biom's Reef

[coralcruze]

I'm using only products developed and tested in our laboratory, may be one day they will be commercialized. I'm dosing daily 3 products: balanced two part, organic carbon and mix of 8 bioactive elements. Every six months I'm testing my water (ICP - Triton) and adjusting (if needed) Potassium, Strontium and Boron. I'm doing no water changes, because two part is ionic balanced.

great looking reef!!!

1. Bioload- I assume you must be feeding the fish? if so what food? also is the food metered (measured) accurately? or eyeballed...
2. you said no amino and no vitamins. On your Dec 23rd post you mentioned that you do dose amino. did you stop dosing amino?
3. you said you carbon dose. whats your export method? since you don't do water changes... is it skimming? anything else? how much do you export daily/weekly?
4. I see you have bare bottom (no sand). Are you siphoning detritus? vacuuming?
5. I too have read your comments in the Redfield thread. what do you keep Nitrate and Phosphates at? any particular ratio outside of Redfield?
6. are you feeding corals? any liquid foods? Phyto? oyster? other?

I would very much appreciate some pictures of the "behind the scenes' life support system.

Keep up the amazing work... CC

 

[jsker]

Thank you jsker, (I'm always playing Stephen Hawking in the reef Universe, trying to explain how it works )))


I'm using only products developed and tested in our laboratory, may be one day they will be commercialized. I'm dosing daily 3 products: balanced two part, organic carbon and mix of 8 bioactive elements. Every six months I'm testing my water (ICP - Triton) and adjusting (if needed) Potassium, Strontium and Boron. I'm doing no water changes, because two part is ionic balanced.


Thank you revhtree, glad you like it. (from my side I like very much new Reef 2 Reef App for Smartphones )



Hi Mindy, thank you I also like the shape of pink hyacinthus (yes, it is hyacinthus), its color is not first class but it is one of my fast growing acros (together with green rainbow milli)

You can see part of it here ind the front left, and you can see green-rainbow milli in the middle - it is one one year and 5 months old (started as one inch frag).

LOL

 

[Sahin]

Stoyan, the corals look superb; both the health and colours are top class. Got a few questions/requests:

1. Could you share photos of the filtration/sump please?

2. Is Skimmer, Liverock & Vinegar/Vodka the only sources of filtration? Or do you use GAC as well? - Since you do not carry out water changes how do you deal with yellowing of the water/gelbstoff? UV/Ozone?

3. How much Zeolite are you using? - Think I read on another thread you utilise a small amount to control some elements?

4. What is the T5 tube makeup ie which tube combo are you using? Do you feel the tube combo makes much difference to the absolute SPS colouration? - I dont mean apparant colourati0n where some pigments are exhibited more strongly immediately after changing the tube combo.

5. What is the purpose for dosing Nitrates? Do you see any difference to coral colouration or is it merely to balance N : P ratio?

6. Can you tell us what the 8 bioactive elements that you are dosing and what each does for the coral and SPS colours?

7. What return pump are you using and how much water is going through the sump per hour?

Thank you very much for sharing. Your tank is as "scientific" as it gets for most hobbyists and I appreciate the sharing of your beautiful tank.

I particularly love "top down" shots of the SPS corals. Please feel welcome to flood the thread with such photos.

 

[biom]

great looking reef!!!

Thank you coralcruze

1. Bioload- I assume you must be feeding the fish? if so what food? also is the food metered (measured) accurately? or eyeballed...

Yes, all food entering aquarium is measured regularly and it is only frozen artemia (brine shrimp) about 12 grams per day (wet weight). I don't think there is a need to be measured accurately,I'm doing this because of an still ongoing experiment.

2. you said no amino and no vitamins. On your Dec 23rd post you mentioned that you do dose amino. did you stop dosing amino?

Yes, from almost 1 year stopped amino and vitamins

3. you said you carbon dose. whats your export method? since you don't do water changes... is it skimming? anything else? how much do you export daily/weekly?

Intensive skimming yes, I have way oversized skimmer ATI PowerCone 200i, real monster pulling enormous volume of air. I believe highly efficient skimmer and quality light is the key.

4. I see you have bare bottom (no sand). Are you siphoning detritus? vacuuming?

Yes, I'm siphoning and measuring detritus regularly.

5. I too have read your comments in the Redfield thread. what do you keep Nitrate and Phosphates at? any particular ratio outside of Redfield?

Not really special ratio, just Nitrates 0.5-2 ppm and PO4, below 0.04ppm.

6. are you feeding corals? any liquid foods? Phyto? oyster? other?

No

Stoyan, the corals look superb; both the health and colours are top class. Got a few questions/requests:
I particularly love "top down" shots of the SPS corals. Please feel welcome to flood the thread with such photos.

