Single best change to your tank. A discussion.

[E.intheC]

What's the one change you made to your tank where you noticed the most improvement-- in overall coral and fish health?

It could be equipment/placement/maintenance/mindset or philosophy/photo period/fish/anything really....

I know this could be difficult, as often times people change more than one thing at once, but just throw some ideas out there. .....Just trying to start a discussion and maybe find some trends (or at least make them more obvious).. and bring to light ideas that may be overlooked by a rookie, and yet taken for granted by a seasoned reefer.

......as a side note; please don't say something like "stability".. of course "stability" is going to improve your tank. You could substitute that with a phrase such as "when I added an Auto Top Off System it made the salinity levels much more stable".. The point is, be specific. You can also have more than one idea.

 

[Hungriee]

changing all my koralias for a Vortech Mp40w made my corals go on a birth spree (best investment)

Another change is increasing my photo period to 12+ hours a day.

 

[E.intheC]

definitely. Flow is huge. I noticed a big improvement on my LPS corals when I sold an MP10 (had 2 going on a smaller tank.. it was just too much).. now that I've switched tanks and I'm trying to get more SPS, I wish it was still there :lol2:

As for photoperiod.. I've heard the same as the above, but I've also heard of people reducing their photo period to 6 hours/day with no ill-effects.

 

[Reeftanker3295]

When I first started I bought pre-mixed SW and had a 29 biocube. It was an absolute disaster. My best change was getting an RO/DI system.

 

[James]

For me, besides the given of regular WCs and a good skimmer, lights etc, is the addition of sodium absorbate (vit c, buffered power pharm. grade form) twice a day. I have been in this hobby for a pretty long time and dosing this has profoundly affected my coral color and overall health.

 

[tentacles]

Feeding zoas when I feed my LPS. It's made them spread like crazy.

Just feeding corals in general (small amounts of phyto and marine snow) has made a huge difference in growth. The only "sacrifice" is keeping params in check while doing this, but that's not really extraneous.

 

[wonderballz]

Do you guys spot feed or broadcast feed?

 

[kroman]

Because i tend to feed my corals quite a bit I would have to say using "Special Blend" has been a great way to keep my tank in check from excess nutrients.

 

[Lenny718]

Vodka dosing! Never had really high nitrates but they where there even with weekly water changes. Started Vodka dosing about a month and a half ago and I very happy with the results so far.

 

[DEL]

RO unit from airwaterice. SWC Cone 160 skimmer. and ECORAY 60 LEDs !!!!!

 

[albano]

I've mentioned this to a few people recently, also some at the swap...that since upgrading to a 450g tank in June, I can ABSOLUTELY see a difference in my fish. My tanks over the past 30+ years have included 120g, 150g, 170g and 300g, but I can not remember being able to say that any particular fish, noticeably grew, or changed within a short time!
Basically all the fish (over 50 total) act differently...don't hide, swim more, swim together...
10 Tangs and 5(out of 7) angels constantly school together...
HLLE in 2 tangs for the past 3 years, is almost completely healed in 3 months...
the dorsal fins of a yellow and sailfin tang that were 25% of their original size for the past 3 yrs. are growing back...
a tiny <2" hippo tang that barely grew since Jan. is almost 4" since June...
a small ~2" naoko wrasse that I got in July is almost 4" already...
and as if all this is not enough...
the wrasses and angels are changing sex (M-F, and F-M) within DAYS...I have WITNESSES (Rick/NYReefNoob for one)...
my 5 flame wrasses were all turning male but 2 seem to be reverting back to F...
my medium Lamarck F angel , doubled in size in 6 weeks, changed to male, and (I think) caused a bigger Swallowtail M angel turn F...
My M bellus turned F just before the upgrade (with a slighly 'different' color pattern than 'normal') and after the upgrade my F, quickly grew larger and became M.

 

[tentacles]

Do you guys spot feed or broadcast feed?

I like to change it up. I spot feed my larger corals (torch, hammer,acans) with mysis every couple of days when I feed the fish. The days I feed the zoas, I try to chop the mysis up finely (the fish don't seem to mind, they're all a bunch of pigs:eat Maybe once every 2 weeks I broadcast feed the marine snow for the smaller corals and sps. (I have a small tank, so I try not to broadcast feed too often to avoid NO3 and PO4 levels going up too much.)

I just got some fauna LPS food at the swap, so I'm going to change it up MORE! and feed the fauna every couple of days as well. I fed it tonight, and my acans LOVED it (seems like it was easier for them to eat than the mysis). I also have some rogger's frozen food, which is a blend of mysis, squid, etc and it REEKS of garlic. So, I'm going to feed that instead of mysis for a little bit and see if it makes any difference in the health of my fish.


Edit: I had a small outbreak of cyano when I first started up my tank. Special blend cleared it up in a matter of days, now I dose it every 2-3 weeks. Since I've been using it since the beginning, I can't really say whether or not it has contributed to growth. However, I can say it's an awesome additive, and you should give it a try if you're interested.

 

[ecvernon]

the changes in my tank took place over time, but my goal was Automation. Aquacontroller JR, RODI with reservoir and ATO , and dosing pumps for alk, mag, and calcium.

alot of money has been invested in those items but i never enjoyed my tank as much as i do now

 

[ecvernon]

ohh and also KEPPING MY DANG HANDS OUT OF THE TANK!!!! I got sad when my corals was happy after my 1 week vacation they never looked better

 

[jadakiss]

when i upgraded my pump to a mp20 and dosing special blend for cyno

 

[E.intheC]

Lots of good and interesting thoughts posted. I have to add that when I joined the internet boards (like this one and others) it helped a ton. If it weren't for these wonderful sources of info, I can honestly say I'd probably be out of the hobby by now.

 

[Domboski]

Increasing the turnover of water. I plumbed two sets of returns so that during the day I have two mag7s going on a 150 gal but at night, the two mag7s go off and two mag 12s go on.

 

[E.intheC]

Domboski, that's an interesting idea. I've heard of reducing the flow at night, but not increasing the flow. I'm sure it helps with nutrient export though, right?

Side note: the Sunburst anthias I picked up at the swap is doing great! (Hiding, but that's to be expected).

 

[plateboy3293]

Only replacing evaporated water no WC's tank loves it dont know why though.

 

[FaviaFreak]

topping off with Kalkwasser...single best thing I ever started doing