Ricky's Reef (120 Gallon)

[Rickyrooz]

120 ml each Ca and Alk? or total?

Each

 

[Rickyrooz]

SC Orange Passion

 

[motortrendz]

Wow. Read this from page 1... drooling all over my phone. What a collection!

 

[Rickyrooz]

Wow. Read this from page 1... drooling all over my phone. What a collection!

Thank you

 

[JayKim]

GJ Ricky, I'm jealous.

 

[Peppe]

fantastic reef... what is your light combo? no3 and po4 levels?

 

[Rickyrooz]

fantastic reef... what is your light combo? no3 and po4 levels?

Nitrates with Salifert were 25 but my ICP test came back with 16. PO4 was 0.15 (Hanna) but ICP says 0.08 and I use six ATI Blue Plus and two ATI Coral Plus.

 

[Peppe]

how do you keep these levels of no3 and po4? I always have everything close to zero or with an unbalanced redfield

 

[Rickyrooz]

how do you keep these levels of no3 and po4? I always have everything close to zero or with an unbalanced redfield

Not sure, I do weekly water changes and I do not run GFO or carbon.

 

[Rickyrooz]

I am currently experiencing polyp retraction on a few of my acropora and the tissue looks as though it is thinner than usual. Some of the colors look less vibrant and two acro's RTNed on me. I am using Instant Ocean sea salt and I dose ESV B-Ionic two part as well as ESV Transition Elements. I perform 15% weekly water changes, I do not run carbon or GFO but I did add BRS ROX 0.8 carbon two weeks ago hoping it would help resolve the issue of the stressed corals. I tested my RO/DI water which comes out 0 TDS and 0 for free and total chlorine which also means 0 chloramines. My last ICP test showed elevated Bromine, Iodine, Lithium, Selenium and low Barium, Fluorine, Molybdenum and Manganese. Nitrates read 9 ppm and Phosphates read 0.05 ppm. My Salifert Nitrate test kit was reading between 10 and 25ppm and the Hanna ULR Checker was reading 0.12 ppm during this time. I am continuing the perform water changes but this week I am going to perform two extra water changes. I am also dosing the depleted elements with ATI supplements. I dosed sodium nitrate and Seachem Phosphorus last night to bring my nutrient levels back up as I run alkalinity between 8.5 and 9.0 dKH and when I have better results with higher nutrient levels when running my tank at this level of alkalinity. I removed the BRS ROX 0.8 carbon as well. I did check my powerheads, return pump and heaters for corrosion and found nothing. To my surprise some of the stressed corals are still growing but they do not have the usual vibrant colors or polyp extension. I am trying to get my tank back to how it was a few months ago and mimic those water parameters. Stay tuned for updates as I hope I can turn my tank around . . .

ASD Strawberry Lemonade

January 25, 2020

March 14, 2020

 

[ryshark]

I am currently experiencing polyp retraction on a few of my acropora and the tissue looks as though it is thinner than usual. Some of the colors look less vibrant and two acro's RTNed on me. I am using Instant Ocean sea salt and I dose ESV B-Ionic two part as well as ESV Transition Elements. I perform 15% weekly water changes, I do not run carbon or GFO but I did add BRS ROX 0.8 carbon two weeks ago hoping it would help resolve the issue of the stressed corals. I tested my RO/DI water which comes out 0 TDS and 0 for free and total chlorine which also means 0 chloramines. My last ICP test showed elevated Bromine, Iodine, Lithium, Selenium and low Barium, Fluorine, Molybdenum and Manganese. Nitrates read 9 ppm and Phosphates read 0.05 ppm. My Salifert Nitrate test kit was reading between 10 and 25ppm and the Hanna ULR Checker was reading 0.12 ppm during this time. I am continuing the perform water changes but this week I am going to perform two extra water changes. I am also dosing the depleted elements with ATI supplements. I dosed sodium nitrate and Seachem Phosphorus last night to bring my nutrient levels back up as I run alkalinity between 8.5 and 9.0 dKH and when I have better results with higher nutrient levels when running my tank at this level of alkalinity. I removed the BRS ROX 0.8 carbon as well. I did check my powerheads, return pump and heaters for corrosion and found nothing. To my surprise some of the stressed corals are still growing but they do not have the usual vibrant colors or polyp extension. I am trying to get my tank back to how it was a few months ago and mimic those water parameters. Stay tuned for updates as I hope I can turn my tank around . . .

ASD Strawberry Lemonade

January 25, 2020

March 14, 2020

I hate hearing these stories. A similar situation happened to me many years ago on my best SPS tank to date. It ended up being that my Refractometer was not calibrated properly because of bad solution. Another SPS reefer in here believes this can happen when bacteria starts running low from all the SPS consuming it and it not being dosed. I’m sure you’ll get this resolved. Great thread by the way, you’re definitely skilled at keeping SPS and taking pictures.

 

[Rickyrooz]

I hate hearing these stories. A similar situation happened to me many years ago on my best SPS tank to date. It ended up being that my Refractometer was not calibrated properly because of bad solution. Another SPS reefer in here believes this can happen when bacteria starts running low from all the SPS consuming it and it not being dosed. I’m sure you’ll get this resolved. Great thread by the way, you’re definitely skilled at keeping SPS and taking pictures.

Thank you, I will look into dosing bacteria.

 

[ryshark]

Thank you, I will look into dosing bacteria.

How have the corals been looking the last week?

 

[ryshark]

@Rickyrooz I also wanted to ask you, how many hours per day do you run your T5s with all 8-bulbs at 100%? How many hours for the LEDs? I know this is totally unrelated to the issue you're having, but I'm just curious because I use very similar lights. Thanks

 

[Rickyrooz]

How have the corals been looking the last week?

Corals are still about the same for the ones that haven't been looking well but the remaining corals are growing well and Dkh/ca consumption has increased with the bi weekly trace element dosing. I am going to send out another ICP test soon to dial in how much I need to dose per week without overdosing or under dosing but with Instant Ocean it seems I am having to dose Fluorine, Barium, Molybdenum, Manganese, Vanadium and Iron (I am using ATI products for these elements).

 

[Rickyrooz]

@Rickyrooz I also wanted to ask you, how many hours per day do you run your T5s with all 8-bulbs at 100%? How many hours for the LEDs? I know this is totally unrelated to the issue you're having, but I'm just curious because I use very similar lights. Thanks

Two ATI Blue plus come on for 12 hours a day, the remaining six bulbs come on for 8 hours and the LED strips are on for 7 hours.

 

[Rickyrooz]

FTS

 

[Tahoe61]

The Micromussa are to die for.

 

[Wrangy]

Just stunning mate!!

 

[JCOLE]

FTS

Looks awesome! I was just about to post about mounting frags to overflows, back walls, etc. I see your frags mounted on your overflow. Did you just use glue? Also, are they easy to remove if needed? Tank looks great!