Hi Sahin, thank you

1. Could you share photos of the filtration/sump please?

Unfortunately it is not possible to take picture now, because the sump is covered with insulation materials (it is in basement and here we have quite cold winter), but it is very simple - only skimmer and circulation pump, and Jebao dosing pump for two parts, bioactive elements and organic carbon.

2. Is Skimmer, Liverock & Vinegar/Vodka the only sources of filtration? Or do you use GAC as well? - Since you do not carry out water changes how do you deal with yellowing of the water/gelbstoff? UV/Ozone?

Rarely I'm using GAC, for 2-3 days every two months or so, but quite often I'm dosing mix of carbonates (similar to CoralSnow), which helps a lot against yellowing of the water.

3. How much Zeolite are you using? - Think I read on another thread you utilise a small amount to control some elements?

No, I'm not using zeolites anymore, never used in this tank.

4. What is the T5 tube makeup ie which tube combo are you using? Do you feel the tube combo makes much difference to the absolute SPS colouration? - I dont mean apparant colourati0n where some pigments are exhibited more strongly immediately after changing the tube combo.

Very good question, I have ATI Powermodule 6x54watt with t5 ATI tubes. And no, I dont think there is big difference of the tube combo - I have very good and similar results with various ATI tubes and combinations Coral +, Aquablue special, Blue + . Curently i'm running 3 Coral plus, 2 Blue and one Actinic, I'm changing tubes every 6-8 months.

5. What is the purpose for dosing Nitrates? Do you see any difference to coral colouration or is it merely to balance N : P ratio?

I was dosing nitrates in the beginning, because of the oversized skimmer and bare bottom, there were no nitrates and lps corals were starving.

6. Can you tell us what the 8 bioactive elements that you are dosing and what each does for the coral and SPS colours?

Iron, Iodine, Manganese, Vanadium, Copper, Molybdenum, Nickel, Chromium all of them very important for the life in the reef tank, not only for corals but mainly for the bacteria, but may be one day I'll find more time to share my thoughts about bioactive elements and reef life.

Thank you for your questions

 

[Sahin]

Thank you for the most helpful replies. Just one question you missed answering:

7. What return pump are you using and how much water is going through the sump per hour?

 

[coralcruze]

Thank you so much for your time in answering my questions. i do have one follow up to #4 please:

what is the purpose of measuring detritus?

again Thanks!!!

 

[biom]

Thank you for the most helpful replies. Just one question you missed answering:

7. What return pump are you using and how much water is going through the sump per hour?

Sorry, unintentionally (or not ) omitted that question. This is one of my biggest problems with this tank. It has very small external overflow box, you can see it in the upper right corner on the FTS in post#12. This tank was started as experimental tank, and it was not exactly designed for keeping such big and demanding bioload. Its maximum capacity is about 2500 l per hour ( about 700 gph?) (about 8 tank volumes per hour) which is not enough and lots of detritus is trapped into display which causes cyano blooms. The return pump is Jebao.

The other problem: The sump area is in my basement, which is good, but two years ago I placed wood pellet based heating system there, which I know is very, very bad idea, but I had no other options. And now during winter pH varies very much and leading again to cyano blooms. I will ask Santa again to bring me new tank next year . (I asked him last Christmas, but obviously I was not certificated as a good boy ).

Thank you so much for your time in answering my questions. i do have one follow up to #4 please:
what is the purpose of measuring detritus?
again Thanks!!!

Welcome! Hah yes, it was part of an interesting experiment, please take look here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/detritus-in-a-reef-tank.211272/

 

[Myka]

Hi Mindy, thank you I also like the shape of pink hyacinthus (yes, it is hyacinthus), its color is not first class but it is one of my fast growing acros (together with green rainbow milli)

You can see part of it here ind the front left, and you can see green-rainbow milli in the middle - it is one one year and 5 months old (started as one inch frag).

Hi Stoyan, yes very nice hyacinthus! I love how the branches are spaced apart so far on this colony. You have great growth! I wish I could say the same. Haha!

 

[biom]

Picture from today

 

[revhtree]

Picture from today

Lovely!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Wow! Awesome!

 

[Sahin]

Beautiful reef.

 

[radiata]

Biom,

You've certainly got a gorgeous reef! I'm curious to know how many years it took for you to achieve your current level of expertise...

Thanks,
Bob

 

[biom]

Thank you all for stopping by .
Bob I'm biologist working on fish ecology more than 20 years and it was easy to me to understand main biological processes in the reef tank but I don't really think that you need to be an biologist to have nice reef tank , in contrary I do believe that degree in biology only push you to make endless experiments with your tank not giving time needed an reef tank to reach equilibrium (3-4 years ) .

 

[chrismelb]

Iron, Iodine, Manganese, Vanadium, Copper, Molybdenum, Nickel, Chromium all of them very important for the life in the reef tank, not only for corals but mainly for the bacteria, but may be one day I'll find more time to share my thoughts about bioactive elements and reef life.

