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#2
03-24-2011, 02:10 AM
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First of all I didn’t mean to sound arrogant, if I did I apologize. I will also ignore the tint of cynicism I sense in some responses.
Regarding bio-pallets, I don’t have any experience using them, but some of my friend’s use it and are very satisfied with the results For the heart of the matter: When one decides to start keeping a low nutrient regime in his tan, beside carbon injection, he can practice many methods such as: RDSB, allege filter (wrongly considered by some as refugium), nitrate reactors / Denitrators, and even water changes…. The main purpose as you probably know is to export or eliminate the present of nutrients such as nitrate and phosphate from you system. Usually it is done for two amine reasons, one in order to get rid of nuisance algae or in order to push you tank to the next level and get your corals to show vivid Disneyland colors. You see corals hosts the beneficial symbiotic zooxanthellae algae, the color of the zoo is brown, when there are a lot of nutrients in the system the zoo algae multiply and might take over the coral color. This is usually the case with sps corals, but for lps and softies (and clams) it is a different matter as they actually benefit from low levels on nitrate. Starving the zoo algae in these corals will end in fatal results for these corals. Regarding the sps corals, the zoo as you probably know, is responsible to supply the coral with energy in the form of “sugar” from the photosynthetic process. The coral uses the energy to precipitate calcium and carbonates and grow….. Once you take the nutrients out of the equation and starve the zoo the coral may die unless it will get other source of food. Once he gets a replacement the coral can now grow back….but we want colors don’t we? So we need to keep the levels of ALK and CA in a low ratio so the coral will find it difficult to precipitate and will “invest” his energy producing color proteins. The average hobbyist will choose dosing vodka instead of the other methods because it looks as a cost effective simple method that doesn’t require adding expensive equipment, media, or other stuff….all he is magically has to do is add the cheapest vodka and….puff…zero nutrients. ….but as you can see there is much more for adding vodka…if you get too low levels in a softies or lps and even a mixed tank you can kill some of them, in an sps system feeding the coral is crucial or they will die. Adding vodka or any other carbon source will be beneficial for some bacteria that can utilize the carbon and “consume” the nutrients usually vodka will get our nitrate levels low and vinegar will do so for phosphate. Getting to much in or too fast will result in bacteria blooming, can cause massive beneficial bacteria death, can cause shock to corals and more, in some cases some “bad” bacteria can benefit from the carbon source and cause damage to you system. Any playing with adding Vodka can result in serious stress to your system so you shouldn’t just start adding and then stopping just to start again after few days. Adding vodka is serious thing; I recommend using it in combination of other carbon source and dosing it via dosing pump and a sealed canister to prevent from the ethanol to escape. I recommend keeping monitoring the system and keep feeding the corals, to use a strong skimmer, adding beneficial bacteria on regular base in order to prevent bad bacteria settling in. in order to get good perfect colors you should use some amino acid and some elements as iron, potassium etc…..but that’s a different story… I writing just out of my head,this is just the tip ot the iceburg sincr it is such a deep issue that I am sure after reading it all over again in the next day or two I will have more to say on that issue. (I did try to make a long story short  )Pardon any typos  
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#6
03-24-2011, 04:29 AM
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Narvarchus - Awesome post! I learned a few things. Thank you.
Personally, I do respect your time and knowledge. If you do post again on this subject, I will read what you have to say. One question regarding carbon dosing - Considering an SPS dominated tank - In an established tank there is lots of naturally occurring food sources for coral to eat. This can also be supplemented by feeding various coral foods. However, in a newly established tank, many of the naturally occurring foods may not be present. Do you think it is risky to run any low nutrient system on a new tank? - Brad
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#7
03-24-2011, 02:12 PM
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Thank you.
This issue regarding using LNR (low nutrients regime) in a new tank regardless the method (vsv, kz or funaa) is that of coral growth. Usually when using LNR you combine it with specific water parameters in order to suppress the growth on the account of colors. New tanks are usually dominated by frags so growth is important factor. To my friends I recommend to grow with the system, get the experience and knowhow and let the coral population establish it self before you start tweaking with the colors. But in the case that you are an experience reefer and know your way around, there is no problem to do so as long you keep feeding your bacteria and corals, in that case I would probably go with some brand instead of going homemade. One more tip: When establishing new tank I am always using some Phosphate observing media from day one in order to prevent phosphate to accumulate in my tank.
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#8
03-24-2011, 02:21 PM
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Quote:
Thanks for taking the time.
__________________
 My 70 Gallon build: http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=66478 My Mandarin Paradise: http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=72762 I wonder... does anyone care enough to read signatures if you make them really small? I would not. I would probably moan and complain, read three words and swear once or twice. But since you made it this far, please rate my builds. 
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#9
03-24-2011, 03:26 PM
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Quote:
Please elaborate on sps feeding. You mentioned amino acids, what about higher loads of fish waste, would that count as well? Keeping in mind that regular water changes and nutrient dilution is important as well. Thanks. Please keep this up when you can. Most of us are still learning, and those others who know-it-all don't need to bother 
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#10
03-24-2011, 10:32 PM
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Hi Brad
I'm far from an expert, but for my 1st setup, being sps dom. has been alot of work & reading to say the least. I don't get much info here, I find there are way to many different opinions. I've searched for most of my info before starting anything on google & several other sites. I am trying to run a LNS & I do have both good growth(from almost exclusively stocking frags) & what I & others would call great coloration. I do feed/supplement 5 KZ products daily @ full recommended amounts. Here's the best part, I'm doing it in a RSM 250 where the only thing's I've added are lot's of flow, & recently a better light, but other than that it's stock. It's not got the best skimmer, but it pulls out shiz. All of the bigger & better stuff will come when I build my next setup. If you want to know what I'm dosing, or other questions PM me. After this I'm done on this thread, because originally I posted about myself being more diligent in doing regular water changes from the sump, because I didn't & it affected (in my opinion) my coraline algae as a result of an acute change in water clarity. I thought that maybe sharing that info may help someone else, as lazy about water changes as myself. Now it's turned into a different, but equally helpful thread about feeding your tank in an uln setup that only hints about specific parameters & remembering that you will have to feed your corals or they'll turn a yucky brown or else they just won't grow. So DYODD.  Quote:
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