HIGH END Tenuis Hoarder

[David S]

Hello nice to meet you and thanks for your question!

I see good color and growth on all my corals at .25-.35 Range. I have 97% tenuis though LOL.. Most people have bad water quality in terms of TDS. that is the number 1 tenuis killer. I change my membrane on my RODI unit every 2 months. Most people change it once a year. I would start with that before changing any parameters. Most people don't change the membrane because they see 0 TDS on the meter. I still think something is getting through that is not showing on the reading. I have advise people on this before and they changed the membrane and saw instant results..

Shane, I'm having, you might say, a bit of an epiphany here:
Going back to late summer of 2019 or there about.
Scene: Reefapalooza in Secaucus NJ.
Subject: I was talking to a vendor about reef husbandry. Specifically, it may have been about lack of polyp extension on my Acros. The vendor asked how often I changed my RO membranes.
When I mentioned that I consider changing when my TDS goes to 1 (usually a 2 year period, or more, for me) he suggested to change them every month.
He also mentioned to "burn" about 35 gallons of the water after replacing the membranes.
You don't have a twin by any chance? LOL

 

[airedwin]

Hello I bought some sps from your sale, what is the minimum par to have for them? I see you said you are at 450

 

[airedwin]

Why do you use the red sea blue bucket over the black bucket? I thought black bucket is intended for corals with more calcium and magnesium

 

[David S]

Well here is the video of the dead frags watch with caution;Drowning

also see below the Triton results that show the High levels of Chromium everything else is on point though and no other heavy metals. I am going to search the whole tank now for something.... Hopefully I find something.. maybe the triton test was faulty.. I am also going to do a 27% water change today and monday to restart the system..

looks like Trion ICP is finally very fast again and the usa lab is fixed. We sent in some results last tuesday and got them back Saturday night!

has anybody found a good test kit for Iodine? we are still trying to find one and relying on Triton ICP for Testing Iodine..

Shane
It's me again.
I was looking to purchase an Acro or 2 during your sale.
I didn't, LOL. But that's another story.
Anyway, you mentioned this thread, during the sale,and I've spent the last few days skimming through it.
I appreciate your frankness. I also was surprised that some of your issues were/are my issues as well. Me of the 38 gallon reef LOL.
(I just wish I had your results)
Anyway, I hesitated to comment because I thought in the course of the thread you may have resolved the issue.
Not to waste your time, I wouldn't want to rehash old stuff. As in some cases they were resolved. Such as dosing Loudwolf instead of Neonitro.
It's also interesting to see how, over the course of time, you changed your mind about certain things. Constantly evolving...
Perhaps I missed it, but it seems a few things went unaddressed.
I'd like to address one of them now.
You had asked about a good test for Iodine.
I will tell you that based OME all hobbyist test kits are totally unreliable.
However, I have found, what I consider to be an extremely reliable homemade test kit.
It actually can be found in a thread on this very website:

USING HANNA CHECKER HI-707 TO TEST FOR IODINE

USING HANNA CHECKER HI-707 TO TEST FOR IODINE In my quest to improve my testing accuracy and precision I found the standard colorimetric tests for Iodine difficult to get any kind of accurate reading and the repeatability (precision) was not...

www.reef2reef.com

In summary, it involves using the A & B reagents of the Red Sea Iodine Pro test kit and placing them in a Hanna Nitrite low range Checker.
You use the raw number from the checker and plug it into a formula, to get your result.
I thought I would give it a try. Mind you, I was not expecting miracles. I was merely hoping for ballpark figures.
So how were my results?
During the better part of the past year, that I've been using this test, I have sent in 6 ICP samples (ATI or Triton).
All but the last one, we're within 3%.
The last one, was a bit off.
Triton was 89, my result was 110. Still a decent range - all I ever wanted.
If you, or anyone else, is interested and have questions you can contact me.
Better still, you can contact the person who devised the test. Rick Mathew

 

[SBB Corals]

Hello all we will answer all the unread answered threads above in the next few days! We are Just digging out from the weekend!

 

[David S]

Oh yes, forgot to mention..
In your earlier comment #560 you show the ICP test and first assume the demise of your Tenuis was due to excess Chromium (doubtful). Then you thought it was high PO4 (possible).
But no one mentioned the low Iodine (28 ug/l) as a possible cause of the TN.
Then again, maybe it was a combination of the two

 

[DesktopReefer]

Following along after a great live sale last weekend.

