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Melchior posted:I've had a pretty sharp increase in dosing requirements in my tank lately, coupled with what I believe to be accelerated growth. For quite a while it took ~15ml daily of 2-part calc/alk to maintain levels in my 90g. Now it takes me 30ml daily to keep things stable. Even my SPS are growing well and not bleaching, for almost 6 months now. Yay. That's awesome to hear. About 2 months ago I upgraded my lights on my 90g. Went from an underpowered 4 bulb t5 fixture without individual reflectors to 2 Radeon LED fixtures. Been very slowly ramping their power up, but now that I've added some more LPS and SPS I figured I'd order calc, mag, and alk test kits and 2 part. Going to start dosing tomorrow. Glad to hear it makes that much of a difference.
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May 28, 2012 13:43
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I never really worried about calcium and alk levels when I first started, as softies and zoas don't seem to care all that much in my experience. Once I started into SPS I didn't have much luck until I kept alkalinity steady. Calcium I dose an equal amount of, although it doesn't seem to be AS important as alkalinity being stable. Magnesium helps keep the first two levels stable - if you have low magnesium they alk/calc levels in the water column drop much faster. I use BRS 2 part + mag, and regular instant ocean salt (not reef crystals, though I may switch to it at some point despite hearing bad stories about salt changes). My only real problems have been when I don't change my RO filters often enough.
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May 28, 2012 18:12
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What's the big deal with SPS anyways? I'm a noob to the saltwater thing, but most the SPS I see doesn't look all that great for the extra dosing and hyper-sensitivity people on nano-reef say they seem to have.
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May 28, 2012 18:38
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Melchior posted:I use BRS 2 part + mag, and regular instant ocean salt (not reef crystals, though I may switch to it at some point despite hearing bad stories about salt changes).
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May 28, 2012 21:56
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nwin posted:What's the big deal with SPS anyways? I'm a noob to the saltwater thing, but most the SPS I see doesn't look all that great for the extra dosing and hyper-sensitivity people on nano-reef say they seem to have. Watch the video below in HD for an answer as to why people strive to have a noteworthy SPS aquarium. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V70KV_dZ9UE Edit: here is his Tank of the Month write-up: http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/65-tank-of-the-month great stuff Dono fucked around with this message at 23:55 on May 28, 2012 |
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May 28, 2012 23:52
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Dono posted:Watch the video below in HD for an answer as to why people strive to have a noteworthy SPS aquarium. Holy poo poo, noted.
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May 28, 2012 23:56
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nwin posted:What's the big deal with SPS anyways? I'm a noob to the saltwater thing, but most the SPS I see doesn't look all that great for the extra dosing and hyper-sensitivity people on nano-reef say they seem to have. You'll likely grow into it as you get more into the hobby. I've got the move-in date for my new place (early August) and I've already pre-purchased a new tank from a local reefer who's also upgrading his. I'll be setting up a snazzy new 110 gallon in my new place ~(48"x30"x18") I snagged 2x400W Halides with nice reflectors and a bunch of extra bulbs and a PM Bullet-2 skimmer for super cheap a while back so I'll be using those. I calculated out the cost to get an LED setup and it wasn't worth it for me here. Tank seller is selling his Reef Brights for about half price but from the research I've done it's still not really worth it. Not sure exactly how I want to do the transfer, probably new sand and keep the live rock, tear off all the Anthelia and poo poo I don't want as well as sell off some of the fish/crabs that don't play nicely. Suggestions/experiences? [edit] That link is good, I've been looking to shift my method slightly as I will be going mostly SPS with the exception of a few toadstools and sinularia species. MKLKT fucked around with this message at 00:00 on May 29, 2012 |
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May 28, 2012 23:57
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nwin posted:Holy poo poo, noted. Yea, exactly. This video and also the one below here are some of the contributions to me making a slow shift into experimenting with SPS. The below video is the display tank at a aquarium store about 20 minutes from me. I've been known to just go there to check out their show tank occasionally!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCMwseoP5gY sorry for making GBS threads out video's but they are just wonderful examples of great SPS/LPS tanks!
