Reef Pilot's Undersea Oasis

[lastlight]

nice coral. gotta hate our first world reefing problems!

[Bblinks]

Walter, tank is looking great. You have done a great job bringing out the color on those corals. May I ask what your parameters are at?

[Reef Pilot]

Thanks, guys, definitely still a work in progress. I need to move a few corals and rocks around more to balance the look a bit better. I have some fast growing corals crowding each other, but also some frags in other areas that are taking forever to take off.

I actually had better color and growth a year ago. But last spring I disconnected my bio pellet reactor. My nitrates had been zero for so long, and didn't seem to be consuming any pellets. That turned out to be a big mistake, as the nitrates started climbing, 5, 10 and to a high of 30 ppm before my re-installation of the bio-pellet reactor gradually brought them down again (took about 3 months)

Then in the summer, I had another big problem where my alk doser line plugged, and before I realized what was going on (I was away a lot, too), my KH had dropped to 6. I brought it back, but the damage was done. I had burned tips on some of my SPS and some were STNing as well. And full RTN on some, losing a few of my nicest pieces. During this time, my P04 also jumped a bit resulting in algae outbreaks, so my tank definitely took a few steps backward. Lost a lot of color, and most SPS basically stopped growing.

By Oct, things were under control again, and color and growth returned. At this time, everything is looking pretty good again, and even some badly damaged corals are starting to grow again. Interestingly, there were some SPS corals that were affected a lot less and bounced back more quickly. These included my pink lemonade and red planet. And of course my orange digi weeds never did miss a beat.

I keep my nitrates at zero all the time now, with my bio pellet reactor. I also try to keep my phosphates at zero or close to (Hanna checker). When they get up to about 0.04, I change my GFO (usually every couple months). I do stir up my GFO in the reactor every 3 weeks or so, which seems to make it last longer. But after stirring it up, and not dropping back down on my Hanna, then I know it is time to change it.

I dose Ca and alk. Ca is usually about 400 -420, and KH 8 - 9. I add Mg when I do water changes and try to keep it around 1400. Temp is around 78F.

[Bblinks]

Thanks for the replay Walter! I am in the mist of getting some all in one pellets and hopefully only run one reactor in the tank. I will let you know how it goes and maybe get you to switch..

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by Bblinks

Thanks for the replay Walter! I am in the mist of getting some all in one pellets and hopefully only run one reactor in the tank. I will let you know how it goes and maybe get you to switch..

Yes, have heard of them... And will be very interested to see how they work for you.

[crimper]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

I keep my nitrates at zero all the time now, with my bio pellet reactor. I also try to keep my phosphates at zero or close to (Hanna checker). When they get up to about 0.04, I change my GFO (usually every couple months). I do stir up my GFO in the reactor every 3 weeks or so, which seems to make it last longer. But after stirring it up, and not dropping back down on my Hanna, then I know it is time to change it.

It's nice to hear that everything is doing well now.

I think the long wait is over, I will dropped by there soon. I'll shoot you a pm.

By the way, what GFO do r u using?

[Reef Pilot]

I use the HC GFO, from various sources.

[seabreeze]

Your tank is looking great Walter!

[Reef Pilot]

Thanks, Janet, everything is healthy and growing good now. But I still need to do some rearranging to get some corals better placed, and maybe make some room for others. I just need to figure out how to do it, without tearing my whole tank apart...

PS: I do want to make it over to your place sometime to see your tank. Your pics were awesome.

[Bugger]

Sorry to hear about your problems keep testing the water. What is that red lavender marron acro you got