OP
OP
Miami Reef
Clam Fanatic
I wanted to make an update on my tank.
First, I want to be clear: I enjoy experimenting and seeing what works for me. It might look like I’m “fiddling”, but I believe exploring and finding what works/doesn’t work will ultimately lead to the best results.
So, here’s what I tried exploring:
Vinegar/carbon dosing
Silica dosing
Keeping ULN
Turning off UV
Carbon dosing worked very well for nitrates. The main purpose of carbon dosing was to grow bacteria on the substrate. I thought maybe the bacteria could outcompete with possible fish parasites and perhaps provide food for a starfish.
Well, I ended up stopping it because . I read a lot of posts about people have acro issues with carbon dosing, so the experiment was not worth pursuing. I did close the UV during this trial and I did not like the tank’s appearance without the sterilizer, so I run it now
Silica dosing:
This one was a fun experiment. I dosed 1mL of silica (40%) per week in my tank. It got some diatoms and while the diatoms themselves weren’t bothersome, I’ve found they grew over my coralline algae and started trying to take over the rock structures. I did try lowering the dose to .5mL/week after taking a break, but the effects were still undesirable to the appearance. Silica dosing is terminated in favor of coralline algae.
ULNS: I tried keeping ULNS, but I found that I’d rather not ride the edge of the blade. I fed a lot and tested daily, but I do not believe ULNS provides any meaningful results. I still see the same alk consumption at 0.08ppm as I did at 0.01ppm. I’ve been looking at some acro keepers and I noticed that many of the gorgeous acros are kept generally from 0.00-0.10ppm. I did not see a correlation of better coloration with any nutrient level in that range. The risk of starving a coral and getting dinos was not something I wanted. The benefits (if at all) were not enough to justify that.
I didn’t have any coral losses during my trials. Everything is doing fine and growth is starting to take off. Fish are healthy and managing the ich just fine for now!
If you read through this blabber, congrats, you get update pics!
First, I want to be clear: I enjoy experimenting and seeing what works for me. It might look like I’m “fiddling”, but I believe exploring and finding what works/doesn’t work will ultimately lead to the best results.
So, here’s what I tried exploring:
Vinegar/carbon dosing
Silica dosing
Keeping ULN
Turning off UV
Carbon dosing worked very well for nitrates. The main purpose of carbon dosing was to grow bacteria on the substrate. I thought maybe the bacteria could outcompete with possible fish parasites and perhaps provide food for a starfish.
Well, I ended up stopping it because . I read a lot of posts about people have acro issues with carbon dosing, so the experiment was not worth pursuing. I did close the UV during this trial and I did not like the tank’s appearance without the sterilizer, so I run it now
Silica dosing:
This one was a fun experiment. I dosed 1mL of silica (40%) per week in my tank. It got some diatoms and while the diatoms themselves weren’t bothersome, I’ve found they grew over my coralline algae and started trying to take over the rock structures. I did try lowering the dose to .5mL/week after taking a break, but the effects were still undesirable to the appearance. Silica dosing is terminated in favor of coralline algae.
ULNS: I tried keeping ULNS, but I found that I’d rather not ride the edge of the blade. I fed a lot and tested daily, but I do not believe ULNS provides any meaningful results. I still see the same alk consumption at 0.08ppm as I did at 0.01ppm. I’ve been looking at some acro keepers and I noticed that many of the gorgeous acros are kept generally from 0.00-0.10ppm. I did not see a correlation of better coloration with any nutrient level in that range. The risk of starving a coral and getting dinos was not something I wanted. The benefits (if at all) were not enough to justify that.
I didn’t have any coral losses during my trials. Everything is doing fine and growth is starting to take off. Fish are healthy and managing the ich just fine for now!
If you read through this blabber, congrats, you get update pics!
