Andre’s Full blown 300Gallon SPS Reeftank up within a week ;-)

[Velcro]

Velcro, that I dedicated my Reef Guide Part 1 to entirely ;-)
If you have both in non detectable ranges, then you have to supplement both, and make adjustments to the system to avoid maintaining zero nutrients. Unless you run a real Zeo system of course.

I do own a copy of your guide. I'll be rereading soon.

I cut my refugium photoperiod in half just now. Test 0ppb P and undetectable NO3 again. Dosing NO3 to 0.25ppm and PO4 to 0.03ppm.

I'll pick up some ascorbic acid today and also some dr tim's bacteria. I only have his line available locally. I think they carry everything BUT "one and only." Do you have a recommendation on which to use?

 

[PSXerholic]

I do own a copy of your guide. I'll be rereading soon.

I cut my refugium photoperiod in half just now. Test 0ppb P and undetectable NO3 again. Dosing NO3 to 0.25ppm and PO4 to 0.03ppm.

I'll pick up some ascorbic acid today and also some dr tim's bacteria. I only have his line available locally. I think they carry everything BUT "one and only." Do you have a recommendation on which to use?

From that choice and in your situation, I would go with Dr.Tim's Eco Balance.

 

[Velcro]

From that choice and in your situation, I would go with Dr.Tim's Eco Balance.

Thanks!

 

[PSXerholic]

Thanks!

You're welcome. Good luck on this journey ;-)

 

[Abhishek]

@PSXerholic - truly enjoy reading your posts and very informative.
Regarding H2O2 dosing, can the same dosage of 10 ml per 100 gallons of tank water volume be used for dino treatment ? As far as vitamins go, even selcon contains Vitamin C . Is that enough or are you referring to some other vitamins ?

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[dragon99]

Vitamin C is also unconfirmed for treating bacterial diseases. Albert Thiel (R.I.P), did do a study and published a treatment with Vitamin C but it disappeared from the web unfortunately. Search it up. I just dose it when dealing with TN, but many enhance their colors with it. Actually I strongly believe the colors are improving only because the coral is becoming more healthy again, but that's just me.

Have you tried Vitamin C dosing? You mentioned it, so I spent a few hours reading about it today. Seems like a mixed bag of results. Some people love it/swear by it and others think it's nothing more than carbon dosing.

 

[PSXerholic]

@PSXerholic - truly enjoy reading your posts and very informative.
Regarding H2O2 dosing, can the same dosage of 10 ml per 100 gallons of tank water volume be used for dino treatment ? As far as vitamins go, even selcon contains Vitamin C . Is that enough or are you referring to some other vitamins ?

Regards,
Abhishek

I'm not sure if Hydrogen peroxide does help with Dino on the long run.
One bottle Selcon contains I believe 200mg Vitamin C. So about one mini spoon is about 2 bottles of Selcon ;-)

 

[PSXerholic]

Have you tried Vitamin C dosing? You mentioned it, so I spent a few hours reading about it today. Seems like a mixed bag of results. Some people love it/swear by it and others think it's nothing more than carbon dosing.

Yes I did do it !!!!
And in future I will likely do it as a routine again, not sure yet.

Well, for a super healthy tank and corals it may not doing anything, on other coral owners with weak or sick corals, it makes a difference.

 

[marvelousone]

Psxerholic I wished you lived closer. I can not keep sps and don't know why. I enjoy reading you journey.

 

[Abhishek]

I'm not sure if Hydrogen peroxide does help with Dino on the long run.
One bottle Selcon contains I believe 200mg Vitamin C. So about one mini spoon is about 2 bottles of Selcon ;-)

What kind of vitamin C do u dose ? Dosage amount ?

 

[PSXerholic]

What kind of vitamin C do u dose ? Dosage amount ?

I currently do not dose any Vit.C or feed anything to the corals, since I focus on the effect of the minor trace elements at the moment to see how these influence the colors and vibrance of my SPS.

If I do dose VitC, I use typically "Buffered Ascorbic Acid" / "Non acidic Ascorbic Acid" means Ascorbic acid enriched with some Sodium carbonates to avoid the PH drop when using Vitamin C which is an acid at the end.
I disolved one of these Red Sea test kit mini spoons of powder in a bit of water and poured it into the tank every day.

However this is no magic juice!!! You should achieve fantastic colors with out Vit.C or you do something wrong ;-)
But it will help the coral to gain strength and fight potential diseases and a happy coral is a better looking one.

 

[PSXerholic]

I currently do not dose any Vit.C or feed anything to the corals, since I focus on the effect of the minor trace elements at the moment to see how these influence the colors and vibrance of my SPS.

If I do dose VitC, I use typically "Buffered Ascorbic Acid" / "Non acidic Ascorbic Acid" means Ascorbic acid enriched with some Sodium carbonates to avoid the PH drop when using Vitamin C which is an acid at the end.
I disolved one of these Red Sea test kit mini spoons of powder in a bit of water and poured it into the tank every day.

However this is no magic juice!!! You should achieve fantastic colors with out Vit.C or you do something wrong ;-)
But it will help the coral to gain strength and fight potential diseases and a happy coral is a better looking one.

By the way, the vitamin C oxidizes away in that form within 2-3 hours. You can see it on the ORP ;-)

 

[PSXerholic]

Psxerholic I wished you lived closer. I can not keep sps and don't know why. I enjoy reading you journey.

Well, there is not much to update at the moment until the tank moves and I can proceed with the build. So some time to spend ;-)

Why do you think this is the case?
It is not too difficult to keep SPS happy, but honestly requires a few (significant) bucks to be spend.

