Randy Holmes-Farley
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My Tank Thread
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I could try testing and dosing for Iodine. I never have before. I have also had the same piece of chaeto in the fuge for over a year. Maybe I need to trash can that piece and start with a new fresh piece. As far as my water change schedule I usually do a 20-30 gallon water change once a month. I know that's probably not enough, but I have a fairly lightly stocked tank, so I was hoping I could get away with that. I have heard of people that do no water changes and have great results. Just to be clear my fish are all totally fine. The higher nitrates do not seem to phase them whatsoever. Also, my soft corals seem to love it. I have seen some awesome growth on my zoas since the higher nitrates starting occurring. It's the other corals that aren't doing too well. My lobos are receding from their skeletons, my Acans completely died, and a plate coral I have is also retreating from its skeleton. I also notice that I NEVER have to dose calcium in my system. I test calcium once a week and it does not move. It stay solid at 425ppm. I dose 14.5ml of alk each day which keeps it at 8.5dkH and magnesium holds strong at 1350 all the time. The high nitrates, I believe, are causing my skeleton based corals to die slowly which is why my calcium is not reducing. I am hoping that lowering the nitrates which help my corals to calcify and grow. Soft corals are cool, but I want to get nitrates down so I can do LPS corals.
The sand bed is about 1.5 to 2 inches deep. Some areas are deeper than others. It's 120 pounds of live sand in the system. Also, I guess the miracle mud could be leaching. The manufacturer states that 50% of the miracle mud should be changed each year. I changed 50% about 6-8 months ago, but the idea with the mud is to kind of just let it be.
To answer you question about the power heads. I was thinking of buying another, but I have not. I still currently have 2 Hydro Koralia power heads. I could add a third or fourth to the back of the tank to increase flow or I could upgrade to two more powerful heads.
IMO, it is unlikely iodine will help. It did not help in my studies of macro algae growth, and is not known in the scientific literature to have such an effect.