The Macro Guy
Active Member
I use microscrubbing to help bind organics to be carried away to the skimmer, the stabilization in PH at night is just a perk from it clearing the Co2 buildup at night.
It also helps keep diatoms and algae off the glass. As far as corals sliming, the first nights of running 8 hours they slimed up, by the time I was at 4 hours a night, they don't slime up anymore, they seem to have adjusted to it, I have max polyp extension during the days and night now. They may be sliming up, but not enough for me to see chunks floating off of them, which to me hopefully indicates there isn't a bunch of crud on them to shake off anymore.
I run this every night now for 4 hours. I plan to keep this running till I stop reefing, if ever. Just the darkness of my skimmate the first week of doing this was proof enough for me that it works. I do get bubbles trapped in some under spots in my rocks from time to time, but I'm using all pukani so I expected that. No ill effects on any of my tanks running this, still have a ton of sponges and micro fauna, mysis shrimp, giant pods etc.
The first week you do this, you'll see a very heavy bubble amount in your DT, as time goes on, you should see the bubbles disperse faster, meaning not alot of organics in your water column, and you can cut down on the amount of time you run it.
I will say however, there shouldn't be SO many bubbles that you can't see past them and see your corals, that's too much.
This is the most bubbles I've seen doing this method, and this was after moving a few rocks around.
On average it looks like this,
Also I ONLY run this at night after lights off. I took these pics to help a couple friends dial in their bubble amount. It literally varies from tank to tank. Hope this helps anyone interested in this method, I also combine this sometimes with the calcium carbonate water clearing method.
My wood air stone sits directly under my pump return intake. There are some images in my build thread. Some salt creep is expected, but if your sump can handle the extra water, I just have my returns pointed further down into the tank, that way there aren't a ton of bubbles breaking on the surface right away. Just remember pointing your returns down may siphon more water out of the DT when your pump is off, depending on your setup.
It also helps keep diatoms and algae off the glass. As far as corals sliming, the first nights of running 8 hours they slimed up, by the time I was at 4 hours a night, they don't slime up anymore, they seem to have adjusted to it, I have max polyp extension during the days and night now. They may be sliming up, but not enough for me to see chunks floating off of them, which to me hopefully indicates there isn't a bunch of crud on them to shake off anymore.
I run this every night now for 4 hours. I plan to keep this running till I stop reefing, if ever. Just the darkness of my skimmate the first week of doing this was proof enough for me that it works. I do get bubbles trapped in some under spots in my rocks from time to time, but I'm using all pukani so I expected that. No ill effects on any of my tanks running this, still have a ton of sponges and micro fauna, mysis shrimp, giant pods etc.
The first week you do this, you'll see a very heavy bubble amount in your DT, as time goes on, you should see the bubbles disperse faster, meaning not alot of organics in your water column, and you can cut down on the amount of time you run it.
I will say however, there shouldn't be SO many bubbles that you can't see past them and see your corals, that's too much.
This is the most bubbles I've seen doing this method, and this was after moving a few rocks around.
On average it looks like this,
Also I ONLY run this at night after lights off. I took these pics to help a couple friends dial in their bubble amount. It literally varies from tank to tank. Hope this helps anyone interested in this method, I also combine this sometimes with the calcium carbonate water clearing method.
My wood air stone sits directly under my pump return intake. There are some images in my build thread. Some salt creep is expected, but if your sump can handle the extra water, I just have my returns pointed further down into the tank, that way there aren't a ton of bubbles breaking on the surface right away. Just remember pointing your returns down may siphon more water out of the DT when your pump is off, depending on your setup.
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