Tank Journal Archive
I tried with old tank. Worked great for nitrates & phos. But they both got to 0 very quickly and no matter what I did with the dosage I couldn't get it right. Then I had to feed corals more so it actually seemed a little pointless. Dosing to remove and then having to extra feed to keep corals healthy. :(. Will be following with interest in results. :) good luck and let us know results please !
@ReeferRob Do you happen to have any Goni's in your tank ? I would be really interested to see if dosing inhibits them. I dose NoxPox and the only coral that suffers in my tank are Goni's, (although they dont die)...
@Lesley the reason for depleting and supplementing is to have fine tune control or the coral diet, as now you can feed the right stuff at the right amount. Instead of relying of fish food, to provide proteins to the corals, you can now feed a proper protein diet.
It tends to result in better growth, better coloration and better ability to heal coral tissue.
Indeed, uncessary for a healthy and thriving tank. It is purely to achieve optimal results.
It tends to result in better growth, better coloration and better ability to heal coral tissue.
Indeed, uncessary for a healthy and thriving tank. It is purely to achieve optimal results.
I'm holding here at 5.5ml, the nitrates are going down WAY too fast for my liking. I might drop back to 5ml and keep an eye on it. My nitrates went from 22 down to 13 in 3 days with no water changes.
I have 2 chalices in there that I paid a lot for and I'll be REALLY pissed if they die or bleach.
Lesley, this filtre I built I think is the key. This is the first time I've used it on a small tank, I have one on one of the runs and it does a bang up job even with no dosing, but there, I am doing a 50% water change once or twice a week depending on what comes in and ships out, the nitrates stay around 6. It's nothing more than a reverse flow cylinder filled with pond matrix with about a 70l/hr flow rate, much like the Denitra filtres that were the rage back in the 80s with the Dutch Mini-reef systems. They used some sort of alcohol to feed the system in a permeable bag. I'm hoping to keep the bacteria confined to this area as much as I can.
I have 2 chalices in there that I paid a lot for and I'll be REALLY pissed if they die or bleach.Lesley, this filtre I built I think is the key. This is the first time I've used it on a small tank, I have one on one of the runs and it does a bang up job even with no dosing, but there, I am doing a 50% water change once or twice a week depending on what comes in and ships out, the nitrates stay around 6. It's nothing more than a reverse flow cylinder filled with pond matrix with about a 70l/hr flow rate, much like the Denitra filtres that were the rage back in the 80s with the Dutch Mini-reef systems. They used some sort of alcohol to feed the system in a permeable bag. I'm hoping to keep the bacteria confined to this area as much as I can.
Unscrupulous dealers REALLY piss me off. There is a guy on the internet here in the US that's selling Fiji corals as Australian and RAKING in the dough. This sort of thing gives good dealers a black eye and it really needs to stop. Fiji has some really neat small maricultured pieces that look a lot like Australian corals to those that don't know any better and he's tripling them. I know what he pays for a 40pc count box of maricultured corals, he's making $1200-$1400 PER BOX!!! I don't make that on 3 boxes.
OK, now that I got that off my chest back to the reason I started this thing. Nitrates are falling still, down to less than 10 as of this morning, I'm dialing back to 5ml and hold there for a few days to see what happens. There isn't a huge load on this tank is another part of the puzzle, that will change next week when the Vanderbilt's chromis come out of quarantine. This tank is 350l give or take with the sump and it's falling. M's 250 cube isn't budging but she has a lot more critters in there at the same vinegar dose so I'm going to keep going up with hers to where it starts to fall.
OK, now that I got that off my chest back to the reason I started this thing. Nitrates are falling still, down to less than 10 as of this morning, I'm dialing back to 5ml and hold there for a few days to see what happens. There isn't a huge load on this tank is another part of the puzzle, that will change next week when the Vanderbilt's chromis come out of quarantine. This tank is 350l give or take with the sump and it's falling. M's 250 cube isn't budging but she has a lot more critters in there at the same vinegar dose so I'm going to keep going up with hers to where it starts to fall.
