Lance's 225 gal tank

[fishytime]

what flavor of sponge did you use Lance....I think the phos "sponges" are one of those products that contain aluminum and can actually irritate a lot of coral....might be the reason for your sps not being too happy....just food for thought..

[Lance]

Originally Posted by imcosmokramer

nice tank, I love the shelves

Thanks

[Lance]

Originally Posted by fishytime

what flavor of sponge did you use Lance....I think the phos "sponges" are one of those products that contain aluminum and can actually irritate a lot of coral....might be the reason for your sps not being too happy....just food for thought..

Kent Marine Nitrate Sponge. It doesn't say on the container if it contains aluminum. Melev recommended it so I figured it's probably safe.

[Lance]

I could probably just leave it as a softie, LPS tank as the fish are the main focus in this tank anyway. But the 90g corner tank on the other side of the room mocks me: "Look at me! See how well SPS grows here. LOSER!"

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by Mrfish55

Marie, your clowns are nothing compared to the baby Emporer Angel I just added! as big as the French Angel is he runs and cowers in the corner when the Emperor is in a bad mood, quite entertaining to watch, and I thought it would be the Clown Trigger taking over.

Funny how some emperor angels can be mean. For some reason the only angelfish my King angel will allow to live with her is an emperor, maybe it's because they can hold their own.

Originally Posted by Lance

I've been trying to lower the nutrient levels in this tank for months now. Ever since last summer the SPS have not been doing so well. (lost a couple of colonies, and while some are doing ok, most are just sort of existing without really growing much). Softies and LPS grow like weeds of course.
I have a nice large growth of chaeto which I prune monthly, change 10% of the water weekly, (expensive!), and have tried vodka dosing and nitrate sponges. With this regimen I still could not get the nitrates under 10, (usually at 15 to 20). I could cut back on the feeding a little but I like my fish to be fat & healthy. I'm now trying the N-P Reducing Pellets. After 5 days I'm definitely seeing an increase in skimmate and the water is slightly clearer. A small outbreak of Cyano I had is disappearing as well. Very promising so far.

Interesting, keep us posted on how it goes. I tried the vodka dosing but after 68 days and little results I gave up on it.

[Lance]

Originally Posted by fishoholic

Interesting, keep us posted on how it goes. I tried the vodka dosing but after 68 days and little results I gave up on it.

Will do Laurie. Too early to tell yet, but it looks promising. Tony has a thread on the pellets. He's been running his a little longer than mine and he seems to be having some success.

[PoonTang]

Lance, mabey its a chemical warfare thing, are you using lots of carbon?

[Lance]

Originally Posted by PoonTang

Lance, mabey its a chemical warfare thing, are you using lots of carbon?

Yup. A full BRS reactor changed monthly.

[Lance]

N-P Reducing Pellets have been running for 7 days now. I measured nitrates with both Salifert and Elos kits before adding the pellets and before a water change. NO3 was 25 mg/l on the Elos kit and between 10 and 25 on the Salifert kit. So, let's say the average was 20.
Today's readings are Elos: between 10 & 25 Salifert: 10 (Avg: 15)
A reduction of 5 in 7 days. Very promising!
Some other changes I've noticed are: thicker, darker skimmate; clearer tank water; and a small outbreak of Cyano has nearly disappeared. Film algae on the glass seems worse though, I'm having to clean the glass every other day.
Although still too early to come to any real conclusions I am happy with what I've seen so far.

[christyf5]

Wow, the info on this is really encouraging! I might have to get me some of this, I have nitrates (about 20ppm I do the test averaging stuff too) that just can NOT be gotten rid of no matter what I try (not that I've tried much other than larger waterchanges). Anyway, I'll stop now