SeaDweller
2500 Club Member
Ok, to play off of @ycnibrc 's bacteria thread, I've seen the most successful, thriving reef tanks having a few common factors between them. Successful to me means great coloration and growth, not just one or the other.
1) The obvious common factor is super clean source water: filters changed regularly and ahead of schedule, making sure nothing gets into the tank but pure H2O (salt mix doesn't matter as I've seen regular IO to IORC to RSCP to TMP).
2) The second common factor is regular husbandry, whether it be every 2 to 4 weeks, there is some form of WCs put in place, but I've seen the other end of the spectrum where some don't do regular maintenance at all, often times waiting months between WCs, but there's either dosing in place or a CaRx implemented.
3) They all have a lot of light, whether it be MH, T5, LEDs, combo of, they don't skimp here; there's plenty to cover front to back, side to side.
4) Lastly, the most colorful, healthy reefs I've seen local to me, and some buddies across the nation, all have this one last common thing going on: they all have a lot of fish that are fed regularly throughout the day. I'm in that camp. I have 9 tangs, 22 anthias, 2 clowns, 1 angel, 1 leopard wrasse, and 1 stupid sand goby that get fed 'round the clock. I'm gonna assume most of us have conditions 1-3 in common and covered.
My feeding schedule:
AM: they get fed a lot of flakes 3 times within an hour before I go to work
Brunch: NLS pellets on auto feeder 3 times: 11AM, 130PM, 430PM
Happy Hour: Flakes again when I'm home
Dinner: Mysis and plankton, roughly 5+ cubes worth; I go thru Hikari flat packs quickly.
Night cap: some more flakes.
That's at least 6-7 times that they get fed. Obviously they're active fish, so I feed them accordingly, they're all far from being skinny. I DO NOT have algae issues: I run heavy export as well (skimmer, Rowaphos 24/7, monthly WC, chaeto, sulfur denitrator). I've seen "healthy" reefs with a lot of fish and no color to their SPS: they don't feed enough and export too much, and they've turned around once they fed more and cut export back. It's true, I've dosed bacteria too, but it was to perhaps help with my bad situation after my reboot earlier this year, but I've also stopped for the past month. I don't put that much weight and credit on the MB7 or the EcoBalance additives in helping my tank (in fact I think it sparked my cyano issue).
I feel @Big E said it best in the other thread:
"Corals take in ammonium and urea directly from fish...........if anyone wants a healthier system just have enough fish and feed them well. There will also be plenty of nitrogen available. The poop has plenty of PO4 that passes through the fish and promotes bacterial growth. There will be plenty of bacteria for every living organism in your system." What's enough fish? I don't know, but most guys I know have tanks that are 120-300 gallons and aim to have at least 20+ fish in there, obviously bigger tanks like a 225+ has 25-30+ fish. I have a 240 with the above listed fish, and I'm about to add 3 more yellow tangs if I'm being honest. I'm not saying that this is the answer, but I don't think it can be argued it doesn't help. Some of the guys I know start off how a noob would: 100% fresh water, dry dead rock, and some used bottled bacteria to help a cycle. Some have cycled the rock and ran business as usual. But something differs here and there's a deviation that allows them to thrive and keep sailing smooth while noobs struggle and crash. I feel it's because they fed their fish heavily and didn't worry about the "uglies" that may come with a new or rebooted tank.
Does anyone here have a super colorful, healthy SPS tank that has minimal fish and minimal feedings (like once/day or less)? Maybe this can help others who are struggling too, and they can re-evaluate their tanks in terms of stocking and feeding (I think most people are scared to feed their fish for fear of algae), and perhaps add more fish or just feed a couple more times during the day? Does anyone have to dose to overcome a light stocking and feeding regiment? Let's see if we can start seeing some more success threads vs. dead/dying/paling/bleaching threads. No one posts up my acros are browning threads, it's always dead threads.
1) The obvious common factor is super clean source water: filters changed regularly and ahead of schedule, making sure nothing gets into the tank but pure H2O (salt mix doesn't matter as I've seen regular IO to IORC to RSCP to TMP).
2) The second common factor is regular husbandry, whether it be every 2 to 4 weeks, there is some form of WCs put in place, but I've seen the other end of the spectrum where some don't do regular maintenance at all, often times waiting months between WCs, but there's either dosing in place or a CaRx implemented.
3) They all have a lot of light, whether it be MH, T5, LEDs, combo of, they don't skimp here; there's plenty to cover front to back, side to side.
4) Lastly, the most colorful, healthy reefs I've seen local to me, and some buddies across the nation, all have this one last common thing going on: they all have a lot of fish that are fed regularly throughout the day. I'm in that camp. I have 9 tangs, 22 anthias, 2 clowns, 1 angel, 1 leopard wrasse, and 1 stupid sand goby that get fed 'round the clock. I'm gonna assume most of us have conditions 1-3 in common and covered.
My feeding schedule:
AM: they get fed a lot of flakes 3 times within an hour before I go to work
Brunch: NLS pellets on auto feeder 3 times: 11AM, 130PM, 430PM
Happy Hour: Flakes again when I'm home
Dinner: Mysis and plankton, roughly 5+ cubes worth; I go thru Hikari flat packs quickly.
Night cap: some more flakes.
That's at least 6-7 times that they get fed. Obviously they're active fish, so I feed them accordingly, they're all far from being skinny. I DO NOT have algae issues: I run heavy export as well (skimmer, Rowaphos 24/7, monthly WC, chaeto, sulfur denitrator). I've seen "healthy" reefs with a lot of fish and no color to their SPS: they don't feed enough and export too much, and they've turned around once they fed more and cut export back. It's true, I've dosed bacteria too, but it was to perhaps help with my bad situation after my reboot earlier this year, but I've also stopped for the past month. I don't put that much weight and credit on the MB7 or the EcoBalance additives in helping my tank (in fact I think it sparked my cyano issue).
I feel @Big E said it best in the other thread:
"Corals take in ammonium and urea directly from fish...........if anyone wants a healthier system just have enough fish and feed them well. There will also be plenty of nitrogen available. The poop has plenty of PO4 that passes through the fish and promotes bacterial growth. There will be plenty of bacteria for every living organism in your system." What's enough fish? I don't know, but most guys I know have tanks that are 120-300 gallons and aim to have at least 20+ fish in there, obviously bigger tanks like a 225+ has 25-30+ fish. I have a 240 with the above listed fish, and I'm about to add 3 more yellow tangs if I'm being honest. I'm not saying that this is the answer, but I don't think it can be argued it doesn't help. Some of the guys I know start off how a noob would: 100% fresh water, dry dead rock, and some used bottled bacteria to help a cycle. Some have cycled the rock and ran business as usual. But something differs here and there's a deviation that allows them to thrive and keep sailing smooth while noobs struggle and crash. I feel it's because they fed their fish heavily and didn't worry about the "uglies" that may come with a new or rebooted tank.
Does anyone here have a super colorful, healthy SPS tank that has minimal fish and minimal feedings (like once/day or less)? Maybe this can help others who are struggling too, and they can re-evaluate their tanks in terms of stocking and feeding (I think most people are scared to feed their fish for fear of algae), and perhaps add more fish or just feed a couple more times during the day? Does anyone have to dose to overcome a light stocking and feeding regiment? Let's see if we can start seeing some more success threads vs. dead/dying/paling/bleaching threads. No one posts up my acros are browning threads, it's always dead threads.