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May 29, 2012 00:37
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Anony Mouse posted:Salt changes? Is it bad to switch brands or formulas after you've established the tank? There are a couple of people in my area who are running probably the nicest SPS heavy tanks in Ohio, and both of them have experienced STN/RTN on their corals after switching to Red Sea Coral Pro salt, usually from Reef Crystals. I haven't heard much good about it, but it's enough to make me gunshy about switching to ANY other salt. It took me about 6 months to completely stabilize everything and get it growing decently, and I don't want to change anything unless I have to. See for more info: http://reeftools.com/live/forum/showthread.php?t=1931
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May 29, 2012 05:05
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Dono posted:Yea, exactly. This video and also the one below here are some of the contributions to me making a slow shift into experimenting with SPS. The below video is the display tank at a aquarium store about 20 minutes from me. I've been known to just go there to check out their show tank occasionally! I saw this tank when I vacationed in Florida last year and everything there was amazing. Unfortunately the only thing I have from what I bought there still living is a Meteor Shower Cyphestrea. Welp! Also in response to nwin: I am addicted to deepwater SPS now. My ORA Hawkins echinata and Green Turaki are both experiencing amazing growth lately. They seem to be hardier than some of the other corals in my tank, strangely.
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May 29, 2012 05:07
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Those are probably both some form of A. turaki, for what it's worth. And yeah, ORA cultured things tend to be very hardy.
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May 29, 2012 08:40
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arioch posted:Those are probably both some form of A. turaki, for what it's worth. And yeah, ORA cultured things tend to be very hardy. I said I was addicted to them, not that I had a particularly large selection of them.
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May 29, 2012 12:34
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Melchior posted:I said I was addicted to them, not that I had a particularly large selection of them. You and I are now in the same boat (wrt selection), I had a tank crash when I was away for a couple weeks and the ATO pump failed halfway through. Most everything survived except the majority of the acros. What mostly lived? The ORA pieces. VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 22:24 on May 29, 2012 |
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May 29, 2012 22:19
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Hot diggity. Any central Oklahoma aquagoons need to check out Custom Reef Creations if you're around Moore. Guy has a small setup but it's pretty sweet. I like Wetpets by Steve in Norman, but CRC is much more focused on corals. My roommate and I picked up a couple of $10 frags and one or two other things. http://www.facebook.com/customreefcreations
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May 30, 2012 21:51
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Frag swap this weekend! I am picking up an ORA Pearlberry and a piece of Idaho Grape monti, plus whatever I can get with the proceeds from my sales/trades. Pictures incoming later! the Pixies fukken SUCKED fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Jun 2, 2012 |
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Jun 2, 2012 00:00
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Bump for Pictures! I bought the following: Jason Fox 30,000 leagues lokani GARF Bonsai ORA Pearlberry ORA Pink Lemonade Tri-color Acro Orchid Acro I also won a 5 frag pack in the raffle. Ownage: Jason Fox Green Psammocora Idaho Grape Monti Pink & Red acan 3 random zoas (I don't know what they are)  GARF Bonsai  ORA Pink Lemonade  30,000 Leagues Lokani  (Clockwise from bottom left) ORA Pearlberry, Tri-color, Jason Fox Green Psammocora, Orchid Acro, random zoas, Pink Lemonade Also, looks like in the process of photographing them I found that I have redbugs. Bleh.
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Jun 2, 2012 22:24
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drat, when those are ready to frag please let a brotha know. Also:   One month of growth, I think the new tank is doing something right.
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Jun 4, 2012 23:31
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What is the one below the green slimer staghorn? It's gorgeous.
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Jun 5, 2012 02:15
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Lumpy rainbow monti?
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Jun 5, 2012 02:36
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It's a LE Lumpy Sunset Monti! Picked it up as a small chip from the LFS for $29 or something. Here's a oversaturated trying-to-color-correct for drat LED picture:  The top portion was the chip it came as, then it took over the frag plug, now it's taking over the rock. I'm kinda worried about it actually because there's a colony of green mushrooms on the other side of the rock. Once the monti covers a lot of the rock, what happens if a mushroom decides to move on top of the monti part?
