Anirban's Aquaforest journey

jsker · Mar 27, 2017

Anirban said:
If you look at my parameters NO3 is quite high as well as PO4 is in upper range but no algae...yeah. Those two T5 along with my Hydras put more than 23000 lux at pick intensity.

I have found that running higher nutrients has worked well for me. I when I am running the phosphates to low or over a .08 is when I start to have algae all over the place.

Anirban · Mar 27, 2017

jsker said:
I have found that running higher nutrients has worked well for me. I when I am running the phosphates to low or over a .08 is when I start to have algae all over the place.

Since I started the tank back the NO3 is consistently high. Actually I never had NO3 this high but my system somehow is managing this well so I am not worried at all. But I am wondering why or what is driving it so consistently? But interestingly it never go beyond this...

jsker · Mar 27, 2017

Did you start over with the same sub straight and rock? Was the system shut down at any point?

Anirban · Mar 27, 2017

jsker said:
Did you start over with the same sub straight and rock? Was the system shut down at any point?

I don't have substrate....lol. I run bare bottom. But I used the same rock and you were right I never actually shut down the system. But I gave the rocks a bit rinse and refill the whole system with new salt water....possibly there are still some die off.

jsker · Mar 27, 2017

Anirban said:
I don't have substrate....lol. I run bare bottom. But I used the same rock and you were right I never actually shut down the system. But I gave the rocks a bit rinse and refill the whole system with new salt water....possibly there are still some die off.

Kind of my thought, die off and now with the sand bed, there could be some die/mimi cycle going with higher nitrates. I was battling to bring down the nitrates, bio pellets first. The pellets did well until the cash of late 16

then I started running Zeovit media, the zeovit did a good job. When the life bio fil was available I switched and my nitrates have not gone over 12 ppm and pretty much have been staying around 8 ppm.

Anirban · Mar 27, 2017

Mine is almost same case....I think my siporax take care of the excess nitrate but the system still have steady die off. Possibly this will slowly go off by its own.

Anirban · May 13, 2017

Its show time again people.....

This post will be more of writing and reef philosophy rather than posting images. Over the last couple of months period I realise a lot of things. The tank is rebooted since January after the total crash in December. As I mentioned in my last post the system was having a die off issue and very high nitrate. Few corals died of RTN because of nitrate fluctuation.

Since last two months I was trying a lot of different combination of nutrient control. Tried chaeto, carbon dosing but the nitrate always creeps up a lot. Sometime I increase dosing of carbon which will take down the NO3 and then if I lower the carbon dosing then again NO3 is up. But all these lead to browning of corals and RTN etc etc.

All this time my major parameters were stable. So, I took a break and started thinking practically about the whole process of nutrient control. I was reading some discussions from Adam (battle coral) and other reefing experts here. I was thinking how the sea control its nutrient. Yeah, I know all the possible arguments like the vast water volume and other stuffs etc. But the ocean don't use GFO for PO4 maintenance or biopellet etc.

I was thinking are majority of problems we face in terms of nutrient control are because of our own over protective parent nature? We are so cautious that we don't let our child get out and face its own problem. Similarly, our reef just can not take care of itself because we don't let it to do that. We use tons of different ways to control nutrient but what if we don't???

So, during March I decided to start something different. I ordered some live rock from gulf rock as they sell it in small volume. Now at this point I must remind you all that my system is bare bottom and very minimum rock scape. Also, I ordered 1 litre of siporax. I generally have 2 litre of siporax in the system. I use GFO and carbon with zeolite. I added the siporax in the system and also the live rock but not all of it. I generally dose Pro bio S as a bacterial source. I continued dosing it. After almost 3 weeks the nitrate started coming down. But the moment nitrate slowed the green algae disappeared and the cyano appeared. Possibly because of the imbalance created by dead algae. Then I started using Zeozym and cyano clean with biomate. It helped to clean up the mess. I was thinking all the time what is more easier changing media and thinking about it all the time or just let it be on its own. I finally decided to give my instincts a try. I keep dosing the bacteria but took the GFO off line. So just the zeolite and carbon now. The PO4 went up from 0 to 0.09 within 48 hours but then it again fall back to 0 after a week with similar food and other input. Also, now the system started to use the NO3 more and I need to dose a bit of KNO3 every other day. The rocks became cleaner and the system looks very clean (no algae on glass). Sometime I see a bit of cyano like thing but next day they are gone. Its like the system take care of itself. I introduced a little amount of Life bio fill to introduce more variety of bacterial population.