You got to have the Biology in check as a first priority. Means great Bacteria diversity, I use Biodigest btw.
That assumes you have something in place to keep No3 and Po4 detectable and do not starve the tank.
Many people do too much on their tanks.

A good RODI system to make sure good water comes in only, no LFS water etc. unless you test TDS at the time of pickup with a handheld meter.
Decent light, doesn't need to be the best light on the planet.

Automation of supplementing ALK, & CA in any form, no manual dosing, period!
MG can be added weekly manually.
These 3 got to be tested for, no exception and no wild guessing!!!Measure it!!!

Next step is to dose Iodide, ideally daily, only a few drops that's it and use only half of what the bottle says and you are on the safe side!!! Risk of overdosing is too high when not much experience.

Then if a tank is running for 6 months or longer, you start looking into Potassium as well.
A salifert kit is what I use. It indicates at least if I'm too low or good.

Running than successful SPS on the longer timescale you just simply invest once a year in an ICP test and see where minor trace elements need correction!
But you have to get there first ;-)

I can recommend to keep up with Trace elements if you had issues with your tank and setup and struggle already since a while, simply use Tropic Marin Pro as a trustful salt for reef aquaria, and do 4 -6 large water changes as a starting point.
Also if you do a fresh start, use that salt to start with ;-)
I did not on the 300, and I regret that!!!

 

[PSXerholic]

Yeah, found it!!!

PARty time

 

[najer]

... and?

 

[PSXerholic]

... and?

No idea yet ;Meh
I found it while was making space for the window installers, so these guys kept me busy, but all done now, one further step!
And I found the PAR meter

So I may play and map out on the weekend. Need to move my TCK Fireant to another spot with more light anyways, so this finding was perfect.

TCK Fire Ant (Picture by Dan from here)
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/amazing-new-releases.212579/

 

[PSXerholic]

So it was also time for a more accurate ICP Test to get the minor trace elements in check
If you followed my recent posts you noticed I stopped feeding and Aminos weeks ago and want to see where I get the colors up to by the Elements I care about mostly.

Here is the summary for the ones that are interesting for me.

Salinity was low I knew that. My Target is going slowly back up to 32-33PSU

Calcium and Potassium were a bit high and do not match my Test kit at home.
My target is typically for both around 425CA and 410Potassium

Bromine is raised to ideal level. This is where I will remain for a while.

Strontium is OK, I will let it slow down to 12

Boron I increased carefully and the results did match the dosage, wasn't sure about the accuracy of the last test. So I will lift it up to 10 now.

Fluoride was great, however I lifted it up to 2ppm. NEVER exceed 2ppm!!!!

Iodine I knew I overdosed at this point in time since I did a maintenance dose instead my daily drops. That again was a no no. Will stick with daily drops now forever!!!
Results were a few white tips and a browned Superman Digitata (Observe this fact).

Barium super low, I went to the forest and brew some of my Moonshiner already.
So this I will get up to 9-10.


Mo bit higher, but ok.
Ni I don't dose, but it's there so no action.
Manganese I do daily maintenance dose dosing, so no action for now.
Be and Cr, I won't touch yet!!
Vanadium I do dose daily a maintenance dose, no action.
Zinc, I do daily maintenance dose dosing, so no action for now.

No3 - well after the blackout, I measured about 10, this measurement actually matched my Nitrate test kit at the day of taking the sample.
Po4 a bit low, from no feeding anymore to the corals


Unwanted stuff not detectable. Pretty good, no reason for a detox ;-)

 

[J-Dog]

Great thread PSX....your tank is beautiful!

I do have a question for u.....I just setup my 185 gallon system up again and would like to get your opinion on getting the proper bacteria established. It has been up and running for a few weeks now, the cycle is complete, but my fish are in QT, so the tank is empty. Tank was started with all dry rock. Should I start dosing Biodigest, even though no fish are present? I do have a little bit of algae present, so I am not really sure what to do next.

 

[PSXerholic]

Great thread PSX....your tank is beautiful!

I do have a question for u.....I just setup my 185 gallon system up again and would like to get your opinion on getting the proper bacteria established. It has been up and running for a few weeks now, the cycle is complete, but my fish are in QT, so the tank is empty. Tank was started with all dry rock. Should I start dosing Biodigest, even though no fish are present? I do have a little bit of algae present, so I am not really sure what to do next.

No Problem.
Here is what I would do since you say that the cycle is completed. Means no Ammonia, no Nitrites and Nitrate going down already.
Also I understand the tank is empty so far.
Dose 2-3 times recommended Biodigest once in the morning, and dose 5ml per 100G Vodka for 2-3 days (Potato Vodka, not Grain Vodka!!!)
Keep the skimmer off for 5 hours while dosing Biodigest on the first day.
Put some Hermits and snails in.
Feed a bit of flakes every day.
Put a few frags of easy SPS in such as Cap and Digi Montis from buddies. 1 frag per 100G
Watch Nitrates do not raise every 2 days.
If Nitrates do not go up after 3-4 days, then slowly increase Livestock !!!

I guess thats how I would tackle it. Just carbon dose the fresh seed of bacteria for a few days and watch the biology adjusting to the Livestock increase.

 

[J-Dog]

Thanks for the help!

Do I need to continually dose Biodegest or vodka after the first day? I need to purchase Biodigest, but I’m not sure how much I will need for future dosing.
My first 2 fish will be going into the display tank in a couple of weeks, so I will drop some snails in with them.
If u can think of any other tips that would help, I’m all ears!