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Jun 5, 2012 05:00
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The answer to your question is why people have SPS only tanks. I have a regular sunset monti, and it looks almost as good, but not quite. I've got a purple rim undata, red setosa, and green confusa though.
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Jun 5, 2012 12:30
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SaNChEzZ posted:what happens if a mushroom decides to move on top of the monti part? It probably actually can't. I've had a sunset monti evict a blue actino mushroom.
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Jun 5, 2012 13:12
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Melchior posted:The answer to your question is why people have SPS only tanks. I think mine is just a regular one as well, the LE Lumpy was a prefix to make it sound expensive haha. I want to get more into SPS but it's rather hit of miss. IN the first picture I posted, you can see a blue acro frag thingy next to the green one. They were always next to eachother, the blue one died off while the green one skyrocketed. I also have a monti cap that's quadrupled in size in about 8 months. I'll take a picture of that when I get home.
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Jun 5, 2012 18:18
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SPS are definitely touchy. I still haven't gotten to the point where I feel comfortable putting them in my tank. I picked up a couple from a frag swap, including a birdsnest, which I think people say is a very hardy SPS. It died within a week. I think my calc/alk was out of whack and I've just started dosing 2 part, but I think it may be an issue with too much nitrates. Even the Safilert tests are hard for me to read properly.
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Jun 5, 2012 18:43
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Internet Explorer posted:SPS are definitely touchy. I still haven't gotten to the point where I feel comfortable putting them in my tank. I picked up a couple from a frag swap, including a birdsnest, which I think people say is a very hardy SPS. It died within a week. I think my calc/alk was out of whack and I've just started dosing 2 part, but I think it may be an issue with too much nitrates. Even the Safilert tests are hard for me to read properly. I think dosing is overrated honestly. Unless you're running an SPS dominated system that is.. I have those 4 pieces of SPS, lots of LPS and 2 clams and I dose the 2-part maybe.. twice a month? I always forget, but they just keep growin!
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Jun 5, 2012 19:11
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Well, my dKH was low, as was my calcium. It may also be because my LEDs are still running at only 60%, but the birdsnest was in the brightest spot on my tank, about halfway up. Still ramping them up though.
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Jun 5, 2012 19:23
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Internet Explorer posted:Well, my dKH was low, as was my calcium. It may also be because my LEDs are still running at only 60%, but the birdsnest was in the brightest spot on my tank, about halfway up. Still ramping them up though. You'll get there eventually! What kind of LED setup are you running?
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Jun 5, 2012 19:31
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I ended up spending the extra money and picked up the Ecotech Radion LEDs. I have 2 of them over my 90g. I really, really like them but I was coming in from an under-powered 4 bulb T5 fixture that didn't even have individual reflectors, so I wanted to be very careful not to burn everything. I started at 50% using their "natural" setting, which manages the color and the intensity for you and peaks out for ~2 hours a day. I also went from an 8 hour photoperiod to a 10 hour photoperiod, because the lights are very low when the first turn on and when they first turn off. All the corals I had in my tank seemed to make the transition, but I am still having trouble with any SPSes I add.
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Jun 5, 2012 19:40
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Internet Explorer posted:I ended up spending the extra money and picked up the Ecotech Radion LEDs. I have 2 of them over my 90g. I really, really like them but I was coming in from an under-powered 4 bulb T5 fixture that didn't even have individual reflectors, so I wanted to be very careful not to burn everything. I started at 50% using their "natural" setting, which manages the color and the intensity for you and peaks out for ~2 hours a day. I also went from an 8 hour photoperiod to a 10 hour photoperiod, because the lights are very low when the first turn on and when they first turn off. Maybe they're just not bright enough yet to sustain SPS? Do you know the PAR output at the % you're at now?