Now, currently I have no algae and running the system without GFO. I am using the skimmer and zeolite with a bit of carbon. Possibly I will slow down on carbon use too just occasionally one week every month in a bag. But I will run only zeolite.
My SPS are colouring back and I can see they are really enjoying the system as all polyps are out all day. My LPS look better too. Also, I wish to mention that I run my 2 6500K Gieseman T5 and Hydra all chanel at 100% including red and green for 6-7 hour every day but without any algae issues.

I am going to use some new Aquaforest products which are going to launch soon in USA in my tank so stay tuned.....

Also there will post regarding effect of those products and possibly videos so now this thread is on again.;Smuggrin

Janci · May 13, 2017

Anirban said:
Its show time again people.....

This post will be more of writing and reef philosophy rather than posting images. Over the last couple of months period I realise a lot of things. The tank is rebooted since January after the total crash in December. As I mentioned in my last post the system was having a die off issue and very high nitrate. Few corals died of RTN because of nitrate fluctuation.

Since last two months I was trying a lot of different combination of nutrient control. Tried chaeto, carbon dosing but the nitrate always creeps up a lot. Sometime I increase dosing of carbon which will take down the NO3 and then if I lower the carbon dosing then again NO3 is up. But all these lead to browning of corals and RTN etc etc. All this time my major parameters were stable. So, I took a break and started thinking practically about the whole process of nutrient control. I was reading some discussions from Adam (battle coral) and other reefing experts here. I was thinking how the sea control its nutrient. Yeah, I know all the possible arguments like the vast water volume and other stuffs etc. But the ocean don't use GFO for PO4 maintenance or biopellet etc.

I was thinking are majority of problems we face in terms of nutrient control are because of our own over protective parent nature? We are so cautious that we don't let our child get out and face its own problem. Similarly, our reef just can not take care of itself because we don't let it to do that. We use tons of different ways to control nutrient but what if we don't???

So, during March I decided to start something different. I ordered some live rock from gulf rock as they sell it in small volume. Now at this point I must remind you all that my system is bare bottom and very minimum rock scape. Also, I ordered 1 litre of siporax. I generally have 2 litre of siporax in the system. I use GFO and carbon with zeolite. I added the siporax in the system and also the live rock but not all of it. I generally dose Pro bio S as a bacterial source. I continued dosing it. After almost 3 weeks the nitrate started coming down. But the moment nitrate slowed the green algae disappeared and the cyano appeared. Possibly because of the imbalance created by dead algae. Then I started using Zeozym and cyano clean with biomate. It helped to clean up the mess. I was thinking all the time what is more easier changing media and thinking about it all the time or just let it be on its own. I finally decided to give my instincts a try. I keep dosing the bacteria but took the GFO off line. So just the zeolite and carbon now. The PO4 went up from 0 to 0.09 within 48 hours but then it again fall back to 0 after a week with similar food and other input. Also, now the system started to use the NO3 more and I need to dose a bit of KNO3 every other day. The rocks became cleaner and the system looks very clean (no algae on glass). Sometime I see a bit of cyano like thing but next day they are gone. Its like the system take care of itself. I introduced a little amount of Life bio fill to introduce more variety of bacterial population.

Now, currently I have no algae and running the system without GFO. I am using the skimmer and zeolite with a bit of carbon. Possibly I will slow down on carbon use too just occasionally one week every month in a bag. But I will run only zeolite.
My SPS are colouring back and I can see they are really enjoying the system as all polyps are out all day. My LPS look better too. Also, I wish to mention that I run my 2 6500K Gieseman T5 and Hydra all chanel at 100% including red and green for 6-7 hour every day but without any algae issues.

