GlennF's 300 gallon DSR reef.

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Simple coral, yet so rewarding to have.
They never let you down when you rely on them to "scape" your tank.
But once in a while they need some pruning

Beautiful setup, comrade, thanks for sharing

 

[glennf]

Do you find that montipora corals kills other corals by covering them Glenn?

I’ve got one very similar and it ‘mummifies’ other corals, not all as some can seem to hold it off but others it just covers them

It can, but so does other like the stylopora

 

[vetteguy53081]

There's good looking tanks and great looking tanks - This is Great !!! Very nice !!!

 

[MyReefRobbedMe]

Beautiful Tank Glenn . I really enjoy how detailed you are In explaining everything . Especially feedings and such . This is what helps the new guys . Following for sure

 

[phil bevilacqua]

Wow wow wow....... oh my gosh!!!! Unbelievable coral and color! Just wow! Your are the coral whisperer!!!! Congrats on the nicest coral I have ever seen in a tank!

 

[glennf]

There's good looking tanks and great looking tanks - This is Great !!! Very nice !!!

Thanks for the beautifull comment

It's more about improving myself, because i try to push the limit.

 

[glennf]

Beautiful Tank Glenn . I really enjoy how detailed you are In explaining everything . Especially feedings and such . This is what helps the new guys . Following for sure

Thanks,
Feeding is about finding the right balance with fish and coral population, but also with yourself.
If it's to much work you not be able to keep it up for a long time.

 

[glennf]

Wow wow wow....... oh my gosh!!!! Unbelievable coral and color! Just wow! Your are the coral whisperer!!!! Congrats on the nicest coral I have ever seen in a tank!

Thanks for the nice comments

Good to see that people are still reading tankthreads.
It seems like many people don't even bother reading. They only post when they have questions or have problems.

IMO there is valuable information hidden in many succesful tankthreads. I don't mean those threads with the newest and expensive gadgets thats don't even last for 2 years.

 

[glennf]

Pruning time for my butrerfly 200 reef was long overdue.

I removed large chunks of corals and i don't even see the difference.

Sadly i had to do this, otherwise all corals underneath will go dark and the reef will die from within.

 

[SPR1968]

Pruning time for my butrerfly 200 reef was long overdue.

I removed large chunks of corals and i don't even see the difference.

Sadly i had to do this, other wise all corals underneath will go dark and the reef will die from within.

I hate doing this as well Glenn, but sometimes you just have to, to keep control of everything

I know we could probably take them to the LFS, but I don’t know about you, but I really can’t be bothered

 

[glennf]

I hate doing this as well Glenn, but sometimes you just have to, to keep control of everything

I know we could probably take them to the LFS, but I don’t know about you, but I really can’t be bothered

Being a succesfull reefer has it up and downs.
To much growth become to much work.
Often the tank look "****" after pruning.
That's why i hate it also.

What so you do with the pruning?
This is a problem with today's succesfull reefers.

Many LFS can't handle SPS, so they stay clear of it. So a few reefers start fragtanks and become fragsellers.
This is where the LFS start complaning that fragsellers are ruining the business.

How do we solve this problem?

 

[rushbattle]

Glenn, you are going to have to add back in a calcium reactor just to melt your coral skeletons back into the tank! That’s gotta be hundreds of euro in supplements! That’s amazing!

 

[Ben Pedersen]

Glen, how are you addressing Cyanobacteria outbreaks?

 

[SPR1968]

Being a succesfull reefer has it up and downs.
To much growth become to much work.
Often the tank look "****" after pruning.
That's why i hate it also.

What so you do with the pruning?
This is a problem with today's succesfull reefers.

Many LFS can't handle SPS, so they stay clear of it. So a few reefers start fragtanks and become fragsellers.
This is where the LFS start complaning that fragsellers are ruining the business.

How do we solve this problem?

Get bigger tanks??! Lol

 

[glennf]

Glenn, you are going to have to add back in a calcium reactor just to melt your coral skeletons back into the tank! That’s gotta be hundreds of euro in supplements! That’s amazing!

I will never go back to calcium reactors.
For years i have been using them (2004-2015) and if i compare a CRx with dosings, the CRx don't come anyway near the control i have with dosings. I even ran both at the same time, but when things went wrong it was always the CRx which had it's "monthly period"[emoji2955].

Beside that, when you dissolves coral skeletons you also dissolve substantial amounts of phosphate in your system. This is unwanted when you already have a surplus.

Cost of supplements are minimal compared to the energy needed to grow these corals.
What the heck, we need a hobby in our live.....[emoji13]

 

[dwest]

I will never go back to calcium reactors.
For years i have been using them (2004-2015) and if i compare a CRx with dosings, the CRx don't come anyway near the control i have with dosings. I even ran both at the same time, but when things went wrong it was always the CRx which had it's "monthly period"[emoji2955].

