Hello Everyone,
I am excited to share my experience after completing the first week of the Reef Moonshiners program. With 16 years in the hobby, this has been one of the most significant improvements I've made to any of my aquariums and it's definitely worth discussing.
A brief overview of my aquarium:
My aquarium is a heavily stocked mixed reef Red Sea Reefer S-1000 G2 with a water volume of 265 gallons, running for about 7 months (transferred from my previous 180-gallon tank). I've faced various issues with this setup, such as fluctuating alkalinity and calcium levels, and persistent Po4 and No3 levels. Although my corals survived, I occasionally experienced random coral deaths and random SPS RTN and STN occurrences.
One thing I've noticed recently, is that when I asked people with impressive reef tanks about their maintenance routines, "Reef Moonshiners" was a common response. So, I decided to give it a try.
I began by ordering the ATI ICP test and inputting the results into the Reef Moonshiners Excel workbook. While obtaining all the required elements for daily dosing was expensive, I can see that they will last a long time, even for my 265-gallon aquarium.
After starting the program as guided by the workbook, I observed the following changes within 3 days:
I am excited to share my experience after completing the first week of the Reef Moonshiners program. With 16 years in the hobby, this has been one of the most significant improvements I've made to any of my aquariums and it's definitely worth discussing.
A brief overview of my aquarium:
My aquarium is a heavily stocked mixed reef Red Sea Reefer S-1000 G2 with a water volume of 265 gallons, running for about 7 months (transferred from my previous 180-gallon tank). I've faced various issues with this setup, such as fluctuating alkalinity and calcium levels, and persistent Po4 and No3 levels. Although my corals survived, I occasionally experienced random coral deaths and random SPS RTN and STN occurrences.
One thing I've noticed recently, is that when I asked people with impressive reef tanks about their maintenance routines, "Reef Moonshiners" was a common response. So, I decided to give it a try.
I began by ordering the ATI ICP test and inputting the results into the Reef Moonshiners Excel workbook. While obtaining all the required elements for daily dosing was expensive, I can see that they will last a long time, even for my 265-gallon aquarium.
After starting the program as guided by the workbook, I observed the following changes within 3 days:
- Alkalinity consumption nearly doubled and now aligns closely with calcium.
- Calcium consumption almost tripled.
- Po4 levels decreased significantly.
- N03 levels dropped from the 40s to below 20.
- All SPS corals suffering from STN have fully recovered.
- My reef mat's filter media consumption has reduced from 120" to 60" per day.
- All red slime algae have completely vanished.
- Corals are displaying never-before-seen colors.
- Encrusting corals are growing at an unprecedented rate.
- Many corals have experienced substantial polyp extension.