Let me start off by saying that all of the following comments/opinion are my own, and I am not compensated for them. All products/animals/etc. were fully purchased by me.
While we're all trapped in our houses, I thought I'd give my opinions on a few things in my tank. Feel free to add your comments to add to the discussion! FYI, my tank is a 40g AIO.
ReefEnergy A&B: I have been wanting to dose some amino's and other nutrition for my corals, and decided to try the Red Sea ReefEnergey A&B. After about a month of dosing every 3 days (2ml of each), I noticed significant changes to a number of corals in my tank. My meteor cyphastrea had turned from a beautiful green to a dark brown. After a month of dosing, it has almost completely returned to its dark green! I also had an acro that was brown, and it is now showing signs of green and yellow. The polyps are also changing color, they are starting to lighten up. Another acro that had green polyps now has BRIGHT green polyps! It also is starting to show some good signs of growth. Speaking of polyps, I've noticed significantly more polyp extension since I started dosing. Overall, everything in the tank seems to be benefiting from this stuff. Zoos are spreading at an amazing rate, frogspawn glows...you get the idea. I've since upped my dosing to every other day (even though it says to dose daily). I'll continue to monitor and report back.
Chocolate Chip Starfish: Ok, I admit, I did not want this in my tank. But the wife wanted it. Do I need to say more? And while it can still be a pain from time to time (like blocking the overflow, causing the ATO to cycle like crazy), I have noticed that it loves to eat Cyano! I had no idea that starfish would eat it. I have a few spots of Cyano on my sand bed, and the startfish keeps finding them and destroying it. While I'd still like to find out why I'm having Cyano (advice always welcome), I'm not going to cry about this guy munching on it.
BRS Reactor: I have been battling high phosphate for a bit. At first I was having issues getting my PO4 up, so I started dosing. Then it suddenly decided to go overboard (going over .35). I can only guess that the rock became saturated and is now releasing the PO4. I bought a BRS mini reactor (and the silicone tubing is a MUST), installed it without any issues and WHAMMO! PO4 is under control. It's sitting at .07 currently, which is just a tad lower than the .1 I'm aiming for, but I'm ok with it for now. My only gripe is the BRS GFO instructions. I used half of what they suggested to start with, and it still striped the water of PO4 way too fast. But, everything appears OK, so I'm just going to let it ride and see how it goes. On a positive, the BRS reactor is a solid piece of equipment. The reactor is made with really thick plastic, doesn't leak, and the connections are solid. And the price can't be beat!
NeoNitro: I've been trying to get my nitrates up for months, and I can't seem to figure it out. I'm not heavy skimming, I feed heavily, and I am dosing NeoNitro. Two test kits confirm that I'm sitting around 2.5 for nitrates. I'm trying to go up slowly, but the recommended dosing for my tank of 2.5ml of NeoNitro doesn't seem to be moving it at all. Where are all these nitrates going? Not sure if I should up the dosing of NeoNitro? Frustrating, but I'm sure there is an answer out there somewhere.
That's it for now. Again, please feel free to add to the discussion with your experiences or advice. Thanks R2R community!
While we're all trapped in our houses, I thought I'd give my opinions on a few things in my tank. Feel free to add your comments to add to the discussion! FYI, my tank is a 40g AIO.
ReefEnergy A&B: I have been wanting to dose some amino's and other nutrition for my corals, and decided to try the Red Sea ReefEnergey A&B. After about a month of dosing every 3 days (2ml of each), I noticed significant changes to a number of corals in my tank. My meteor cyphastrea had turned from a beautiful green to a dark brown. After a month of dosing, it has almost completely returned to its dark green! I also had an acro that was brown, and it is now showing signs of green and yellow. The polyps are also changing color, they are starting to lighten up. Another acro that had green polyps now has BRIGHT green polyps! It also is starting to show some good signs of growth. Speaking of polyps, I've noticed significantly more polyp extension since I started dosing. Overall, everything in the tank seems to be benefiting from this stuff. Zoos are spreading at an amazing rate, frogspawn glows...you get the idea. I've since upped my dosing to every other day (even though it says to dose daily). I'll continue to monitor and report back.
Chocolate Chip Starfish: Ok, I admit, I did not want this in my tank. But the wife wanted it. Do I need to say more? And while it can still be a pain from time to time (like blocking the overflow, causing the ATO to cycle like crazy), I have noticed that it loves to eat Cyano! I had no idea that starfish would eat it. I have a few spots of Cyano on my sand bed, and the startfish keeps finding them and destroying it. While I'd still like to find out why I'm having Cyano (advice always welcome), I'm not going to cry about this guy munching on it.
BRS Reactor: I have been battling high phosphate for a bit. At first I was having issues getting my PO4 up, so I started dosing. Then it suddenly decided to go overboard (going over .35). I can only guess that the rock became saturated and is now releasing the PO4. I bought a BRS mini reactor (and the silicone tubing is a MUST), installed it without any issues and WHAMMO! PO4 is under control. It's sitting at .07 currently, which is just a tad lower than the .1 I'm aiming for, but I'm ok with it for now. My only gripe is the BRS GFO instructions. I used half of what they suggested to start with, and it still striped the water of PO4 way too fast. But, everything appears OK, so I'm just going to let it ride and see how it goes. On a positive, the BRS reactor is a solid piece of equipment. The reactor is made with really thick plastic, doesn't leak, and the connections are solid. And the price can't be beat!
NeoNitro: I've been trying to get my nitrates up for months, and I can't seem to figure it out. I'm not heavy skimming, I feed heavily, and I am dosing NeoNitro. Two test kits confirm that I'm sitting around 2.5 for nitrates. I'm trying to go up slowly, but the recommended dosing for my tank of 2.5ml of NeoNitro doesn't seem to be moving it at all. Where are all these nitrates going? Not sure if I should up the dosing of NeoNitro? Frustrating, but I'm sure there is an answer out there somewhere.
That's it for now. Again, please feel free to add to the discussion with your experiences or advice. Thanks R2R community!