 

[SBB Corals]

Shane
Love your post and your tanks.
Reading this for the first time so I don't know if this is brought up later, but I also use Salifert to test my alkalinity. And like you my ICP results (ATI) were 1 DKH lower than my Salifert.
Eventually noticed a post that included Randy, Jim Welsh and others that suggested the end point coloration for Salifert ALK test is lavender rather than the pink which Salifert recommended.
Further, another post suggested using blue (the color right after the green color) as the endpoint.
I found that using the "blue" result got a match with subsequent ICP results.
I can recall a few years ago when I (thought) I was keeping my ALK at 7 DKH, assuming the ICP results are accurate, it was really 6!
Seems kind of low, but my Acros showed nice polyp extension, compared to the so so extension since going to 8 DKH.
So wondering what you ultimately found and where you currently keep your ALK levels?

Thank you for your comments and sorry for the late reply!

We find that any Liquid Titration test is very hard to pinpoint so if we are using those tests we just test for ranges. We have moved most of our testing to digital readers such as hanna since they give a digital number. We also monitor our Neptune Triton and apex for alk, calc and mag, and that always shows higher ranges by about .5

Currently the optimal alk level we keep has been lower. We like our alk now at 7.2-7.5 Range, we find that the tenuis PE is best in this range. So we have been keeping it lower. Also since we Switched to Red sea Blue bucket we find this alk is in range and don't have to top of our NSW with alk

 

[SBB Corals]

Oh yes, forgot to mention..
In your earlier comment #560 you show the ICP test and first assume the demise of your Tenuis was due to excess Chromium (doubtful). Then you thought it was high PO4 (possible).
But no one mentioned the low Iodine (28 ug/l) as a possible cause of the TN.
Then again, maybe it was a combination of the two

I think the Demise was to in fact to the tropic marin pro salt! since we switch everything is flowering and looking beautiful. Low Iodine though is deff a killer.. this is one of the main things we send in a ICP test for since Iodine we find is impossible to test with a home kit.

we find anything under 45 Iodine is a killer and the sweet spot range is between 60 and 90. Iodine is Definitely something a Hobbiest should master if trying to keep High end Tenuis!

 

[SBB Corals]

Shane, I'm having, you might say, a bit of an epiphany here:
Going back to late summer of 2019 or there about.
Scene: Reefapalooza in Secaucus NJ.
Subject: I was talking to a vendor about reef husbandry. Specifically, it may have been about lack of polyp extension on my Acros. The vendor asked how often I changed my RO membranes.
When I mentioned that I consider changing when my TDS goes to 1 (usually a 2 year period, or more, for me) he suggested to change them every month.
He also mentioned to "burn" about 35 gallons of the water after replacing the membranes.
You don't have a twin by any chance? LOL

LOL that must have bee me!!!!!!! that is funny! this is one of the most important things about reefkeeping DId you try this method with any success?

 

[SBB Corals]

Hello I bought some sps from your sale, what is the minimum par to have for them? I see you said you are at 450

We suggest anything between 375 and 475 par. Different lights can create different par spectrums =.

so when we suggest the 375-475 we are using Radion G4 pros using the AB plus schedule at 78% intensity.

 

[SBB Corals]

Why do you use the red sea blue bucket over the black bucket? I thought black bucket is intended for corals with more calcium and magnesium

Great question. THe black bucket is great also. We just went with the blue bucket because it's a bit cheaper. We are using a 200 Gallon sack every 2 weeks so we burn up salt.

The black bucket is also high in Trace elements IMO. Since we are using Esv ionic to dose alk, calc and mag. It has trace elements. So we didn't want to double up on the trace. We prefer to use a lighter light and then once we get the ICP tests we can control the elements by dosing them up....

I hope this helps and please let us know if you have any questions on this!

 

[SBB Corals]

Shane
It's me again.
I was looking to purchase an Acro or 2 during your sale.
I didn't, LOL. But that's another story.
Anyway, you mentioned this thread, during the sale,and I've spent the last few days skimming through it.
I appreciate your frankness. I also was surprised that some of your issues were/are my issues as well. Me of the 38 gallon reef LOL.
(I just wish I had your results)
Anyway, I hesitated to comment because I thought in the course of the thread you may have resolved the issue.
Not to waste your time, I wouldn't want to rehash old stuff. As in some cases they were resolved. Such as dosing Loudwolf instead of Neonitro.
It's also interesting to see how, over the course of time, you changed your mind about certain things. Constantly evolving...
Perhaps I missed it, but it seems a few things went unaddressed.
I'd like to address one of them now.
You had asked about a good test for Iodine.
I will tell you that based OME all hobbyist test kits are totally unreliable.
However, I have found, what I consider to be an extremely reliable homemade test kit.
It actually can be found in a thread on this very website:

