I have written about this before in passing, and I don’t know that it makes sense to recount the exact details here, but I certainly will later if it’s helpful to anyone. The short of it is that I’ve dealt with dinoflagellates. Apparently, lightening can strike twice in the same spot (literally, I think). I encountered dinoflagellates a second time. I won’t bore you with the details of both bouts again because I’ve done that before. However, I have also talked about what I believe to be the virtues of live rock (and more specifically, the perceived benefit of live rock in the context of dinoflagellate prevention). In short, I think dry rock can contribute to dinoflagellates, and I also think dry rock may be more aggressive than live rock such that nutrients can be driven down artificially low (more quickly) with dry rock than its live rock counterpart. I have probably articulated this better elsewhere once, maybe.
I am running a Red Sea Reefer 250. Lighting is provided by 2 x AI Hydra 26HDs. I have four T5s available that I am not presently utilizing. Flow is seemingly ample in that I have two Tunzes (and although I forget the model, the non-controllable pumps put out an estimated 3k+ gph each), alongside an MP40. One Tunze pump is off, and I’ll likely remove it. The MP40 is turned down significantly. I run a Bubble King 160 Mini. I recently went from a refugium only system back to my skimmer. Comically, I wanted to sell the skimmer but thought I’d go back to my protein skimming roots and decided to use it partially because several/many people were interested but relatively few actually pulled the trigger, so to speak. I replaced the dry rock earlier with 35lbs. of KP Aquatics live rock.
Temperature’s rock solid via a Ranco controller. I have a ground probe in place. I am running chaeto in a refugium. I have an auto top off unit (Tunzo Osmolator). I use RO/DI with zero TDS and pre-filters that are relatively new (and rejection rate still looks good). Salt is Tropic Marin. Lighting schedule’s interesting in that I’m using a lot more green and red than most. I’ll post more on this later.
Parameters are as follows: Alk 7.5, Nitrate 2.5 and Phosphate .021 (according to Salifert, Salifert and Hanna Checker, respectively). I’m semi-pleased with the alkalinity, but I would prefer it to be a bit lower. Nitrate’s okay, but I’d prefer it to be a bit higher. Phosphate is not perfect given the dinoflagellates pre-live rock addition (although there’s a known margin of error with the little green egg that can go in either direction). My only saving grace in that regard (depending on your view of nutrient levels) is that my throughput is great.
The tank has stabilized since the second dino-bout and live rock inclusion. I’ve performed a 50%+ water change about a week ago. The tank has some frags that miraculously survived the last round of dinoflagellates (although they are dormant). After a month or two or three of stability, I placed an order with @Coral Euphoria for the following:
RR Pink Floyd
RMF Psychoberry
CC Voodoo Majick
ASD Rainbow Millepora
RR Pink Cadillac
GC Ultimate Efflo
RMF Red Devil Nasuta
FF Red Robin
ORA Oregon Tortuosa
Vivid Rainbow Delight
ORA California Tortuosa
BC Rainbows in Spain
ORA Hawkins
ORA Joe the Coral
WWC Heartbreaker
Strwaberry Shortcake
Abe did a bang-up job in terms of quality of frags, size of frags and the like.
I’m posting this thread, I think, for accountability purposes and hopefully to share items of information that may be helpful to others. I’m well-read on the subject of tank husbandry and sps-keeping in that I’ve read Fenner, Calfo, Borneman, others and their (and others) published and online disseminated works, as well as followed reefing forums closely, but the potential for missing something obvious or maybe not so obvious is real. Similarly, maybe folks will stop buying up dry rock and take a stab at live rock and, hopefully, circumvent some of the issues I’ve experienced (which I didn’t encounter previously while utilizing live rock in other tanks).
The concern regarding live rock pests (promulgated by vendors of dry rock, among others) is exaggerated, in my opinion.
If all goes well, I potentially hope to acquire some of the older Atlantis and Tyree pieces, as well as some Wet Thumbs and Rocky Mountain Frags Pieces. In that event, I’ll probably beg and bribe @jda to let me tap into his collection.
I am running a Red Sea Reefer 250. Lighting is provided by 2 x AI Hydra 26HDs. I have four T5s available that I am not presently utilizing. Flow is seemingly ample in that I have two Tunzes (and although I forget the model, the non-controllable pumps put out an estimated 3k+ gph each), alongside an MP40. One Tunze pump is off, and I’ll likely remove it. The MP40 is turned down significantly. I run a Bubble King 160 Mini. I recently went from a refugium only system back to my skimmer. Comically, I wanted to sell the skimmer but thought I’d go back to my protein skimming roots and decided to use it partially because several/many people were interested but relatively few actually pulled the trigger, so to speak. I replaced the dry rock earlier with 35lbs. of KP Aquatics live rock.
Temperature’s rock solid via a Ranco controller. I have a ground probe in place. I am running chaeto in a refugium. I have an auto top off unit (Tunzo Osmolator). I use RO/DI with zero TDS and pre-filters that are relatively new (and rejection rate still looks good). Salt is Tropic Marin. Lighting schedule’s interesting in that I’m using a lot more green and red than most. I’ll post more on this later.
Parameters are as follows: Alk 7.5, Nitrate 2.5 and Phosphate .021 (according to Salifert, Salifert and Hanna Checker, respectively). I’m semi-pleased with the alkalinity, but I would prefer it to be a bit lower. Nitrate’s okay, but I’d prefer it to be a bit higher. Phosphate is not perfect given the dinoflagellates pre-live rock addition (although there’s a known margin of error with the little green egg that can go in either direction). My only saving grace in that regard (depending on your view of nutrient levels) is that my throughput is great.
The tank has stabilized since the second dino-bout and live rock inclusion. I’ve performed a 50%+ water change about a week ago. The tank has some frags that miraculously survived the last round of dinoflagellates (although they are dormant). After a month or two or three of stability, I placed an order with @Coral Euphoria for the following:
RR Pink Floyd
RMF Psychoberry
CC Voodoo Majick
ASD Rainbow Millepora
RR Pink Cadillac
GC Ultimate Efflo
RMF Red Devil Nasuta
FF Red Robin
ORA Oregon Tortuosa
Vivid Rainbow Delight
ORA California Tortuosa
BC Rainbows in Spain
ORA Hawkins
ORA Joe the Coral
WWC Heartbreaker
Strwaberry Shortcake
Abe did a bang-up job in terms of quality of frags, size of frags and the like.
I’m posting this thread, I think, for accountability purposes and hopefully to share items of information that may be helpful to others. I’m well-read on the subject of tank husbandry and sps-keeping in that I’ve read Fenner, Calfo, Borneman, others and their (and others) published and online disseminated works, as well as followed reefing forums closely, but the potential for missing something obvious or maybe not so obvious is real. Similarly, maybe folks will stop buying up dry rock and take a stab at live rock and, hopefully, circumvent some of the issues I’ve experienced (which I didn’t encounter previously while utilizing live rock in other tanks).
The concern regarding live rock pests (promulgated by vendors of dry rock, among others) is exaggerated, in my opinion.
If all goes well, I potentially hope to acquire some of the older Atlantis and Tyree pieces, as well as some Wet Thumbs and Rocky Mountain Frags Pieces. In that event, I’ll probably beg and bribe @jda to let me tap into his collection.
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