Beside that, when you dissolves coral skeletons you also dissolve substantial amounts of phosphate in your system. This is unwanted when you already have a surplus.

Cost of supplements are minimal compared to the energy needed to grow these corals.
What the heck, we need a hobby in our live.....[emoji13]

Interesting. I don’t hear many negatives about calcium reactors. And you certainly have the experience to back up your statement. I’m going back to read more.

 

[phil bevilacqua]

If I’m not a chemist can I still do this? Seems like a lot of testing? Is it? I have calcium reactor and it seems simple. BUT MY TANK DOESNT GROW LIKE YOURS.... lol. I’m always open. I read all this and your articles. It’s alot to take in but seems a little complicated for me. Thank you for everything you do

 

[glennf]

Glen, how are you addressing Cyanobacteria outbreaks?

In my expererience cyano is always directly linked to detritus buildup in a system.
The main focus would be to focus on preventing detritus from settling down locally. That's archieved by:
- using alternating flow to prevent dead zones
- use a powerfilter to remove dirt before it settles.

Detritus combined with over exposure usually initiate the outbreak, so turning down the light helps a lot.

Once a outbreak starts the only way to control it is take a few step back to regain control.
Meaning:
- syphon the cyano blanket
- clean out the system
- a 3 day blackout.
After that restart with 20-30% less light untill you regain control.

I have written a procedure for this:
http://dsrreefing.nl/cyano.html

 

[glennf]

Interesting. I don’t hear many negatives about calcium reactors. And you certainly have the experience to back up your statement. I’m going back to read more.

For most people a calcium reactor is easy to understand..
- You dissolve chalk in a reactor by addition off a acidic substance. in this case Carbondioxide.
- the corals use chalk to build their skeleton.
It's as simple as that.

The only thing you can control is the amount of carbondioxide you're using. The dissolved product are a fixed ratio.
That's also the weakness of a Calcium rx, you can't control the individual ratio of KH/Ca/Mg/Sr and other elements.

Every tank has a different KH/Ca/Mg ratio. So very often you see these parameters will deviate from tank to tank.
So you need to start (manual) corrections/dosing.

Beside that a calcium rx don't supply essential stuff like Kalium, Manganese, Strontium and Iodine. Those are the element that make a difference with most dosing system.
Every brand/system has it's own specific characteristics... so people claiming all dosing system does the same, just don't know what to look for. A coral is just like any other coral right?
... A calcium rx is just a partial solution.....

Dosing are the next level in getting to understand how the reef system works and how waterquality interact with the coral health.
Dosing are more difficult to understand for most novice reefing (not familiar with reefing chemistry).
On the otherhand this is essential knowledge to be succesfull in long term.
It require some reading into, but than you are prepared to solve future problems.

I tried to make reef chemistry more accesable by developing calculators which do the math and reproduce a sound advice.
This is the first and complete tool.
http://dsrreefing.com/dsrcalculator/

This is a movie that explains how it was developed:
http://www.DSRreefing.com/dsrcalcfilm


To make thing more Easy there is also a dosing system called EZ-DSR.
This was developed as a plug and play system. Especially for those who don't want to spend much time reading and mixing stuff.
http://www.DSRreefing.com/ez-dsr

So you see there are many alternatives which get you a better control and also produce results.
For that reason most Dutch reefers set aside their reactors and start with dosings.
It's all about control, result and less effort, because waterchange is past tense in here.

Both DSR and EZ-DSR are total solutions. They control all essential water parameters.
That's the only reason why waterchanges can be ommited.

 

[glennf]

If I’m not a chemist can I still do this? Seems like a lot of testing? Is it? I have calcium reactor and it seems simple. BUT MY TANK DOESNT GROW LIKE YOURS.... lol. I’m always open. I read all this and your articles. It’s alot to take in but seems a little complicated for me. Thank you for everything you do

Read the previous reply. It answered most of your questions.

A good designed reefing system don't require chemical knowledge of the user. It supplies you with the tools to be a succesfull reefer.
Anyone can, by reading on the DSR portal or asking question in the DSR support groups.

Testing is like finetuning a F1 car.
The more you test, the better you can tune into the performance.
So you decide for yourself what your objectives are.
In the base every reefer need to test the basics:
Kh, Ca, Mg, PO4, NO3. If you don't it's just an accident waiting to happen.
So with DSR you are made aware that these are the things that realy make a difference.
It's all about education and sharing the gained knowledge. It's up to the reefers to decide whether it fits their lifestyle.

If you want to minimize on testing you're a perfect candidate for the EZ system.
This is the procedure i developed for that:
http://dsrreefing.com/ezstart