youve got to give us tips on how your corals seem to grow so fast and stay colorful. Whats grandmas secret recipe?
can you give us what your keeping all parameters at?
salinity, PO4, Alk, Cal , Mag, temp, water change amount per day or all at once per month.
type of GFO, Type of GAC, for how long you use them, kalk, photo period, do you feed your corals at all and if so what and how many times a month,
type of salt your using and why, you see where im going with this? Also id like to know why your using certain dosing chemicals like example BRS powders or something else.
Im trying to nail down certain issues im having getting my SPS to grow and if i can dissect your system it may shed light on to mine and mabe others. Im trying to see how certain successful SPS systems function and what similarities they have in common. what mistakes we should avoid and what we should or shouldnt use or use less of.
I know im asking a tall order list and ive read your threads on RC which i will compliment you on. You were very informative and spot on. Glad to see we have an SPS fanatic in our backyard. sorry for hijacking but i think its worthwhile and noteworthy.
Thanks for all the kind words. Those RC threads were fun and over the years I have met so many people who told me how they really helped them out, which make me very happy!
As to what is the secret? I have written and spoken about keeping SPS so many times that I am really starting to think people make it harder than it needs to be. I do not mean that in a belittling way in any form. But I think people tend to over think and do more harm than good, with every intention of doing the right thing. About 6 months ago when I restarted this tank I was having the worse problem getting things back on track. I mean I was really tinkering with the tank like mad and still I was having SPS problems, RTN, STN and bleaching like I was a newbie. My wife finally stopped me and asked what would I tell someone if they came to me with these problems. I thought about it a little while and I was like, stop fiddling with the tank, pick a light and stick with it, get the tank stable, and start to do water changes like a madman. two weeks and 600 gallons of water changes later the tank looked much better.
But anyway, on to your question. Here is what I keep my parameters at. The big three, alk 8-9 (currently at 7.7) Ca 450 Mg 1400. My SG normally is at 1.024 ~34ppt. Temp is 76F in the winter and between 79-82.5 in the summer. Those numbers have been consistent throughout the years, so if there is any secret it is in there.
PO4 below 0.05 (I have actually never measured it that high), normally 0.01-0.02. No4 I am now trying to keep it around 3-5ppm.
Here is my schedule for everything I do to my tank.
Daily
Feed fish 2x a day, 3 cubes mysis and a few pinches of pellets each time.
Add KNO3 to the tank before I go to bed. Keeps the NO3 at 3-5ppm
Ca/alk/mg maintained by a calcium reactor and supplemented with kalk (currently ca demands are not high enough to use kalk).
Photoperiod:
T5 13 hours 7:30 AM to 8:30 PM
MH 8 hours 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM
I run reefbrite royal blue LED with the MH. and at 1% for nighttime from 8:30-9:15 PM
I do not feed the corals. I have tried to feed them everything from live rotifers (nightly for over two years), to various mixes and found it made no difference in growth or coloration.
Weekly
Add Kent's Strontium (currently stopped, triton test showed high levels of Sr, will pick up later)
I add Salifert Amino Acids to the tank once a week (currently not doing this, I will pick it up again later).
Every other week.
10% water change with IO. ~44 gallons using one bag in a brute container, heat to 70d, add 3 teaspoons of Kent turbo calcium to raise ca to 450. add 10ml of muriatic acid 12 hours before use to drop the alk to about 8 dKH.
During water change siphon detritus out of sumps and frag tank.
Every other week (on opposite week of water change)
Clean skimmer.
Remove chaeto from ARID algae reactor (if needed).
Add Special Blend 200ml
Monthly
Run GAC in bag in the sump (not in a reactor), I run it for about a week and take it out. Longer if I forget. Sometimes I don't run it for a while if it doesn't need it or I forget.
Every 10 months change the T5 bulbs
Every 12 months change the MH
That is really it. Things I did not mention are flow, always have a ton of it. I currently have two Gyre X150 that I think are fantastic for getting flow into the tank. And the last thing I tell people all the time is keep your hands out of the tank. Stop moving things around and touching corals, also if you want tings to grow, stop fagging corals all the time.
Any other questions, please let me know!
Thanks!
