the secret to colorful,healthy corals....obvious to some,elusive to many

[mixedreefjunky]

Be careful on cooking that liverock! People have almost killed everyone in their house from cooking liverock. Some organisms in our tanks will release deadly toxins upon being boiled.

[mixedreefjunky]

Be careful on boiling that liverock. Some organisms will release deadly toxins while being cooked. There are threads on RC regarding the dangers of this and accounts from people who have had severe reactions from doing so.

[crn005]

I have read through this thread a couple of times. The first time, it was about half the length it is now. I finished it again yesterday. It is one of the most informative threads on here. I think it helped me trouble shoot my recent slight bleaching of one of my acros. I think I reduced feeding too much and it has been suffering. All of my parameters are right where they should be for an ULNS and feeding is the only variable that I can think of that would cause the bleaching. I'll report back in a bit with the results.

[Jone]

taggin..

[Marcel Legros]

subscribed.

mixedreefjunkie - cooking LR doesn't mean actually boiling it. do a quick search and you'll figure it out.

[albano]

Originally Posted by Marcel Legros

mixedreefjunkie - cooking LR doesn't mean actually boiling it. do a quick search and you'll figure it out.

+1... Cooking it, could cause a serious problem!

[crn005]

I, personally, deep fry my rocks like any good Texan would do :-)

[tallreefguy]

First of all - Great read!
I switched out my lights from 400w 12k Reeflux to 250w 12k Reeflux on a 180g tank.
What is everyone's thoughts / experiences with using GAC as a means of export?

[tallreefguy]

Also - What do you feed your fish / coral? Does one product work better than another? What about home made food?

[Reefvet]

Originally Posted by tallreefguy

Also - What do you feed your fish / coral? Does one product work better than another? What about home made food?

You are aware that this is the advanced topics section and that there is a new to the hobby section ?

Not trying to be rude, but asking in the section where your questions are appropriate will return many more informative responses.

[Bilk]

Originally Posted by Reefvet

You are aware that this is the advanced topics section and that there is a new to the hobby section ?

Not trying to be rude, but asking in the section where your questions are appropriate will return many more informative responses.

Looks like a rude response to me. I don't think the question harms the discussion and maybe that poster is interested to know if there's a connection between the food used by the OP and his observations. Your post is just as distracting to the conversation as is mine

[fixmgood]

I don't think that asking what foods people feed is a a newbie question as it is very pertinent to the topic.Who knows maybe there is something on the market that would be beneficial for us to know about.
In the past several months I have been feeding the tank heavily,I feed a variety of flakes,pellets,frozen mysis,chopped raw shrimp and Reef Nutrition oyster feast.I have also been adding some amino acids and calcium ascorbate (vitamin C) the last two are on a recommendation of a friend who has a fairly large and successful coral farm, I am still not sure if it is doing anything,although corals are looking healthy.
Since reading this thread I am in the process of lowering my Alk levels.Hopefully in a few months I will be able to post some results.
Great thread.

[Capn_Crunch]

Excellent thread. I've been reading it for two days and am very excited as I've had some issues with SPS in the past and have recently picked up some frags to give it another go. I've learned a lot in this thread already which I will apply to my situation and have subscribed to keep up with future posts.

When "feeding generously" is suggested, how would that apply to a small group of fish like mine: 1 each - clown, two-spot tang, six line wrasse, blue chromis, convicy blenny, mandarin. Of course the mandarin doesn't factor in since he has his own particular diet. My coral stock consists of 45 various small frags in a 72g bow front. Maybe 10 of those are SPS. My parameters are:

Alk - 6.7, PO4 - 0.00 (Hanna ULR)
Ca - 410, NO3 - 0.00
PH - 8.5, Mg - 1300
salinity - 1.025

All parameters are stable from week to week. I usually do 10 - 15% wc's every 10 - 14 days. I currently only feed 1/2 cude frozen or pellets once a day. I add some nori about once every 4 days or so.

[bmullikin1]

cool tank, have a build on it, capn

[Capn_Crunch]

Thanks man. I thought I did, but I guess not. I'll get that set up tomorrow.

[S2minute]

I dose 1.5 gal @night kalk/vin mix. Use less than one OZ of BP in a modified phosban reactor. On day 4 of using vodka. Currently 1.2 ml x2 on day 4. PO4 level .015 before vodka start. Alk levels x2 days now staying @ 7.7. Coral growth noticeable each day and PE is more pronounced. I feed heavy:
Oyster fest/Roti feast OR:

Spirulina Power/Golden Pearl reef & Larval fish diet 5-50 micron/Reef Pearls 5-200
micron/GPR&LFD 200-300 micron/ frozen cyclops OR:

Omega one small pellets/frozen mussels,plankton/krill/marine cuisine OR:

Target feed frozen mysis and Spirulina Brine soaked in Selcon OR:

Mix in a blender: Spirulina Powder,Selcon, 2 tbs natural sugar, and a brand,(i forget name), of oriental frozen seafood mix like Pappone recipe.

