Dosing Amino acids with VSV question

[spleify]

Hello all, I have been dosing VSV for for about 10 weeks now, I started out very slow with .25ml/day. I increased by .25ml every two weeks until reaching 1ml/day on 80 total gal of water volume, and have held at 1ml/day since. At week 6 (so 4 weeks now) I started dosing Zeovit Amino acids. When I got it the web site instructions said 1-2 drops per day per 25 gallons. So I was dosing 4 drops of AA's. I started seeing some good changes and thought I would up the AA dosage to 5 drops/day. I have started to notice that some of my corals are getting that "pastel" look I hear about sometimes.
I was talking to a friend today and he said I should only be dosing the AA's twice a week. Now today when I went and looked at the Zeovit site to try and get some more info on the Amino acids, which is very limited anyway, it says to add 1 drop per day/25gal and that's it.
So what do you all recommend I do, here it what I purpose:
Cut back VSV to .5ml/day and cut AA dosing to 3 drops twice a week. Dose this sound good? Or should I go a different route.

FYI the sole purpose of the use of VSV and AA for me is to try and maximize color and growth of my corals and I am just not seeing that right now.
I keep my CA at 450
ALK at 8
MG at 1350
S.G. 1.026
Nitrates 0
PO4 0
temp 79-80


Thanks for any and all advice and info on this matter

Spleify

[Chrisrush]

Are you getting any nuisance algae with the AAHC?

I am at a similar gallonage as you and I use vsv and AAHC (along with other zeo products).

I am currently dosing 4.5 mL per day of vsv and 2 drops of AAHC 3x per week. The dosage on the zeo website is the max per day (or that is what is recommended).

I don't think that too many AAHC will give you pastel looking corals and I don't think that you are using too much vsv.

Can you post some before/after pictures? Sounds like you are running UNLS and need to bump up your nutrients some.

[spleify]

Hi Chris, thanks for the reply.
Yeah I am getting a pretty good amount of algae on the glass and have to clean it once a day.
I don't really know if I have any good before pics but I will try an dig some up. I have to run out but will be back in a while and will upload some pics then.

Thanks

Spleify

[plyle02]

spleify,
just need to find that sweet spot, where glass brushing is about every 4 days or so, and corals still maintain color without paling out on you. I am using prodibio, and for me, I really need something more, I have 7 fish...nitrates have been on the rise lately, I have gfo in a reactor which is swapped out bi-monthly, so I feel pretty good about phosphates, its those darn nitrates. Anyway, I use vsv while dosing the prodibio system, also using a couple of zeo products. It's still tough though, I have a bit of a cyano outbreak right now, wc's, cleaned skimmer, trying to beat it man.... Otherwise, my corals are really looking good......

[spleify]

Plyle, yeah I am trying to find that sweet spot. Two months just isn't that long. I am going to cut back for a while and see how that goes for a while. i have 10 jish and feed like crazy. The skimmer is working good. All the corals look healthy, the color just isn't there.
Got any pics of you're tank plyle?

Thanks

Spleify

[dme330i]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13297084#post13297084 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by plyle02
I am using prodibio, and for me, I really need something more, I have 7 fish...nitrates have been on the rise lately, I have gfo in a reactor which is swapped out bi-monthly, so I feel pretty good about phosphates, its those darn nitrates. ...

This could be why you're not seeing a reduction in nitrates. Running GFO can be counterproductive while dosing an organic carbon source as both nitrate and phosphates need to be present for this to work properly. The reduction of phosphates may be limiting the baterial growth, which ultimately prevents the nitrate reduction

[bosborn1]

I was unable to get my nitrates below 1ppm until I removed my GFO. After that I saw them drop and the PO4 stay below .03ppm

[spleify]

Interesting...I hear so many conflicting theories about GFO, I am also currently running GFO, and have not really noticed a difference either way really.
Maybe this is the cause of my pale colors??

Spleify

[plyle02]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13298133#post13298133 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spleify
Plyle, yeah I am trying to find that sweet spot. Two months just isn't that long. I am going to cut back for a while and see how that goes for a while. i have 10 jish and feed like crazy. The skimmer is working good. All the corals look healthy, the color just isn't there.
Got any pics of you're tank plyle?

Thanks

Spleify

Here is a 3 week old pic, the corals keep gaining nice colors... BTW, look out for a custom made 40 gallon acrylic cube handcrafted by MRC....I will be picking it up in a few weeks, cham on RC hooked me up nicely.... I am so ready for a new tank!:smokin: Nice build btw, looking sweet man, great craftmanship!

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/114849DSC01074__Medium_.JPG