Where do you keep your nutrients for high end SPS coloration?

[bubbaque]

One of the nicest tanks around is jbny’s. No tiny frags and nothing but huge colonies.

phosphate 1.2ppm

Why I still love this hobby, my SPS tank all grown up!

It's been a while since I have posted in the main forums. I've had ups and downs with keeping tanks over the years but when the tank is on a roll, it's the best. So here are some pictures of my 270 Gallon SPS tank. Tank has been setup for 9 years, but I restarted the tank 2 years ago with only...

www.reef2reef.com

also the article when he won tank of the month.

R2R Reef of the Month: Joe's 270-gallon SPS Reef - March 2018

Name: Joe Burger R2R Username: @JBNY Build Thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/why-i-still-love-this-hobby-my-sps-tank-all-grown-up.345431/ Introduction: A big thank you to Reef2Reef for choosing my tank for their Spotlight. This tank is going into its 10th year so this spotlight is...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Here’s a couple more

So on sept 20th I cut a frag of my tgc og op for @FarmerTy. This is it before I cut the center.

Here’s the frag I cut. It was actually the original frag and it broke off clean all the way down to the frag plug

And this is her now, 1 month later

Again, I’m not sure if this is considered fast or slow growth but it is obvious growth. Remember this before you all tell another reefer that their no3 needs to be under 5 and po4 needs to be under 0.05, as this is obviously not the case.

 

[Undertaker]

My threads will show some pretty impressive acro, mainly Tenuis, color and growth over the last year. I have pics from when they were tiny booger frags if anybody wants to see the progress. All of my non Tenuis and montis grow so fast I had to start a frag tank because I’m constantly pruning them. Nsw imo is way too risky, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing.

I keep my po4 around .08 and no3 at 15. And find everything much happier than when I kept things lower. My question for you is how do you keep Cyano at bay

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I keep my po4 around .08 and no3 at 15. And find everything much happier than when I kept things lower. My question for you is how do you keep Cyano at bay

I haven’t had any cyano in well over a year. The little I would get only grew in my sump with the chaeto or on my return nozzles. I would just remove those and scrub them under hot tap water.

 

[LC8Sumi]

And then there are people like me, who have tried any and every combination over the years & still can’t get nice growth/colors/pe

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

And then there are people like me, who have tried any and every combination over the years & still can’t get nice growth/colors/pe

What’s your lighting set up?

 

[LC8Sumi]

What’s your lighting set up?

Currently it's 8x39w T5 over a 90cm tank. I used to run 4x39w T5 + 2x Kessil A360We before that, and 2x Kessil A360We before that. No joy with either

 

[ReefGeezer]

Maybe it's more about the stability of the levels a system maintains without too much variation. Anecdotally, my system is just getting to the mature stage. It'll hold 3-15 ppb P and barely detectable N (Salifert) with just weekly 10-15% water changes. Considering that, I let alk drop to the low 7's and started maintaining it there. Suddenly... at least in reef terms... everything got happy and really started growing. I don't have anything high-end though. Just regular old Acro's and Monties. I think the light I have has something to do with that. Could the low nutrients and alk be more suitable for the PAR/PUR levels I maintain?

 

[KJoFan]

And then there are people like me, who have tried any and every combination over the years & still can’t get nice growth/colors/pe

Same!

 

[CuzzA]

It is very interesting to see where we have come in the hobby. I remember the goal simply being no phosphate, but now we're so effective at nutrient export it needs to be monitored similarly to alk, especially on mature systems.

For example, my LFS has a 10 foot long 800 gallon SPS tank. It's probably the most amazing SPS tank I've ever seen. The owner tests po4 daily and doses phosphate daily to try and maintain his level at 1.0. It sounds crazy until you learn the tank eats 1.0 po4 in 24 hours. Ironically he also doses 1ml per 10 gallons of h2o2 every night. I asked why, and he said they had a bit of an algae issue and started dosing and simply never stopped. Seems like a good formula to keep higher po4 while knocking back higher probability of algae.

This is an old pic I found. The tank is much fuller than what's pictured and is constantly fragged for sale. There's a couple tangs in there but mostly wrasses and springerii damsels. This is looking through long ways. 10 feet of hundreds of species, including all of your hard to keep species. I'll have to get some better pics next time I am in. Lighting is 4 metal halides and 16 AI led fixtures.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Well all I know is what is working for me and more importantly what did not work for me. These before and afters are all less than a year apart. Maybe this is considered slow growth to some but it’s definitely growth and way better than death.

All of these have been frag’d several times

Update Pics

This One has been fragged several times since the before pic

 

[C. Eymann]

It is very interesting to see where we have come in the hobby. I remember the goal simply being no phosphate, but now we're so effective at nutrient export it needs to be monitored similarly to alk, especially on mature systems.

For example, my LFS has a 10 foot long 800 gallon SPS tank. It's probably the most amazing SPS tank I've ever seen. The owner tests po4 daily and doses phosphate daily to try and maintain his level at 1.0. It sounds crazy until you learn the tank eats 1.0 po4 in 24 hours. Ironically he also doses 1ml per 10 gallons of h2o2 every night. I asked why, and he said they had a bit of an algae issue and started dosing and simply never stopped. Seems like a good formula to keep higher po4 while knocking back higher probability of algae.

