Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread

[melev]

Hey, you weren't supposed to notice that!

[Micki]

I'm a detailed kind of girl...

[greenmonkey51]

Melev-

Do you feel that the vodka dosing has lived up to the claims of people about coloring up SPS or even better growth. I'm seriously contemplating it. I couldn't find when you started, but have you seen noticeable results.

[Tswifty]

That's a pretty cool doser marc.. I like how pretty much all your "inventions" utilize acrylic somewhere in them.

[melev]

Originally posted by greenmonkey51
Melev-

Do you feel that the vodka dosing has lived up to the claims of people about coloring up SPS or even better growth. I'm seriously contemplating it. I couldn't find when you started, but have you seen noticeable results.

Today is actually exactly 6 months since I started dosing. The 'claim' that colors improve with lowered PO4 and NO3 is true, as the corals do better in cleaner water.

My tank isn't nearly at that peak of perfection, but I continue to strive for those numbers because I too would like to see some of the more amazing SPS corals I've seen in other tanks. Aaron runs a really pretty reef in Austin, and uses Zeo products. His PO4 and NO3 are zero, and his corals are amazing. I do keep in mind that I have a mixed reef where his is dominated with SPS, but his feeding and mine aren't much different.

I do know that with the vodka dosing, NO3 has not risen during the past six months. It has lowered some, but not enough yet (35ppm to more like 20ppm). PO4 never got out of hand, usually creeping up from 0 to .1+, which is great when you consider that I'm not running any kind of GFO on a daily basis. I do use a product to kick that back to zero about once a month, but the Vodka definitely keeps it from rising quickly & higher.

My corals are pretty, but I want them to be even nicer. Is that too much to ask?

[melev]

Originally posted by Tswifty8
That's a pretty cool doser marc.. I like how pretty much all your "inventions" utilize acrylic somewhere in them.

[DiscoReefRover]

wow Marc I thought only TJ and I were up till the we hours posting ....lol

[melev]

Well, you are! I'm in the Central time zone.

[InsaneClownFish]

Ahh we're in a hobby of perpetual patience. If you've been able to lower NO3 with dosing over 6 months, isn't it safe to surmise that continual dosing with subtle adjustments might just get you there in the upcoming months?

You'll get there soon

[melev]

That's the theory, anyway. If I ever get them down to near 0, I'll be able to cut my dose in half from then on, which is referred to as a maintenance dose. It does seem like this is taking forever, but in the six months, I only did three water changes.

I guess I really should start using some of that salt stacked up in the garage.

[Reefski's]

do you think your DSB is starting to kick in?

do you have any algae export? have you thought of using an ATS?

Carl

[melev]

Start? The reef is 4.5 years old. It's about darn time, right?

I do have a refugium and I pull out some macro on occasion but it really doesn't grow as fast as others report. My mangroves are doing their thing as well, but nothing amazing.

[InsaneClownFish]

ahh salt.. what have you been using these days? If I remember a phone conversation I had with you, I think you told me you were using whatever you happened to stumble across at the time. IE- best price

I also remembered you used Red Sea for awhile, and I can't remember why you stopped using it....

[melev]

Yes, I'm using either Red Sea or Kent Sea Salt. I have at least 8 buckets between the two brands, and just go with either.

[jnarowe]

So what about the idea that corals get better color as a defense mechanism when nutrients are too low?

[melev]

Better color as a defense mechanism? I've never heard of that.

I doubt I'll ever have low nutrients, since I feed daily.

Did a few water tests today, but not all of them. My last set of tests were almost exactly 30 days ago.

PO4: .03ppm - SWEET
NO3: slightly less than 20ppm
Salinity: 1.026
pH: 8.17 (which will rise in the next 6 hours)
Temp: 79.6F

My skimmer was overflowing this morning for no good reason. I happened to catch it as the foam was coming out of the vent holes of the lid. I think I'm really going to have to bite the bullet and buy those new pumps soon.

Remember last year when I was lamenting how I had to pay for a brand new central a/c system? Yesterday, I was picking up some trash that had blown into my yard, and heard a bunch of clicking from the system. I called the install company since it is under warranty, and let them hear what it was doing over the phone. A repairman came out today, opened it up, and said the defrost board needed to be replaced. The relay was clicking away like morse code, and the fan wasn't spinning. Nice, eh? Next week, they'll have the new part to install it. Fortunately, the unit is operating fine other than that issue, and my home is staying warm.

[jnarowe]

yeah, I have read that corals tend to achieve really vibrant colors (and maybe "defense" is not the right word) when they need to harness more energy from the sun, and that would be due to a lack of food suspended in the water column.

[token]

jnarowe, I read about that just the other day.... had to do with the clades of the zooxanthellae in the tissues. I agree that maybe "defense" is not quite the right term. Maybe "adaptive" would better describe this response. But the gist was that some intense coloration is a result of tissue modification to allow different responses from the zooxanthellae in situations where the polyps themselves are not catching enough. (I am sure I am mangling this a bit in an effort to be brief...)

[K' Family Reef]

Originally posted by melev
Today is actually exactly 6 months since I started dosing. The 'claim' that colors improve with lowered PO4 and NO3 is true, as the corals do better in cleaner water.

speaking of coloration/lack of nutrients

here is an interesting link
to someone who started using zeo - shows pic of a browned out coral that turned blue after only 6 days of dosing...

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1549663

caught my attention anyway!

regards

[BigJay]

Maybe that explains why many of the corals that I've bought home have browned out. :P

[ReefEnabler]

I've always heard more stories about SPS corals getting more "pastel" when in very low nutrient tanks? Granted I know there are stunning SPS Zeo tanks out there.... but most of them do tend to have a more 'pastel' look that I've seen.

I've seen some of my own montiporas go more to the pastel side also and I've always had 0 nitrates and phosphates.

Red and green monti after having them about two months:
http://www.worstkind.com/aquarium/10...pora_green.jpg

Same green and red monti after another two months:
http://www.worstkind.com/aquarium/10...pora_green.jpg

Notice they've both had great growth but the color is lighter than before..... maybe my nutrients really arent as low as I think, or I need a different nitrate test kit (using API)...?

[spleen93]

Ryan - is it my imagination or did you post a picture link that points to the same pic twice?

[ReefEnabler]

doh, here is what the second one was *supposed* to be
http://www.worstkind.com/aquarium/2009/0105/montis.jpg

what I get for not double checking the links....

[Reefski's]

Marc-

a ways back you commented on high nitrates causing birdsnest corals to become "stunted" from high nitrates.

i think it may be from high PO4 not nitrates, at least in my system.

my nitrates have never been over 6ppm and was 2.5 yesterday.

PO4 however has always been a problem and has stayed high, currently it is 0.52-0.72 depending on water changes.

here are a couple of pictures. the first one is 3-4 weeks after getting the coral and the tips are already getting rounded.


here it is again a few months later, still growing but with a different form.


and finally a new piece that has only been in the tank for a week before i took this picture and already losing the sharp points.


or maybe it's just the flow.

[InsaneClownFish]

Reefski, I think your birdsnest looks excellent in the second picture. You have nice growth and the polyps are gaining highlights. Coloration looks uniform throughout. Your first pic looks a bit overexposed as well.