Nitrates are holding at 9 right now so I'm going to go to 6ml/day and watch what happens for a week. I just cut the pipe for my filtre today, I hope to get it glued up and into service this weekend after I go collect food at the beach. Setting the lathe up to cut the pipe is ONE BIG PAIN IN THE ASS!! :mad:
If I can hold them to 5-6 I'll be happy. everything in the tank looks better after a week of dosing.
If I can hold them to 5-6 I'll be happy. everything in the tank looks better after a week of dosing.
7.5ml now, nitrates are down to 8 so I'm going to go up .5ml for the next 3 days till I get to 9ml and see what happens.
We went fish food collecting today and I did OK. I do need the correct nets for this venture though, mine have too large of a diameter mesh to collect silversides.
On the way home we stopped at Pacific East Aquaculture and I had a chat with the young lady there that takes care of Doctor Mac's systems and we chatted a while about different Goniopora corals. This is the order of hardiness:
1- Red Goniopora hardiest because it comes from clean water, still needs regular feedings
2- Purple or blue Goniopora Same as above, just a smidge touchier than reds.
3- Green Alveopora Need a little more in the nutrient content in their water
4- Green Goniopora Could live in a septic tank and be quite happy, most fail due to the water being too damn clean. They need suspended matter as a food source or they will slowly starve.
We went fish food collecting today and I did OK. I do need the correct nets for this venture though, mine have too large of a diameter mesh to collect silversides.
On the way home we stopped at Pacific East Aquaculture and I had a chat with the young lady there that takes care of Doctor Mac's systems and we chatted a while about different Goniopora corals. This is the order of hardiness:
1- Red Goniopora hardiest because it comes from clean water, still needs regular feedings
2- Purple or blue Goniopora Same as above, just a smidge touchier than reds.
3- Green Alveopora Need a little more in the nutrient content in their water
4- Green Goniopora Could live in a septic tank and be quite happy, most fail due to the water being too damn clean. They need suspended matter as a food source or they will slowly starve.
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Vinegar dosing going along swimmingly, bumped it up to 11ml as the nitrates stopped dropping and held at 5 so we'll add a little bit at a time. When they dropped initially my leathers went into full pissed off mode and gave me the finger by not opening up. Now all is well, I bribed them back out with some greenwater and they said YUM.
I think it's a Seachem and I took a sample to university today and the kit's spot on.
@ReeferRob - is this the thread you thought was deleted?
Nope, you got it sorted, thanks!
OK, another idea. I'm going to start dosing the live rock tank. I just got 50kgs of free Tonga branch and shelf. A guy was shutting the tank down and wanted it gone. It was dry for about a week so it's gonna need some help. I'm thinking this might help the rock grow bacteria so I can throw it into the new system when I start it the end of the week and not have a long cycle. This is going to be our home quarantine system for our tanks. Eventually when we move to the new retail location it'll be in back for our stuff, we're approaching critter critical mass once again at the house, lol.
OK, another idea. I'm going to start dosing the live rock tank. I just got 50kgs of free Tonga branch and shelf. A guy was shutting the tank down and wanted it gone. It was dry for about a week so it's gonna need some help. I'm thinking this might help the rock grow bacteria so I can throw it into the new system when I start it the end of the week and not have a long cycle. This is going to be our home quarantine system for our tanks. Eventually when we move to the new retail location it'll be in back for our stuff, we're approaching critter critical mass once again at the house, lol.
OK, weird scenes inside the gold mine here. Nitrates initially dropped off to 5 at 10ml/day, then slowly started to rise back up to 10. So I've been watching this crazy see saw action. I go up 1ml every 3 days, it's at 5 when I start, 3 days later it starts to creep up and I add 1ml, it holds. We're at 14ml/day and tomorrow is test day.
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