Hi Stoyan, fantastic reef! I love the layout and the colours are simply amazing - thank you for sharing. I'd love to know more about your thoughts on the above bioactive elements that you mention. I see a few people dosing such metals these days, and sometimes in excess, with seemingly positive results. I myself do worry about dosing things that I can't reliably test for, particularly those that are known to be toxic if overdosed (e.g. Cu). I've always assumed such elements are added to our tanks via the foods we feed.
Many thanks Chris

 

[biom]

Hi Chris, thank you for stopping by. There is no doubt the bioactive micro-elements are very important for all living organisms, but you are right to be worried to dose them into the tank, because as Paracelsus said about 500 years ago "...only the dosage makes a thing not poison".

I've started dosing micro-elements years ago using different brands developed "specially for reef tanks", in all cases ended with overdose of not needed (macro)elements. The problem was and still is, because of commercial interests most of microelements are sold highly diluted in different bottles (at least 4-5), often with other not really needed macro ingredients. That's why I've started to develop for my use "fertilizer" similar to one used in planted freshwater tanks, that have all microelements needed in only one bottle. And after many tests (in my laboratory and ICP-OS) I ended up with current formula, it is not rocket science, but I'm adding it in my tank every day from almost an year (with no water changes) and no accumulation is detected (by ICP) so far. Most of bioactive microelements have very short - hours "active" live in saltwater, soon after addition they are consumed and/or oxidized to insoluble compounds that are skimmed out or settle down.

Yes, normally all of microelements will come with the food, but we never know the amount, usually they are in low numbers and if you decide to feed more, will end with high phosphate.
Copper have a bad name in reef hobby because of hugely overdosing in the past when copper based medicine was used for treating diseases, and because of Korallen Zuht approach to stripping out zooxantellae using copper products at near toxic levels. In fact copper in its normal levels is very important element for all living organizms.

 

[chrismelb]

Hi Chris, thank you for stopping by. There is no doubt the bioactive micro-elements are very important for all living organisms, but you are right to be worried to dose them into the tank, because as Paracelsus said about 500 years ago "...only the dosage makes a thing not poison".

I've started dosing micro-elements years ago using different brands developed "specially for reef tanks", in all cases ended with overdose of not needed (macro)elements. The problem was and still is, because of commercial interests most of microelements are sold highly diluted in different bottles (at least 4-5), often with other not really needed macro ingredients. That's why I've started to develop for my use "fertilizer" similar to one used in planted freshwater tanks, that have all microelements needed in only one bottle. And after many tests (in my laboratory and ICP-OS) I ended up with current formula, it is not rocket science, but I'm adding it in my tank every day from almost an year (with no water changes) and no accumulation is detected (by ICP) so far. Most of bioactive microelements have very short - hours "active" live in saltwater, soon after addition they are consumed and/or oxidized to insoluble compounds that are skimmed out or settle down.

Yes, normally all of microelements will come with the food, but we never know the amount, usually they are in low numbers and if you decide to feed more, will end with high phosphate.
Copper have a bad name in reef hobby because of hugely overdosing in the past when copper based medicine was used for treating diseases, and because of Korallen Zuht approach to stripping out zooxantellae using copper products at near toxic levels. In fact copper in its normal levels is very important element for all living organizms.

Thanks Stoyan for the detailed explanation. This dosing of micro elements is very interesting and hope that your coral fertilizer will be commercialized one day .

 

[Myka]

Stoyan, your tank looks great! Your reply about being a biologist and endless experiments made me chuckle. How do you get all the different colors to show so well with your camera? Mine always seems so unbalanced when I try to take a photo of the whole tank. It never looks like how I see it.

 

[biom]

Hi Mindy, I'm very good at Photoshop. Kidding, there is almost no postprocessing, only shadows are lighten. I'm using Canon DLSR camera (have to check the model ), no flash or special filters used. The other camera I really like is Olympus Tough TG-2 (there are newer models I believe) it is underwater compact camera.
Actually IMO I'm better painter than photographer . One of my illustrations not finished yet - dusky grouper:

Happy New Year!

 

[Myka]

Hi Mindy, I'm very good at Photoshop. Kidding, there is almost no postprocessing, only shadows are lighten. I'm using Canon DLSR camera (have to check the model ), no flash or special filters used. The other camera I really like is Olympus Tough TG-2 (there are newer models I believe) it is underwater compact camera.
Actually IMO I'm better painter than photographer . One of my illustrations not finished yet - dusky grouper:

Happy New Year!

Spectacular Stoyan!!! Do you sell them?

I have a Pentax WG-II that takes really similar photos to the Olympus. I know the Olympus has RAW capability though, and my Pentax doesn't. It takes great macros photos, but lacks manual options to get real good FTS out of it. I'll give it a shot later today or tomorrow. I'm due for a photo dump.