This is an old pic I found. The tank is much fuller than what's pictured and is constantly fragged for sale. There's a couple tangs in there but mostly wrasses and springerii damsels. This is looking through long ways. 10 feet of hundreds of species, including all of your hard to keep species. I'll have to get some better pics next time I am in. Lighting is 4 metal halides and 16 AI led fixtures.

Ah, Coral Corral in Tampa right?

My pic doesn't do it justice, but yes, Pierre's tank is a sight to see for sure!

 

[CuzzA]

Ah, Coral Corral in Tampa right?

My pic doesn't do it justice, but yes, Pierre's tank is a sight to see for sure!

Yes. Also helps when you have a staff, but man he has that system dialed in. That pic looks a little older before he re-aquascaped it. If you get a chance I'd stop in again.

It's funny he has a twin sister tank at home, but then you learn it's freshwater. I said, "that's odd." His reply, "If I had this tank at home I'd never be at the shop and I'd keep all the good stuff at home." I appreciate it being at the shop and being able to cherry pick.

They have a new euphyilia display tank they are setting up right now. 500 gallons I think. I helped a little on the aquascape and it is going to be really sweet.

 

[eraserhead187]

Short and sweet. I’ve always considered my tanks ULNS (.03/.5-1, alk around 7.3). On this most recent project, I decided to really run a “dirty” tank. I’ll be moving in a year so I’m giving myself a year to really mess around. Nicest frag I bought was a 60 dollar Walt Disney, and the experiment has started. In my mind, that “dirty” was around .1ppm phosphates, 10ppm nitrate, little (currently no) mechanical filtration. No water changes. Let the tank be. I do however run carbon, and individually dose all my trace elements per ICP testing.

Part of my challenge, I believe, is that I have very efficient and healthy, aged live rock. But as the tank begins to take hold (about 150 day’s since wet), the tank is nearly spotless. I could hardly keep up with dosing my phosphates and nitrates and heavily feeding daily. At this point, I seem to be getting somewhat saturated with nutrients. I am able to maintain my goal of .08/10-25.

I’m only 2 years back to reefing after almost a decade off. I suppose my question is, where do you like your nutrients? How clear do you try to keep your water? Do you fuss about over feeding? I am getting the best growth I’ve had from this tank, though things are still coloring up. I’ll attach some before and after photos of the ones I have.

My nutrient levels don't seem to budge at all. Nitrate 12-15, phosphate 15-18ppb. I run occasional carbon, but that's about it.

 

[eraserhead187]

Yes. Also helps when you have a staff, but man he has that system dialed in.

It's funny he has a twin sister tank at home, but then you learn it's freshwater. I said, "that's odd." His reply, "If I had this tank at home I'd never be at the shop and I'd keep all the good stuff at home." I appreciate it being at the shop and being able to cherry pick.

They have a new euphyilia display tank they are setting up right now. 500 gallons I think. I helped a little on the aquascape and it is going to be really sweet.

Wow, that's amazing. I can't imagine seeing a 500g tank dedicated just to euphyllia here in the corn belt. We've got a few good shops but they are rew and far between.

 

[CuzzA]

Wow, that's amazing. I can't imagine seeing a 500g tank dedicated just to euphyllia here in the corn belt. We've got a few good shops but they are rew and far between.

I should have snapped a pic. It's all tall tower and shelf Carib Sea purple rock, tank is three feet deep, IIRC, and the long view ended up looking like a skull with two eye sockets. We said, "two big bright bubble corals for eyes and a giant red goni for the brain, torches, hammers and frogspawn all over for hair with two LED spot lights shinning into the bubbles and goni to light up the skull within. I can't wait to see what this turns into.

He has an even larger tank than the sps tank at the shop that is dedicated to soft corals, anemones and big fish people end up trading in due to growing to large. It gives a novice or non diver an idea just how big tangs, angelfish and some wrasses get.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

While I cant lie, the colors some of you LED+ elevated NO³ & PO⁴ SPS guys are pulling is really nice, and look pretty but the growth isnt anything compared to what I have seen with systems running halides, T5s and much lower nutrients, (not trying to start a lighting debate) Its a known fact that PO⁴ inhibits calcification, at what level? it seems to be genus specific at which levels calcification is inhibited according to the studies I have read.

Again, to each their own but, I know I wouldnt cool with my SPS tank at .15ppm PO⁴

I still can’t believe @SeaDweller “liked” this one.

 

[SeaDweller]

I still can’t believe @SeaDweller “liked” this one.

hey! why don't you show the world what that little green egg is telling you now....

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

hey! why don't you show the world what that little green egg is telling you now....

0.10-0.15. It dropped to 0.05 yesterday but I fixed that.

 

[Bluespottedjawfish1]

Alk 8-9
No3 10-25
Po4 0.10-0.30

Agree- that is very close to what I maintain as stable. Stable temp and salinity as well.