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Jun 5, 2012 19:44
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Water quality isn't really a big issue (so long as your water isn't like, fertilizer run-off quality) for small amounts of SPS, as long as your cal/alk/mag balance isn't initially completely out of whack. I would actually bump up the LEDs, I suspect that two of them over a standard 90gal isn't enough at low intensity. Is there a marked difference in how well SPS do depending on what height you placed them? (if you've risked experimenting to that extent)
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Jun 5, 2012 20:24
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SaNChEzZ posted:Maybe they're just not bright enough yet to sustain SPS? Do you know the PAR output at the % you're at now? I think that could very well be a cause, but I was surprised by the birdsnest. I am not sure what the PAR output is or what the PAR measure was where the birdnest was placed. Unfortunately, I do not have a PAR meter. My nitrates seem to be at about 25 or so, maybe a little higher. Phosphate is as close to 0 as I can measure with the Safilert kits. My dKH was down to 6.7, which I have raised to 8.3. My calcium was 380 which I raised to 430. My magnesium was around 1300, which I think is fine, but I bumped it up to 1350. Right now I am just going to work on getting my nitrates down, keeping my cal/alk/mag in line, and then slowly ramping up the LED. Will try SPSes again in a couple of months. arioch posted:Water quality isn't really a big issue (so long as your water isn't like, fertilizer run-off quality) for small amounts of SPS, as long as your cal/alk/mag balance isn't initially completely out of whack. The Birdsnest was in a spot that is pretty much as bright as I could put it without being right next to a Tooth Coral. I suspect you guys may be right about the brightness. The corals turned white fairly rapidly, which sounds like a lack of light issue?
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Jun 5, 2012 21:13
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Internet Explorer posted:My nitrates seem to be at about 25 or so, maybe a little higher. There's your problem. SPS want near-0 everything. Nitrates and phosphates will either kill them or turn them brown. Internet Explorer posted:The Birdsnest was in a spot that is pretty much as bright as I could put it without being right next to a Tooth Coral. I suspect you guys may be right about the brightness. The corals turned white fairly rapidly, which sounds like a lack of light issue? When a SPS turns white (where there was once tissue), it is usually because the tissue has died (RTN) and the calcium skeleton is all that is left. This doesn't apply to the tips.. those sometimes are white due to rapid growth which isn't a bad thing IMO. SPS are pretty finicky, though. Too much or little flow and they don't do well, too much or little light, etc. However, no SPS tolerate nitrates that high for very long. In my 11G at work (lit by a 21w RapidLED 7x2.5 CREE PAR), my once bright-green birdsnest turned brown at the same time as my purple pocillopora. ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and phosphates all read 0 on all the test kits I had available (API and salifert). A co-worker gave me a couple pieces of green monti and they turned brown within a week as well. I had a mean cyano problem at the same time. I wasn't overfeeding and couldn't figure out WTF. Picked up a new skimmer (tunze nano 9002) and within a week the montis were bright green again. The pocillopora is darkening a bit (going back to purple) and the birdsnest has bright green tips once again (though the majority of the flesh is still brown). The cyano is nearly completely gone as well and isn't coming back when siphoned out of the tank. My point? SPS's are finicky sons of bitches haha. Even if nothing is measuring on your kits, there could still be *something* that they don't like. First step would be to make sure you get your params clean then start looking for other things that could be the problem. I doubt your light is the cause of anything as that is an amazing product.
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Jun 5, 2012 23:10
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Yeah, like I said earlier I'm just going to work to get it all sorted. The lights are not on full blast, so it's not like they're any better because of the brand. 60% isn't a whole lot of light, I don't think. Thanks for the advice, though. Makes me think I am going the right route by trying to sort it all out, and not just trying more SPS.
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Jun 6, 2012 01:07
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You'd actually be surprised. I know people who switch over to dimmable LEDs from MH bulbs and find that they are running below 50% strength on them at max. As far as dosing is concerned, well, no it isn't that important if you are running a mainly soft coral tank. LPS will do alright without it, but without regular injections of calcium and a stable alkalinity their growth will be stunted. SPS corals can do okay in a tank that isn't dosed much, but as said above this is only true if there are only a few of them sipping the nutrients in the water. SPS/LPS dominant tanks need a LOT of calcium and drop their alkalinity rather quick, which necessitates dosing. My original post on the topic was noting that I've had to dose a lot more to maintain my levels than I did six months ago. I've seen an increase in growth of stony corals as a result - my green & purple hammer is out of control. Birdsnest are indeed an easier SPS to grow; that and pocillipora were the first two I tried in any of my tanks. They were more tolerant of nitrate rich ( <5 ppm) water, and still seemed to grow alright. And sanchezz, that green slimer acro you have is a generally hardy fast grower, which explains why it's done much better than your other blue one.
