FarmerTy 215-gal No Water Change SPS Tank

[reefmutt]

Originally Posted by gregkn73

Amazing tank......With no water changes!!!!!!


Glenn also has a mature and very beautiful reef but he is testing , many elements except the basic ones...... Did you ever made a Triton test? What about iodine, zinc, Mn, cu ,Fe and other minor and trace elements, that aren't existing in carx material? Don't you dose any of them?

Ty, your tank really is amazing. Gets better and better.
It's interesting that you feed so much dry pelleted food. Most dry foods on the market contain one of or all of the following Zn, Mn, Fe, Cu, as preservatives.
I've never used dry foods but I am considering adding pellets to my feeding regime for this reason..
Ty, which biopellets do you use and how much? In what type of reactor and how often are you replacing or replenishing them? Sorry if I asked this exact question in the past..
Your methods certainly are producing amazing results.

[FarmerTy]

Thanks bud!

I feed a ton of pellets... Small-medium pellets 3x/day and large pellets 2x/day. I even added the new PE Mysis pellets to the mix.

As far as biopellets, I run Ecobak plus, about 1-1.5 cups, keeps my nitrates around 5ppm usually.

[gregkn73]

Originally Posted by FarmerTy

Yes, I've read about the Dutch Synthetic Method that Glenn created. It is a wonderful tank and a wonderful system he runs.

I don't feel the need to test all of those additional elements and keep them in line mainly because I haven't needed to. At this point, unless I notice issues in the tank, I won't plan on doing anything about any deficiencies in the water. I only know of deficiencies via my annual Triton test but I don't take the results as true values, more ball park from the Triton test. But a zero value is easy to interpret.

What media do you use in your carx and you have such high K? Any idea of the source of Li?

[gregkn73]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Ty, your tank really is amazing. Gets better and better.
It's interesting that you feed so much dry pelleted food. Most dry foods on the market contain one of or all of the following Zn, Mn, Fe, Cu, as preservatives.
I've never used dry foods but I am considering adding pellets to my feeding regime for this reason..
Ty, which biopellets do you use and how much? In what type of reactor and how often are you replacing or replenishing them? Sorry if I asked this exact question in the past..
Your methods certainly are producing amazing results.

Matt if I combine the amazing results of Ty , with just carx and no water changes, bigE , with basic two part and 10% only weekly water change, which is small enough proportion to maintain stable value for element that is readily consumed, GlennF with no water changes and no trace adding and monitoring and Farm ,which add trace in huge amounts to see results in colours, commenting that the usually small trace additions we make, are not doing anything, since they are became rapidly inactive in usual nutrient concentrations, in our reef tanks.........what conclusion I make is, that adding Zn, mn, fe, cu, I, etc is just snake oil!?

[carlosmos]

I just re-read all and let me ask you if you don't have algae issues? Or cyano? Long time ago I saw some red algae spots , not sure if was cyano, but at zero values you don't have problems. ( I have it that the reason of my question).

Do you add bacteria?

Thanks, great tank


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[FarmerTy]

Originally Posted by gregkn73

Matt if I combine the amazing results of Ty , with just carx and no water changes, bigE , with basic two part and 10% only weekly water change, which is small enough proportion to maintain stable value for element that is readily consumed, GlennF with no water changes and no trace adding and monitoring and Farm ,which add trace in huge amounts to see results in colours, commenting that the usually small trace additions we make, are not doing anything, since they are became rapidly inactive in usual nutrient concentrations, in our reef tanks.........what conclusion I make is, that adding Zn, mn, fe, cu, I, etc is just snake oil!?

I wish I knew the answer for that. I'm not going to pretend I know everything going on with my trace elements other than the annual Triton test, which I again don't take as exact values. I believe I remember reading that the detection limits for elements with the Triton analysis caused some skepticism with 0 value results... As they may not be truly zero.

Either case, my philosphy has been if everything still looks happy and colored, keep doing what I'm doing.

Originally Posted by carlosmos

I just re-read all and let me ask you if you don't have algae issues? Or cyano? Long time ago I saw some red algae spots , not sure if was cyano, but at zero values you don't have problems. ( I have it that the reason of my question).

Do you add bacteria?

