Acropower and/or Red Sea AB+

burton14e7

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I’ve read about this method but have never spoken to anyone about their results. Would you mind sharing your impressions. Would be so appreciated!
I've struggled for years with keeping SPS long term and after switching to it is the first time I've ever been able to keep SPS successfully. Plus I don't have to do water changes anymore. I would say if you can afford the ATI test kits every 6 weeks and don't mind dosing daily then it's definitely worth a shot. I dos 9 things daily but 5 of them are on dosing pumps and the rest are just 1-5 drops so it's not a big deal. There is a facebook group that is a wealth of knowledge and it's not even toxic so I'd say check it out and see if it's for you. They have their own amino/vitamin solution, I put in 5 drops when I feed in the morning.

I actually dos 9 things on top of alk/ca/mag that is. It looks like a science experiment under the stand.
 
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Karliefish

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I've struggled for years with keeping SPS long term and after switching to it is the first time I've ever been able to keep SPS successfully. Plus I don't have to do water changes anymore. I would say if you can afford the ATI test kits every 6 weeks and don't mind dosing daily then it's definitely worth a shot. I dos 9 things daily but 5 of them are on dosing pumps and the rest are just 1-5 drops so it's not a big deal. There is a facebook group that is a wealth of knowledge and it's not even toxic so I'd say check it out and see if it's for you. They have their own amino/vitamin solution, I put in 5 drops when I feed in the morning.

I actually dos 9 things on top of alk/ca/mag that is. It looks like a science experiment under the stand.
 

Karliefish

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Wow not doing Water Changes alone makes this worth a shot. So you literally have stopped with the WC’s? When was your last WC? Do you happen to have a pic of your tank? You have been so awesome answering all my questions - sincerely appreciated.
 

burton14e7

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Wow not doing Water Changes alone makes this worth a shot. So you literally have stopped with the WC’s? When was your last WC? Do you happen to have a pic of your tank? You have been so awesome answering all my questions - sincerely appreciated.

Yeah, no water changes unless you need to. The method assumes you know how to maintain ca/alk/mg and phosphate and nitrate so you only need to worry about trace elements.

However it says you should still do a water change if something goes sideways and you need to reset. Like if your silica spikes because you forgot to change your DI resin or something. You would then need to do another ATI ICP test once you stabilize and get back on the shine.

Some people still do a couple water changes a year to suck out detritus that builds up in a corner. They just do it before they would do their normal ICP test to capture the parameters after the water change and adjust once they get the results.

My aquarium isn't anything special, I've only been on the shine for a little over a year and this is the first timr I've been able to keep SPS but this is a video I made recently to share with a buddy. You can even see a sps skeleton on the right side of the tank that died pre-shine. Big sad. I'd definitely join the reef moonshiners Facebook group to see what real SPS pros aquariums look like.

 

Karliefish

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Yeah, no water changes unless you need to. The method assumes you know how to maintain ca/alk/mg and phosphate and nitrate so you only need to worry about trace elements.

However it says you should still do a water change if something goes sideways and you need to reset. Like if your silica spikes because you forgot to change your DI resin or something. You would then need to do another ATI ICP test once you stabilize and get back on the shine.

Some people still do a couple water changes a year to suck out detritus that builds up in a corner. They just do it before they would do their normal ICP test to capture the parameters after the water change and adjust once they get the results.

My aquarium isn't anything special, I've only been on the shine for a little over a year and this is the first timr I've been able to keep SPS but this is a video I made recently to share with a buddy. You can even see a sps skeleton on the right side of the tank that died pre-shine. Big sad. I'd definitely join the reef moonshiners Facebook group to see what real SPS pros aquariums look like.


Great video and I can see the huge potential your tank has - nice rockwork layout. I’m going on all-in on the reefer moonshiner system. Btw…do you ever have any undesirable algae (hair, bubble, Cyno, etc.) problems since using the moonshiner system?
 

burton14e7

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Great video and I can see the huge potential your tank has - nice rockwork layout. I’m going on all-in on the reefer moonshiner system. Btw…do you ever have any undesirable algae (hair, bubble, Cyno, etc.) problems since using the moonshiner system?
I haven't had any serious algae problems in a couple years now but I did have a huge outbreak of bubble algae twice early on in the tanks life, it's 5 years old now. I've also had huge outbreaks of ulva algae twice, you can see a little on one of my left MP40s. I haven't had a serious outbreak of that in several years though. I used Vibrant to eradicate all outbreaks.. before the scandal. I'm not sure if it's just my husbandry got better at controlling my nutrients or the addition of a blue tuxedo and two red scarlets or just tank maturity that keep it in check now. I also hadn't had aiptasia in a couple years but I have some show up a couple months ago. Waiting on sourcing some berghias after it gets bad enough to warrant the purchase. I actually don't mind the aiptasia too much because it usually culls some of the zoas that have taken over my tank. If I could buy zoa eating nudis I would.
 

Karliefish

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I haven't had any serious algae problems in a couple years now but I did have a huge outbreak of bubble algae twice early on in the tanks life, it's 5 years old now. I've also had huge outbreaks of ulva algae twice, you can see a little on one of my left MP40s. I haven't had a serious outbreak of that in several years though. I used Vibrant to eradicate all outbreaks.. before the scandal. I'm not sure if it's just my husbandry got better at controlling my nutrients or the addition of a blue tuxedo and two red scarlets or just tank maturity that keep it in check now. I also hadn't had aiptasia in a couple years but I have some show up a couple months ago. Waiting on sourcing some berghias after it gets bad enough to warrant the purchase. I actually don't mind the aiptasia too much because it usually culls some of the zoas that have taken over my tank. If I could buy zoa eating nudis I would.
I was considering using vibrant (still have a whole unused bottle) but got really nervous when I read all the bad post. I’m hoping to get to where you are at and “ master it” but I’m not there yet. Tank is still less than year-old so that may also be a contributor. Aptasia in my tank is out of control. Waiting on arrival of a File fish next week. I hope he has a big appetite!
 

burton14e7

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I was considering using vibrant (still have a whole unused bottle) but got really nervous when I read all the bad post. I’m hoping to get to where you are at and “ master it” but I’m not there yet. Tank is still less than year-old so that may also be a contributor. Aptasia in my tank is out of control. Waiting on arrival of a File fish next week. I hope he has a big appetite!
For me "to master" it took literally testing my phosphate nearly every day at the same time for over a month. I would test how feeding different frozen food combos and different amounts and timing of my dry food auto feeder until I figured out my fish and systems consumption rate. I got really scientific with it. I did have to use Phosphate-e into my skimmer a few times when I messed up. I also had to upgrade my skimmer when I got the three anthias. My tank was not prepared for bioload at all
 
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