Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread

[elephen]

Buy a bigger house Marc

[melev]

Originally posted by Broodingwolf
Hey melev -- have you ever had any issues where your frogspawn or hammer corals shrunk up and didn't expand? Some of my LPS are behaving strangely, the frogpsawn has been shrunken up for days and my branching suncoral is bleaching out badly overnight all its skin is shriveling back. It was in bad shape to begin with, so I'm not as surprised about the sun coral but the hammer I am worried about. Any ideas, water is looking fine and did a 25% water change to be on the safe side.

Yes, that has happened to my hammer as well. I moved it three times until I found a place of slow-to-medium flow where it was happy. They don't need a lot of light, but have done well in tanks with MH lighting like mine.

What is your alkalinity level? If the water hardness gets too high, that can be part of the problem.

The sun coral doesn't need light at all, so if you see it bleaching, it might be suffering from the light. Try a spot far away from the lights, and try to coax it with food every night for now, to help it recover. http://www.melevsreef.com/suncoral.html

While feeding it, you can squirt some food at your frogspawn and hammer as well, if the pumps are off. Those LPS coral can eat some tiny solid foods.

Take a look at this little plate coral. Each polyp is about 3/4" wide, and yesterday I tossed in some flake food from BrineShrimpDirect and the coral grabbed some.







And while I'm posting pictures, take a look at what my son bought me as a gift. He was really moved by the laptop I bought him for graduation, and felt a thank you card simply wasn't good enough.

[jnb]

sorry - try this and scroll down to his advise http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...ght=PhosBuster

- keeping the low profile (lurking) will keep him at bay - especially as you manage your phates - he might otherwise jump on that - I just find myself researching every step these days as I try to manage flatworms and consider an urchin to help cut algae - life is not perfect since I moved my tank contents from a 65 to a 120 - SO, and he does have an opinion on phosphate removal products - I wonder if removing them too quickly will shock the corals (don't they like the phosphates too?

Originally posted by melev
I've been thinking about asking for Jerel's opinion, but you know he's just going to tell me to remove the sand bed. The link to that thread doesn't work for me.

[melev]

I'm sure that my corals are getting tired of PO4. But yes, if you drop them quickly, it will shock some corals. I got a little desparate last night.

I can see it now, 64Ivy will have a new show: "Next week, on Desparate Reefers...."

[MPH]

Marc,

The 2 bottles of Phos Buster costs about $45 and treats 250 gals of water. Do you really have 330 gals of actual water volume after accounting for sand, rocks, etc? My 120 with 15 gal sump (actual water, not total size) has only 100 actual gals of water. My one concern with Phos Buster is that with other granule type products the phosphate is being absorbed and is then removed from the system. The liquid must be precipitating the phosphate so that it is still in your system, just not as free phosphate, and might re-lease later. Maybe I should see what Dr. Randy thinks.

[melev]

My tank is 280g, plus a sump with about 70g of water in it. I don't have much sand but I do have about 240 lbs of LR. I figure I may have less than 330g of liquid volume, as I'm only estimating that number.

I do need to find out more about that product. Did you tell me who makes it already?

[delta]

Marc
just out of curiosity are you still using the miracle grow to culture phyto? if so any chance this might be fueling your phosphates? if phyto isnt feeding off the phosphorus in the Miracle grow its going straight in the tank.

Just a thought

[Northside Reef]

Originally posted by melev


I do need to find out more about that product. Did you tell me who makes it already?

I would ask RHF about it, but I don't know sounds like chemical warfare to me

[melev]

Delta, yes I am, but I'm not feeding my tank any phyto at all. I stopped adding it several weeks ago, thinking there was plenty of phosphate for all to share.

I wonder if it is even possible to test phytoplankton for PO4, since the liquid is dark green. I'll have to ask Habib.

Frank, I'll do that now.

[ChloroPhil]

Marc,

You could strain the phyto out of their water with a micron sock and throw them in straigt RO/DI. That should cause them to lyse. Throwing it in the freezer for a little while wouldn't hurt either just to be sure. Once thawed put it in a blender on high for a short while to mix, then test.

If you want to get REALLY nit-picky you could re-filter the bits and pieces out and test just the liquid. We do similar things with sediments in the lab to test for Phosphorus and Nitrogen in highway runoff and construction site sediments.

[growyourown]

Hey Marc,

On a side note I thought I saw that you said earlier in the thread that your refuge had good coraline growth...

I will say I am running the same refuge bulb as you recommend and I have amazing coraline growth starting in there as well.

My setup has only been running 2 weeks now... amazing.

I was thinking maybe I should just install a few refuge bulbs over my display lol...

Glenn

[melev]

Glenn, coralline doesn't need intense lighting to grow. My main tank actually looks a little devoid of coralline to me, but I'm starting to see some growth here and there. My water quality is getting back in line, based on what I'm seeing and the water tests. Just today as I was looking at the tank from the end, I noticed the water was far more clear than it has been in past months. Often, I would note how green the water was, and knew a water change was overdue.

I think the new sump & larger skimmer have a lot to do with it. I'm going to test PO4 tonight to see just how "blue" the (test) water is now.

[melev]

HAH! Finally less blue. It still is more than 1.0 (phosphate), but it came down. So now I have to ask myself, shall I turn the tank red again in a couple of days, to really kick this stuff out of my reef? Tempting, it is.