Thanks, great tank


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Hi Carlos. I typically wipe my front glass about every 4-6 days. I had the usual algae issues when I first started the tank, in roughly the same order as most tanks, diatoms, cyano, instead of hair algae I got turf algae, and then once my tank matured, it was fine. With all the tangs and angels I usually keep, I actually try to grow a bit of algae if possible so they have something natural to graze on.

Lately though, I was dealing with an issue of bubble algae. I had rescued an acro for a buddy and since it was so abrupt, didn't realize it had some bubble algae on the plug. 1 year later, my tank had a decent bubble algae issue. With manual removal and a naso that sometimes eats it, I've pretty much got it under control.

For the bubble algae in areas I cannot get to, I tried out Vibrant.

I typically had a nice super thin layer of red turf algae that my tangs, angels, snails, and urchins would graze on daily off the rocks. I enjoyed it much more than coralline algae as it didn't uptake all my alk, Ca, and Mg and gave all my herbivores something natural to graze on. Well Vibrant wiped it out, some green turf algae as well, and looks like its working on my bubble algae as I see less and less bubbles every week! I wish my red turf would grow back though but that doesn't look like its going to happen. Thankfully, I only have to wipe my glass every two weeks now, which feels strange. I will probably dose until my last two bottles are gone and then stop. I really just got it to help with the bubble algae befoee it becomes an infestation, I really hope to not need to continue using it.

So long story to get to an actual answer, no, I don't normally dose bacteria ever but been using Vibrant the last 2 months which does have bacterial colonies in it.

[FarmerTy]

I will say that I believe if all my tangs and angels disappeared, as well as my urchins, that my rocks would have some good algae growing on them.

[FarmerTy]

Originally Posted by gregkn73

What media do you use in your carx and you have such high K? Any idea of the source of Li?

Hi Greg,

I use a potassium dip for my acros. Basically a take on Laser's AEFW whole tank dip he tried but it didn't work out. When used in a dip scenario, it does as promises, and kills everything, minus the acro and oddly vermatid snails... But even Bayer doesn't kill them.

If I overmix the dip, I would pour the rest back in my tank assuming my K was low to start with since I don't do water changes. Triton and my own tests told me otherwise so I stopped doing that but still have the resultant higher potassium level.

For Lithium, I had used some Tech M when I first moved everything over from my old tank to this one. I had just a spot of bryopsis still in the overflows so I didnt want anything to come to the new tank. I've heard that it does have a higher lithium content so that may explain that concentration. Supposedly, certain salt mixes do add some as well. The beauty of the no water changes is to be able to see these long-term effects with buildup of certain elements.

[seachange]

Originally Posted by FarmerTy

I wish I knew the answer for that. I'm not going to pretend I know everything going on with my trace elements other than the annual Triton test, which I again don't take as exact values. I believe I remember reading that the detection limits for elements with the Triton analysis caused some skepticism with 0 value results... As they may not be truly zero.

Either case, my philosphy has been if everything still looks happy and colored, keep doing what I'm doing.



Hi Carlos. I typically wipe my front glass about every 4-6 days. I had the usual algae issues when I first started the tank, in roughly the same order as most tanks, diatoms, cyano, instead of hair algae I got turf algae, and then once my tank matured, it was fine. With all the tangs and angels I usually keep, I actually try to grow a bit of algae if possible so they have something natural to graze on.

Lately though, I was dealing with an issue of bubble algae. I had rescued an acro for a buddy and since it was so abrupt, didn't realize it had some bubble algae on the plug. 1 year later, my tank had a decent bubble algae issue. With manual removal and a naso that sometimes eats it, I've pretty much got it under control.

For the bubble algae in areas I cannot get to, I tried out Vibrant.

I typically had a nice super thin layer of red turf algae that my tangs, angels, snails, and urchins would graze on daily off the rocks. I enjoyed it much more than coralline algae as it didn't uptake all my alk, Ca, and Mg and gave all my herbivores something natural to graze on. Well Vibrant wiped it out, some green turf algae as well, and looks like its working on my bubble algae as I see less and less bubbles every week! I wish my red turf would grow back though but that doesn't look like its going to happen. Thankfully, I only have to wipe my glass every two weeks now, which feels strange. I will probably dose until my last two bottles are gone and then stop. I really just got it to help with the bubble algae befoee it becomes an infestation, I really hope to not need to continue using it.