I am going to use some new Aquaforest products which are going to launch soon in USA in my tank so stay tuned.....

Also there will post regarding effect of those products and possibly videos so now this thread is on again.;Smuggrin

Good update and interesting approach to reduce the need to control the system.
I dig that.

The other day I saw a video about how much light corals really need. I was surprised to see that the 300-400PAR is not necessary at all.
Corals flourish at PAR levels about 100-200.
This just as a side kick. Once your system is more stable, it might be interesting to check the behaviour of the corals with light not at 100%.

Good luck.

jsker · May 13, 2017

Thank you for the update and information.

I like the long write up, give us some idea what you are doing to tank care of the issue.

Anirban · May 13, 2017

Janci said:
Good update and interesting approach to reduce the need to control the system.
I dig that.

The other day I saw a video about how much light corals really need. I was surprised to see that the 300-400PAR is not necessary at all.
Corals flourish at PAR levels about 100-200.
This just as a side kick. Once your system is more stable, it might be interesting to check the behaviour of the corals with light not at 100%.

Good luck.

Thanks, possibly I will look at my corals and next I am going take out the carbon too. I will use it occasionally.
As far the light concern, my acans really enjoy the tropical 6500K light as well as my SPS. I know its possibly bit on higher side for those 6-7 hours or so but because my tank does not have any high rock structure and distance between light and the corals are like 20 inches or more. But I know they are good as they are regaining their colour. For the rest of the day my hydras are set for 20 K and all blue for visual pleasure.

Anirban · May 13, 2017

jsker said:
Thank you for the update and information.

I like the long write up, give us some idea what you are doing to tank care of the issue.

Thanks man, yeah it was long due. I will take care its updated regularly from now on.

jsker · May 13, 2017

Anirban said:
Thanks man, yeah it was long due. I will take care its updated regularly from now on.

No worries with the updates. I like the valuable information. All of use have our battles with cyano and the information is good to read others methods.

What are you nutrients running now?

john.m.cole3 · May 13, 2017

Great update, thanks! I was having some issues this time last year. A friend of mine who does maintenance on SW tanks as a career suggested removing the carbon and GFO and I had a similar positive experience as you. Now I prefer bio blocks, good skimmer, and chaeto.

Anirban · May 13, 2017

jsker said:
No worries with the updates. I like the valuable information. All of use have our battles with cyano and the information is good to read others methods.

What are you nutrients running now?

I just measured them....PO4 reading 0 in Hanna and NO3 approximately between 4-5ppm with salifert and Red sea. My PO4 is reading 0-0.02 since last week without GFO...

Next target is to take out carbon and use it once a month for a week or one day each week ....

Anirban · May 13, 2017

john.m.cole3 said:
Great update, thanks! I was having some issues this time last year. A friend of mine who does maintenance on SW tanks as a career suggested removing the carbon and GFO and I had a similar positive experience as you. Now I prefer bio blocks, good skimmer, and chaeto.

Yeah, I am trying to figure the easy way out....life is getting too complicated with all those parameters...so lets find the lazy (easy) way out.

Anirban · May 14, 2017

Time for some photo dump....

Anirban · May 14, 2017

Some more.....

Daniel@R2R · May 15, 2017

Love these!

Anirban · May 15, 2017

mdbannister said:
Love these!

Thanks for loving them....

Anirban · May 16, 2017

I am back with some interesting news as promised. Few weeks back I asked Aquaforest for some sample of their new products and they send me some. I received Life source, pure food and calanus within a week. I will try to follow up the effects of these on my system. To begin with here are the pictures of these just out of the bottles.

Calanus: Looks like Calanus

....I was using this earlier as a frozen food but this one is dried and has exactly same effect on fish. They just get mad. I will post a video tomorrow.