I didn't want to thread jack other topics that are touching on similar subject so here I go with my own.
In my 120 gallon reef (210 system) I have a wide variety of corals and have noticed over the last couple of weeks some of them bleaching. The ones in particular are an encrusting monti, a mili and orange yumas. In the same tank growing and very happy are acros, millis, birdsnest, hammers, frogspawn, candy cane, torch, acans, chalices etc. Oh and hair and bubble algae.
In tying to combat excess nutrients I have
- 30 gallon water changes every 2 weeks
- running GFO (changed every 4 weeks)
- big skimmer
- huge cheato ball
- bio pellets
The only change I've made in the last many months is better husbandry and adding some Ultra Min to the system to help color corals up.
I am getting the same issues as others with bio pellets consuming too many nutrients? I will either stop the bio pellets or the Ultra Min and see what changes take place.
Im not a reef expert but I think that causes of those corals bleaching is the bio-pellets & gfo. I would pulled this off in your tank. Do water change atleast a good amount of water an like hookup says to replenish those heavy metals in your water in the tank. I hate to say I've lost most of my sps colony because of bio-pellets & it's been almost 3 months not running gfo or carbon in my tank, i just let the cheatos grew in my sump & sand bed of caribic sea mud. All my sps recovering from rtn, montis supermn it's coming back the color , millies got extended polyps & lps got bright coloration. I'm only dosing bio-cal 1 scoop everyday, 5ml 1x a week, coral-vite 5 drops 2x a week.
My worry is that stopping bio-pellets and gfo is going to cause algae to take off. With whats being done now I still have tons and I'm only feeding 4-5 times a week.
Hookup, are/were you also running bio pellets?
I would take both bio-pellets and GFO offline until your corals bounce back.
Then you can start them up again at maybe 50% of what you are currently running.
Do water change & reduced of feeding that's what I did & I bought a 20 pcs of snails just incase hair algae would start growing. Since then I don't have any issue w/ algae. Since I cut off my bp & gfo I start changing water every second week. Coralline algae growing all over my tank that used be a cyano :). I would run gfo & carbon if you worry about getting hair algae.
I'm using Instant Ocean salt. Been using it ever since I started the tank years ago. I also dose with BRS Alk, Cal and Mag.
I bought the Ultra Min used so maybe it has expired and is negatively affecting my corals. Maybe, but my birdnest is almost neon pink...
You say you are dosing, but using a basic salt and dosing is potentially a way to get further and further away from desired parameters when you are not dosing proper amounts. Not saying you aren't but I find testing Calcium to be almost impossible. Alk is fairly easy, and I should but don't even test Mag very often so I can't even remember how accurate that is.
Anyway, maybe I missed it but did someone already talk about using GFO and bio pellets together? I don't do the bio pellets thing, but I was told at one time if I did you should do one or the other especially when you first start with the pellets. So I am a vote for pellets being the problem. Not that I know anything much about them, but so many people seem to have problems with them at first. Some get it to work out in the end, but many give up on that idea too.
I am all for simple is better. If you need to improve something then do it, but otherwise stick to what works. I use Reef Crystals. Maybe not the best for everything, but tried and true, and gives you more of what you need for corals than the basic instant ocean. I add Bio-Cal and that seems to keep my Alk and Cal at good levels. I use carbon, chaeto, and GFO. Maybe Ultra Min would bring out my corals even more, maybe I would create problems. I don't know, but my corals look good, and my colours are strong so I don't bother adding a new element that could be a problem.
Hey,
I agree with Nano, I prefer to keep things simple.
I use instant ocean and dose biocalcium a couple of times a week. I run a small amount of gfo, and occasionally carbon when it's needed.
I really think that adding and dosing too many elements can lead to problems.
I would recommend a large water change, stop dosing anything, and wait a couple of weeks at least.
Just monitor the basics like temp, ph, Alk....
If algae is an issue, you could try snails, sea hares, crabs, or grazing fish like a tang.
I'm sure the corals will adjust and start to recover with time. It's when you try to rush things with all kinds of new products and additives that the corals get stressed.
Remember the golden rule of this hobby: nothing good happens quickly.
Good luck.
Gord
Let's keep this on topic please.
PM me if you need any extra help from me.
Hey guys check this out link Fish La its about the bio-pellets 8).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLhmI8vtnfw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLhmI8vtnfw
Quote from: kole18 on March 13, 2012, 11:42:08 PM
Hey guys check this out link Fish La its about the bio-pellets 8).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLhmI8vtnfw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLhmI8vtnfw
That is currently the best bio-pellet rector on the market because of the recirculating design.
I hope u guys watching this video, & specially for those who runs BP in ur tank. The way he threw or dose those coral foods almost dumped all a bottle of additives interesting how he feeds it's corals makes even easy for him to use this reactor of BP. I noticed he doesn't sps in experiment tank mostly softys @ lps but it's tank seems doing ok w/ BP.
This is my question then after watching the video.
Basically the guy is saying you never want to strip your tank of ALL of your Nitrates and Phosphates, unless maybe you have a SPS only tank. Then why use a product that will strip your tank of them unless you are constantly testing and adjust the flow? Why not just use the "old" methods of Chaeto, or algae scrubbers? They consume nitrates and phosphates to grow the algae, but the process is slower so the tank never totally gets striped of them.
I am not trying to argue against bio pellets, but this just seems counter productive, and I am trying to understand the benefit.
Nano I'm with u dude not running Gfo or carbon reactor in my sump fuge " sanbed of carbic sea mud plus cheatos , as well LR'S " works great for my system & it's really safe rather spending so much money to buy a reactor & spend media bp every a couple of months:)
Ok so I purchased a new test kit and had a friend (Omar) come over last night to prove my findings. My Alk had dipped way too low - in the 5s. That looks like its the cause of my problems. I don't seem to have luck with Alk test kits.
I'll slowly raise my Alk up to the proper level and then monitor coral status. If things color back up I'll leave the bio-pellets, GFO, and other dosing as is. If they are still suffering than I'll probably take the bio-pellets offline first.
Sorry to lead everyone on a bio-pellets wild goose chase.
I use Hanna checker for alk test kit works fine for me. To be honest with you I don't test my alk anymore since I'm dosing bio-cal everyday :) cuz I'm too lazy:) anyway goodluck I'd like those frag that you bought from davernack I hope all those survive good day!