So long story to get to an actual answer, no, I don't normally dose bacteria ever but been using Vibrant the last 2 months which does have bacterial colonies in it.

Did vibrant cause any negative effects? I am thinking of using it for my bubble algae but I am really thinking this through if I want to dose something that can effect an already established ecosystem. How much and how often do you dose may I ask?


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[FarmerTy]

Originally Posted by seachange

Did vibrant cause any negative effects? I am thinking of using it for my bubble algae but I am really thinking this through if I want to dose something that can effect an already established ecosystem. How much and how often do you dose may I ask?


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Hi Seachange,

I've been dosing it for 2.5 months at the recommended amount of 1 ml/10 gals 2-3x a week with no issues.

I'd say my tank has been decently established and stable so I guess this tank is a good test subject.

It killed off green turf, red turf, red spongy algae, and looks like its attacking the bubble algae as I hardly see any of it anymore.

That being said, I went more aggressive towards the end and double dosed (2 ml/10 gals) 2-3x a week this last week and I've noticed that 3 of my acros are a tad lighter in color so I've backed off of it. I'm thinking of discontinuing here shortly as it has mostly achieved what I wanted it to do.

[FarmerTy]

Holiday edition with greens and reds! Happy holidays everyone! Stop staring at your tanks and spend time with your friends and family!

RCA Baton Rouge


JG Yellow


Strawberry Shortcake (microclados)

[reefmutt]

Did you notice any change in nutrient levels while using the vibrant?
Happy holidays to you, too Ty.

[FarmerTy]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Did you notice any change in nutrient levels while using the vibrant?
Happy holidays to you, too Ty.

My phosphate level did go up but that may also be because of my increased feedings due to the purple queen anthias I've added.

Nitrate level stayed mostly the same.

[FarmerTy]

Quick updates after the holiday break.

1) Accidentally pointed my power head directly at my Oregon tort colony and blasted away a good section of flesh.



2) Came home to half my Mr. Pac man colony RTN'ing. My guess is it was probably caused by myself not acclimating it a bit more before moving it from really low par to medium par.



On the brighter side, rescued my Ruby Red Dragonet from the overflow.

Everything growing great in the tank. Even the fragged areas are healing super quick... Here is a week of heal time.







New Abrotanoides looking better and better each week.


Pushed out a little frag pack as well.

[FarmerTy]

Been hiding a couple of gems.

AquaSD Rainbow Mille and ORA Laura's Purple Polyp

[Jndragon79]

dayam Ty, that rainbow is nice. Can you elaborate on the K dip you use?

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[FarmerTy]

Originally Posted by Jndragon79

dayam Ty, that rainbow is nice. Can you elaborate on the K dip you use?

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Thanks! I've been recently obsessed with that piece.

Here is a link to the 3 dips I use.

http://www.*********.com/threads/tri...-combo.224494/

The K dip is just borrowed from another reefer who tried to use something similar to treat his whole tank. While as a whole tank treatment wasn't successful, I employ it as a dip with good success.

Simple premise is raise K levels from the usual 400 ppm to 1600 ppm for about an hour using potassium chloride (crushed water softener pellets). Then return to previous levels.

[FarmerTy]

Two not happy campers here...

[FarmerTy]

4k Fish video:

[Unknown Media].

[acesq]

Nice video! Tank looks great.

[FarmerTy]

Originally Posted by acesq

Nice video! Tank looks great.

Thanks Acesq! I am in the process of re-editing some of my old videos since my video editor software can export 4k now. I'll post those again hopefully later today for those with fancy 4k decices.

[FarmerTy]

The acros must be part wolverine... Been healing fast! Two weeks!

[FarmerTy]

Update on my abrotanoides acro I picked up.

November


January - 2 months later

[FarmerTy]

My fish get no love sometimes on the forums so here we go:

Blonde naso tang


Emperor angel


Purple queen


Clownfish


Majestic angel


Flame angel


Potters angel


Regal Angel


Powder blue tang


Midas blenny

[FarmerTy]

Blue star leopard wrasse


Ruby red scooter blenny


Flame wrasse (best I could do )