.


Vitamins & Lipotropic Factors
(min. values)
Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)
5.0 mg
Thiamine (B1)
20µg
Riboflavin (B2)
20µg
Niacin (B3)
250 µg
Pantothenate (B5)
70 µg
Vitamin B12
70 µg
Choline (B4)
4 µg
Inositol
11 µg
Arginine
300 µg
Glutamate
600 µg
Lysine
300 µg
Tyrosine
190 µg
Polyunsaturated fatty acids
600 µg

Minerals
(min values)
Boron
96 µg
Iodine
180 µg
Iron
15 µg
Copper
1 µg
Zinc
5 µg
Manganese
62µg
Bromide
300 µg
Cobalt
4 µg
Molybdenum
15 µg
Vanadium
28 µg
Nickel
0.4 µg
Tin
0.2 µg
Rubidium
1 µg

 

[paraletho]

Secure your probes. While cleaning the ph probe the other night my son accidentally knocked the temp probe out of the water. The next morning I thought everything looked bad, I was right. The controller was saying it was 70 and the heaters were pumping in the heat. 86.7 F I put bags of ice in the sump and 15 minutes later the power goes out. Moved the ice to the display I don't know if it was the heat or the closeness of the ice bags but the 10 head Froggy bit it. Slimed up and then blew out to the skeleton. I'm hoping to save the Hammer

 

[paraletho]

I've had nothing but problems since dosing Vodka. Algae, bacteria blooms, no more dosing miracle cures for me. I do have Zoas, Xenia and Green Cloves and all have seemed to respond nicely to a couple of drops twice a week of iodine. Other than two part and occasional Mag thats it.

 

[Reefaddict79]

big plus 1 on the quality gear the Timanator mentioned.

 

[paraletho]

Swings are bad as with the temp problem I just had. Its not that corals cant survive 85 or 86. yes that is a high and its not their favorite range but the rate at which the change from what they are used to was to fast for them to adjust. Too much light. Yes you can have too much light. I went from PC to T5 and I acclimated for 4 weeks still the GBTA is sun burning and the Zoas have all shortened and decreased diameter. They are growing but the colonies are all growing down headed for ledges and caves. So I'm still decreasing my cycle trying to find that sweet spot.

 

[paraletho]

I agree with quality gear also. Timinator you mention Sapphire, I have one of their new skimmers on my 29 and have had nothing but h#** with the Sicce pump and mesh wheel. Sheared the plastic shaft key, got a new impeller came in a little crumbled. I guess it threw it out of balance now the motor quit. I'm 100 miles away so its not like jump in the truck and run over there. Called Kyle for almost 2 weeks but he was on vacation or business in Indonesia or someplace. It did a really good job when it was working.

 

[Raymond]

you forgot to tell them how much you dose Tim.

 

[Timanator]

you forgot to tell them how much you dose Tim.

It's weird that you think I dose too much Ray, cause I dose lower than the instructions on the Aquavitro bottles!

For example, the Fuel is supposed to be 1 inner cap twice per week for every 30 Gallons. So at 35 G for my total water volume I dose a half cap every 2 days. But I think that is still way too much as evident by my SPS coloring and algae issues.

 

[Timanator]

paraletho

I hear ya on Sapphire pumps being problematic. Raymond showed me a quick solution to remedy it. When I clean the skimmer pumps(Once per 6 month) I disassemble the pumps and use a tooth brush on all impellers and moving parts and intake vents. After it's back together and working in the sump, I put a half cup of hot RODI water and let the air intake tube siphon it through.

I am not sure on parts breakage as there is very little stress on these parts.

 

[liudachris]

Biggest time/life saver in the world: aquacontroller (or any other aquarium controller). It may be expensive, but man does it save you time.

 

[paraletho]

+1 on the controller. Its not just a timesaver but gets back to the stability issue. There is no way I could spend the amt of time to do the doses my controller does