Chris' 50G SPS and Zoanthid Dominated Reef.. NEW PICS NOV 15th

[chris88]

Yes i dose brightwells potassium, iron, idodie, and a product called coral kolor. I don't know how well there working or if one or the other is making the different but growth is very fast and colors has imporved on most sps. I also dose mag chorlide.

[chris88]

It has been a few months since I have updated this thread but I took a couple of quick pictures with a cheap digital camera to show some progress. I had to get rid of a few corals to make room for the growth I have been getting. Also I have begun dosing a few zeovit products and they have been helping a bit with color.
I still have never done a water change on this tank and do not plan on doing one unless the corals show some sign of stress. I do dose a lot and test often but other than that I just let nature take its course. I think you will eb able to notice some big growth from the last pics even though I have fragged mostly every coral in there.
Enjoy!

[Madreefer]

Nice tank! No water changes and using tap water. I'm jealous. Good job.

[chris88]

Thanks! Yeah just plain ol tap water lol. If i had an ro unit set up in my house i would use it for top off but i am way to lazy to truck back in forth filling up water from the grocery store.

[Carrera75]

Super awesome looking tank man and the growth in there is amazing. When was the last time you did a water change? I was doing water changes every 6 months or so but I now do them once a month just to mix things up a bit. My corals do very well and there is great growth too.

I used to use tap water for a few years too but have been getting water from Safeway for the last couple of years. Everything did well but there used to be some diatoms on the sand. They went away as soon as I started using water from Safeway. By the way, I have the same size tank but don't run a skimmer and I use MH+T5 combo instead of just T5s.

Cheers

[chris88]

I used to do water changes every two weeks on my reef. As time went on i tried to reduce it and found it didnt have any effect on the corals growth or the tanks health. If you look back on the thread you will see my tank before i moved it and the sps corals in there are different then the ones i have now. When i moved the tank it crashed and i lost everything except the two lps corals i have and half my zoas. this tank has been set up since august and there hasnt been a water change on it yet. The skimmer and the filter pads in my sump remove the bulk of the excess nutrients which always me to feed the corals a bit more to help with growth. I do add trace elements and lots of iron, iodine, and potassium. Also i have to dose a ton of calcium, alk, and mag to keep up with the corals demands. Dont get me wrong i am not saying i will never do a water change i am just saying i dont see a need yet. Maybe for spring i will do a big 20% change just to be safe and to replenish some of what i cant test for.

[Carrera75]

One more question. Are you happy with the AquaticLife T5 HO Light Fixture? I have been thinking about getting rid of my HQI fixture and replace it with T5s. I looked at the Tek Elite but it does not have fans or moonlights.