The food i feed the SPS corals and LPS corals i do mainly 2-3 hours before lights on,(because it's much easier at that time for me). The corals seem to love it just the same. They get fed a different grouping x3-5 days a week.

[superdragon]

What a amazing read. Definitely subscribed!

[JoelA7]

Check

[dtum]

After looking at the May 2014 TOTM I simply can't resist to throw a wrench in the OP's theory.

The TOTM looks gorgeous, runs GFO, has low alkalinity (7 dKH) and extremely high phosphates (0.21). Colors are stunning.

Whaddya think?

[ouling]

I have been dealing with the same issue for almost a year.

0 PO4
0 NO3
9 DKH
1.0255 SG
I'm use phosphate remover and carbon heavily.

I have only 1 tiny fish that I feed 6 pellets to each day.
Bright LEDs,
Really pale/pastel looking corals with 0 growth for half a year. And I mean 0 growth from Monti to Nana or Birds nest. I had one stow away kenya tree on a live rock and it did not grow a tiny bit. None of the Zoa split, mushroom stayed the same...

I will now lower my dkh a tiny bit
feed more
hold off on the carbon and GFO

[SantaMonica]

Yes it's really hard to grow when you don't get any nitrogen (light/photosynthesis provides zero nitrogen).

[mm.reefs]

Originally Posted by ouling

I have been dealing with the same issue for almost a year.

0 PO4
0 NO3
9 DKH
1.0255 SG
I'm use phosphate remover and carbon heavily.

I have only 1 tiny fish that I feed 6 pellets to each day.
Bright LEDs,
Really pale/pastel looking corals with 0 growth for half a year. And I mean 0 growth from Monti to Nana or Birds nest. I had one stow away kenya tree on a live rock and it did not grow a tiny bit. None of the Zoa split, mushroom stayed the same...

I will now lower my dkh a tiny bit
feed more
hold off on the carbon and GFO

ouling (and others),

Watch out! When you lower your dkh to ~7, you MUST dose Kalkwasser to maintain the pH in a good range, otherwise this will drastically drop and coral health, colors and growth won't progress. This is something that is not well explained in the May 2014 TOIM and other articles. Having pH in 7.8 to 8.4 is crucial.

Notice that in this TOIM it is mentioned the use of pH probes and Avast Kalk, but not how these are used. The value of pH is not even mentioned! I bet that a controller is used to monitor pH and Kalwasser is dosed whenever is needed to maintain pH in good range.

If you will do the same (controller + Kalwasser) then you are fine, otherwise keep dkh in 9+.

PS: Definitely ouling, feed your tank MORE !!!!

[ouling]

Will do! I have about 30% SPS by volume and now I'm going to target feed. My DKH drops from 9 - 7 in 2 days if I don't dose.

Thanks!!

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Originally Posted by mm.reefs

ouling (and others),

Watch out! When you lower your dkh to ~7, you MUST dose Kalkwasser to maintain the pH in a good range, otherwise this will drastically drop and coral health, colors and growth won't progress. This is something that is not well explained in the May 2014 TOIM and other articles. Having pH in 7.8 to 8.4 is crucial.

FWIW, that first section is just not true.

pH is controlled by the alkalinity and the CO2 level.

If you do not have excess CO2 in the water (and hence, your room air), then your pH will not be low with an alkalinity of 7, assuming you have adequate aeration.

I discuss such issues here:

Low pH: Causes and Cures
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm

The "How To" Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 3: pH
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-05/rhf/index.php

[saltyair]

Adding my 2 cents

What is your cal,mag readings?
Do you feed your corals? i find adding amino and reefroids helped stimulate growth.
What kind of lighting? LED full spectrum or ....
why only 1 fish? are you skimming?

Originally Posted by ouling

I have been dealing with the same issue for almost a year.

0 PO4
0 NO3
9 DKH
1.0255 SG
I'm use phosphate remover and carbon heavily.

I have only 1 tiny fish that I feed 6 pellets to each day.
Bright LEDs,
Really pale/pastel looking corals with 0 growth for half a year. And I mean 0 growth from Monti to Nana or Birds nest. I had one stow away kenya tree on a live rock and it did not grow a tiny bit. None of the Zoa split, mushroom stayed the same...

I will now lower my dkh a tiny bit
feed more
hold off on the carbon and GFO