USING HANNA CHECKER HI-707 TO TEST FOR IODINE

USING HANNA CHECKER HI-707 TO TEST FOR IODINE In my quest to improve my testing accuracy and precision I found the standard colorimetric tests for Iodine difficult to get any kind of accurate reading and the repeatability (precision) was not...

www.reef2reef.com

In summary, it involves using the A & B reagents of the Red Sea Iodine Pro test kit and placing them in a Hanna Nitrite low range Checker.
You use the raw number from the checker and plug it into a formula, to get your result.
I thought I would give it a try. Mind you, I was not expecting miracles. I was merely hoping for ballpark figures.
So how were my results?
During the better part of the past year, that I've been using this test, I have sent in 6 ICP samples (ATI or Triton).
All but the last one, we're within 3%.
The last one, was a bit off.
Triton was 89, my result was 110. Still a decent range - all I ever wanted.
If you, or anyone else, is interested and have questions you can contact me.
Better still, you can contact the person who devised the test. Rick Mathew

thanks for this Valuable write up. TBO we have given up on Iodine home test kits and just send in ICP tests. We send the test in usually every 2 weeks and have learned how to balance Iodine this way

in terms of ever evolving and changing we most certainly are! This thread can and will be very confusing for anybody not reading it from start to finish as we are evolving and changing our methods!

We still are learning everyday. We now have 4 systems setup for the purpose so we can split ab test stuff in different tanks as we strive to get better and better!

 

[SBB Corals]

Hey all!!!! We are Releasing a new Tenuis and need help with the name!!!!!!!!!!!!

Click link below to learn how to enter

***SBB Corals Presents- Help us name this glowing Tenuis! Win a free multibranch frag shipped! Going on now!!!***

New Tenuis Release Name Game! Help us name this Tenuis for a free Multibranch frag shipped to your door! Special Bonus! Tag 10 of your friends to enter to win a $50 sbb gc ( we will pick winner at the end date) This Tenuis is super bright Reddish pink with Bright Yellow tips! The polyps are...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[David S]

LOL that must have bee me!!!!!!! that is funny! this is one of the most important things about reefkeeping DId you try this method with any success?

As I recall, I did change ALL my filters shortly thereafter.
Did I burn off 35 gallons?
I did burn off some, but maybe not 35.
To be honest, I did not notice a difference in my tank, for better or worse, after doing this.
In retrospect, quality of the RODI in my case might not be an issue.
I live in NYC and the TDS out of the tap is fairly low, so I would imagine my RO unit doesn't have to work as hard.
Also I change out 40 gallon - on the high side - every 6 weeks. I would imagine your turnover is considerably greater.

 

[SBB Corals]

cast your votes for the tenuis name game!

Cast your Vote for the Official Poll for the New Release Tenuis Name Game: Choose one Option Below!!

Please Cast your Vote for the Official Poll for the New Release Tenuis Name Game. Thank you to everybody who submitted a name We had well over 270 names for this Name game and have picked 10 names. It is impossible for us to choose the number 1 name so instead we have decided to run a poll...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[SBB Corals]

Here is some new craziness we have been baking

-SBB " Euphoria" Speciosa

 

[airedwin]

He keeps them high as a kite. like 15-30 nitrate and .08-.2 phosphate, shooting for 0.15. Has to be the most shocking part of this thread haha.

My nitrate is 20 and phosphate .22, do I need to have high PAR at these levels?

 

[adsf430]

I’m really not an expert but anecdotally I’d say you’ll do well with higher nitrate if you also have higher light and especially PH. My corals suck in 1.5x the Alkalinity just having PH at 8.6 vs 8.3. So I’d assume it would effect nutrient absorption too but again not sure.

 

[airedwin]

I’m really not an expert but anecdotally I’d say you’ll do well with higher nitrate if you also have higher light and especially PH. My corals suck in 1.5x the Alkalinity just having PH at 8.6 vs 8.3. So I’d assume it would effect nutrient absorption too but again not sure.

I see, my sps are tanning or browning so I guess it's cause my light isn't high enough for the amount of nitrate and phosphate