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Jun 6, 2012 02:07
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Internet Explorer posted:Yeah, like I said earlier I'm just going to work to get it all sorted. The lights are not on full blast, so it's not like they're any better because of the brand. 60% isn't a whole lot of light, I don't think. Things will happen with time and patience, after all that's really what the hobby is about haha. It's good that you're doing the LEDs correctly though, when I switched to LED I was lucky enough to have a comparable switch to a non-dimmable system so that worked out well. When I switched to the system I built, I had to run them at about 75% power for the first few weeks, they're at about 90% now and everything seems happy so that's where they'll stay. It's a 48x3w array, about 20" over a 40 breeder with optics, although I forget what degree. How high are yours off the surface and what are the optics like on those radions? As far as your SPS goes, I've never had luck with birdsnest, had three different frags either RTN or get covered in algae (thank god that's all gone).
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Jun 6, 2012 04:39
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Ecotech Radions have 34 LEDs each, running 8 XPGs at 5W each and the rest XPEs and such at 3W each, for a total of (rule of thumb) of 120W of LED lighting. I don't know what optics are used--looks custom, looks like the PAR graph says 500PAR at 12 inches height in the smack dab middle of a cone with radius of 15 inches, without factoring in depth. Dimensions of a 90gal tank is 48x18x24". Anecdotally, I used to run a 6-tube T5 fixture over my shallow tank (~36x24x12) at ~10" and that resulted in a measurement of ~650PAR at the surface. When I got my AI Sols I kicked the power to 100% right off the bat--they're only 72W per unit.
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Jun 6, 2012 14:44
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Can I ask how you like the AI units? I was thinking about upgrading the lighting (compact, ugh) in my nano to the AI Nano Sol at the end of the summer. Right now I only have a couple soft corals, but I really want to get into LPS and maybe SPS before the end of the year.
Russian Dollies fucked around with this message at 15:29 on Jun 6, 2012 |
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Jun 6, 2012 15:27
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What's the footprint/depth of the tank? (Or is it like a biocube where I would probably recommend a rapidled retro kit or something) The AI Nano has 12 LEDs IIRC which makes it really good for about a square foot of real estate. I like the regular Sol, fwiw. Would heartily recommend to snag them up used from people who are moving/downsizing/getting out/etc. Otherwise is if you can stomach the sticker shock. I bought 2 used and 1 new.
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Jun 6, 2012 16:23
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Yeah, it's a Biocube 14, but I want to get the lid off it. I had originally considered the RapidLED kit, but now it's overheating in the afternoon and one of the fans is already on the verge of going out after only 4 months of running. I don't want to deal with replacing fans every six months like others report doing, especially if they aren't cooling anything. Plus I plan on trying to upgrade to a 40 in the next couple years and figure grabbing the fixture now will translate to the future upgrade. I thought about the Sol but figured it might be overkill for my tiny tank, and I like the look of people using two nanos on their 40s. And I won't lie, being able to customize the lighting output and put it on a timer appeals to me a lot. Speaking of the overheating issue that I'm currently having... I've been splitting up my light cycle the last couple days to try and combat it. Instead of running them from noon to 8PM, I've been doing it from 10AM-2PM, cutting off the lights for the afternoon, and then turning them back on for 7PM-11PM. Is this gonna screw up my tank? So far I haven't noticed any adverse effects, but if its gonna cause problems I could use some suggestions.
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Jun 6, 2012 17:08
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I don't know anything about SW setups, but if I wanted to do a nano tank (btwn 2-5g), whats the bare minimum I need in terms of equipment and stuff like water testing/supplements? Is it even a good idea? Do I NEED stuff like a powerhead or would I be good with a strong filter (I just bought an aquaclear20 for my 2.5 fw)? I really like the look of a little tank with rock/anemone/corals etc with inverts and a few very small fish and want to do it if its not much harder than a fw nano tank. I might be deluding myself though.
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Jun 6, 2012 17:29
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