[Northside Reef]

good news Marc

[Awright]

Originally posted by melev
I do need to find out more about that product. Did you tell me who makes it already?

It is made by Caribsea. I have some on the way. I am a bit desperate myself. Tested tonight results were:
PO4= 1.5 Way too high, I know the answer to that.
dKH= 14.2 Is this too High?????
Alk = 5.08
Mg= 1350
Ca=430 ppm
Iodine=.02
Iodate=.001 Too Low??
I will let you know if I wipe out the whole tank first. LOL

[Ehydo]

Originally posted by Awright
It is made by Caribsea. I have some on the way. I am a bit desperate myself. Tested tonight results were:
PO4= 1.5 Way too high, I know the answer to that.
dKH= 14.2 Is this too High?????
Alk = 5.08
Mg= 1350
Ca=430 ppm
Iodine=.02
Iodate=.001 Too Low??
I will let you know if I wipe out the whole tank first. LOL

Isn't this great? He is sacrificing his tank for the well being of the thread.

[Awright]

Originally posted by Ehydo
Isn't this great? He is sacrificing his tank for the well being of the thread.

You got it, Ehydo I am not famous like Marc. I can get away with it and nobody will know the result.

Except Marc.

[angelfishlover]

selgado, any update on the regal tang?

[melev]

Andy: Don't do it for me!

I'm over here thinking of sacrifice as well. Btw, I started a thread in the Chemistry forum.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...7&goto=newpost

Your alkalinity is a tad high, but not horribly so. Ideally, you want it between 8 and 11 dKH.

[H2OLUVSME]

Originally posted by jnick
I wonder if removing them too quickly will shock the corals (don't they like the phosphates too?

i never participate in this thread, as i never have something knowledgable to add. but i have some experience here to share. a few months ago i had a bad PO4 problem (due to FL aquacultured rock, IMO). i used one of those PO4 removal sponges by tropical science. it took my PO4 to 0 (from 2.0+) in 72 hours, but shortly after that, i lost one wild SPS colony and another bleached horribly. i also had a temp malcfunction right after that which may have sent the colony that died over the limit. none of my captive bred SPS colonies or softies sufferd any damage at all. the (almost) dead coral remains in my tank with one green branch. the severely bleached coral has come back to life with better color than before.

[ratherbediving]

Melev

Thanks again for sharing all of this information with us! A lot of lurkers (like myself) get a lot of good info in this thread. I've been especially interested in your PO4 issues as of late, because I imagine that I'll probably have the same problems if I overfeed.

So I was wondering if the recent PO4 troubles has made you rethink how much to feed the tank. I know you mentioned that if you don't overfeed, then your Tangs start to munch your corals. I won't have that problem, so I am wondering--- how can you figure out how much to feed? So far, I think I am underfeeding the tank. I probably add the equivalant of a cube/ cube and a half of frozen food a week, along with one drop of liquid life. However, I don't have too much stuff yet and things are going well so far.

I think I had some Po4 issues already (probably also due to the same issues Landon (H20LUVSME) had with Fl aquacultured rock). I can't really read my Salifert PO4 kit. I pretty much have to say my PO4 was light blue . I added some ROWAphos, and it quickly took my P04 level down to almost clear

[WILDTHING]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by H2OLUVSME
[B]i never participate in this thread, as i never have something knowledgable to add.

Don't let that stop you H2OLUVSME, it certainly hasn't stopped me.

[melev]

Landon, jump in any time you like. I appreciate the input. Can you be specific about the product you used? I have used Kent's Phosphate Sponge in the past, and while it did bring it down from 2.0 to .25 in 48 hours, my leather corals took it badly. It took 3 weeks for them to recover.

Ratherbediving, the typical rule is if the food is gone in 5 minutes or less, you've fed the correct amount. It is indeed hard to judge if 25 fish have eaten adequately, and I try to make sure all of them get a good meal and not just the Voracious Six. Northside Reef just shipped me a 5g bucket full of macro algae to put in my refugium, which could be absorbing nutrients and PO4 (hopefully) to help in my cause.

There are lots of healthy corals in my tank, but even a few losses are just so aggravating to me. The last two corals I purchsed (the montipora with blue polyps and the encrusting montipora) are both 100% losses, and some other montiporas are looking pretty bad. Soft corals look fine, as do the LPS. Some of the SPS that are unaffected look great too. I just want EVERYTHING to look good. Is that too much to ask?

I'd love it if my test was "almost clear" again.

Colleen, don't sell yourself short.

[H2OLUVSME]

Marc, here is the first link (below) i came across about the sponge i used. this description is practically taken directly from the package. the first sponge goes in for 24 hours, then the second one goes in for 48 hours. it says it effectively removes 2.0 ppm from a 120 gallon system.

i ran it according to the directions, except it was more convinent for me to remove the second one after 36 hours. i had a reading of 2.0 (or a little more) 2 days before treatment. i had a reading of 0 two days after. both readings were taken at my LFS, as ive been too cheap to purchasse a test kit for those "blue moon" tests.

mny algae subsided considerably, but the few mentioned corals suffered a bit. i did notice a little decline in my kenya tree (no that you mention your leathers) buut that thing gets a little testy about once evey 2 months, so i thought nothing of it. it was back to normal within a few days.

also, i have aabout 100 gallons total volume, with only about 70 gallons (total guess) of actual water volume.

[gregt]

This thread was automatically split due to performance issues. You can find the rest of the thread here: http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=608969