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s@ki · 03/14/2017, 08:58 AM

Hi all,

what would be ideal nutrient value and lighting period for good coral growth for AF based system?

For about a month I've had almost 0 coral growth.
~100g mixed tank was started mid October with live rock, water from old tank and dry sand. I dose BioS from start, later ProBioS and ProBioNP. 4drops each.
After a while corals were bleached, purple stylopora was pink, cathalaphylia was neon green with white "tentacles", pavona was neon green but everything was growing.
No3 and Po4 were unmeasurable with SalifertPo4 test and JBL NO3 test.
Hanna Po4 meter showed 0.01

After adding 6 chromis and Foxface and a bit better feeding NO3 rised to about 1. this was maybe because foxface eat all dyctiota that grew from rock and there was lots of it.

I dosed about 10ml KH solution (500mg sodium bicharbonate in 5l bucket) and 5ml CaCl (2kg to 5l bucket) + AF Mineral salts 10ml mixed by original recipe (25mg / 1l).
This lasted about 3 weeks along with 10% water changes as I was chasing parameters. Then I concluded it was more stable to change 5%, 20l.

As colours were still bleached I started dosing AVBE, first few days one drop, then 2 drops, then 2 and 3 alterating and for last 10 days 3 drops.
On the AV day I dose 2 drops in tank and mix one drop of each with some frozen food and powdered flakes and target feed LPS.
I do this as AF Power food is unavailable localy.

As for the lights, 8xT5 ATI 54W:
5pm - 3AM 2 blue
6pm - 1:30 AM 2 white
7PM - 1AM : 2white+2 blue
Untill abotu 2 weeks ago it was shorter by an hour, starting at 5PM and ending around 2AM.

I have small reactor with about 60-70ml of Phosphate minus and about 400ml carbon with 300l/h pump

I was suggested to cut back NP and ProbioS so I can try with 2 drops per day.
Maybe I should cut reactor too?

But wouldn't I suppose to be looking forward to ULNS not away from it?

For last 3-4 weeks I didn't dose a single drop of Ca, KH, Mg and they are perfectly stable until I raise them a bit with waterchange.
Ca 440 measured by REdSea - drops maybe 20 from water change to waterchange
KH 8.4 - 0.2 drop in a week measured with hanna
MG 1410 - Salifert

03/14/2017, 08:58 AM	#1
s@ki Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2016 Location: Zagreb Posts: 18	coral growth/colour Hi all, what would be ideal nutrient value and lighting period for good coral growth for AF based system? For about a month I've had almost 0 coral growth. ~100g mixed tank was started mid October with live rock, water from old tank and dry sand. I dose BioS from start, later ProBioS and ProBioNP. 4drops each. After a while corals were bleached, purple stylopora was pink, cathalaphylia was neon green with white "tentacles", pavona was neon green but everything was growing. No3 and Po4 were unmeasurable with SalifertPo4 test and JBL NO3 test. Hanna Po4 meter showed 0.01 After adding 6 chromis and Foxface and a bit better feeding NO3 rised to about 1. this was maybe because foxface eat all dyctiota that grew from rock and there was lots of it. I dosed about 10ml KH solution (500mg sodium bicharbonate in 5l bucket) and 5ml CaCl (2kg to 5l bucket) + AF Mineral salts 10ml mixed by original recipe (25mg / 1l). This lasted about 3 weeks along with 10% water changes as I was chasing parameters. Then I concluded it was more stable to change 5%, 20l. As colours were still bleached I started dosing AVBE, first few days one drop, then 2 drops, then 2 and 3 alterating and for last 10 days 3 drops. On the AV day I dose 2 drops in tank and mix one drop of each with some frozen food and powdered flakes and target feed LPS. I do this as AF Power food is unavailable localy. As for the lights, 8xT5 ATI 54W: 5pm - 3AM 2 blue 6pm - 1:30 AM 2 white 7PM - 1AM : 2white+2 blue Untill abotu 2 weeks ago it was shorter by an hour, starting at 5PM and ending around 2AM. I have small reactor with about 60-70ml of Phosphate minus and about 400ml carbon with 300l/h pump I was suggested to cut back NP and ProbioS so I can try with 2 drops per day. Maybe I should cut reactor too? But wouldn't I suppose to be looking forward to ULNS not away from it? For last 3-4 weeks I didn't dose a single drop of Ca, KH, Mg and they are perfectly stable until I raise them a bit with waterchange. Ca 440 measured by REdSea - drops maybe 20 from water change to waterchange KH 8.4 - 0.2 drop in a week measured with hanna MG 1410 - Salifert