In Wall Sps Collection

Kman

Kman

Super Active Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Location
KW
You have great color contrast and growth of your SPS under the LED and it is great to see another supporter of LED. I love how compact they are for growth with great color. Keep it up.

It is very good you went manual for your dosing all this time and a reliance on observing your corals instead of an over reliance of testing and automation of everything. It gives you a real feel of what is going on in your tank and how to look after things. A lot of people when they join the hobby want to jump on the tech wagon with little understanding of the basics of husbandry. It is better to get the basics down and learn the dynamics of the reef then to automate everything right away. As your pictures show the results you can get from doing so.

After years and years of doing things manually I finally cracked 2 years ago and got a Apex controller, Doser and ATO. From someone that has been doing it manually fr so long to another you should go with the hardware that will give you the best bang for your buck. I did The doser first but I should have went with ATO and Apex. As I have my parameters locked down and my amounts of supplements I need figured out and it is very little effort to do them, I don't use the doser right now and it just sits there for now collecting dust.
 
Thanh

Thanh

Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2013
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
Thx kman. Led had been great to me the first time I try it. Only down fall is u need a bit more then it advertise. I know most light will work but can't say much cuz I haven't try T5 only or metal halide yet. Will definitely test out T5 sometime In the future.
I purchased all the new items for few reason. My corals demand a lot more now and summer is just around the corner. I want to travel and spend more time with my wife and kid,so hopefully this work out.
 
Kman

Kman

Super Active Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Location
KW
You are welcome. I have used a few different lights over the years including power compacts, MH, HO, VHO, T5, T8 and LED I have used them all. It is nice to see the results that you get from them.

A fully growing reef does take up a lot of time so it is good to automate once you have a good understanding. It defiantly cuts down on the work involved, especially on a sps dominated tank. The controller really gives you a piece of mind. I love to be able to check my tank on the fly and be alerted to a problem.
 
Thanh

Thanh

Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2013
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
Livestock

Powder blue tang
Blue tang
Naso tang
Purple tang
3 yellow tang
2 maroon clowns
2 yellow wrasses
1 coris wrasse
1 Blue damsel
2 blood shrimps
1 clearer shrimp
Feed my fish twice a day with new life spectrum pellet and fish poop for the corals nothing else.

Tank husbandry

15 gallon water change every week
Clean collection cup on skimmer
Test cal/alk every 3-4 day mag/month
Change out carbon 1 a month
Change out rowaphos every 1.5-2 month depend how dirty the glass get
Top off bio pellet when needed.
 
Kman

Kman

Super Active Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Location
KW
If you learn to pay attention to the tank it is pretty easy. Corals and algae are good indicators of what is going on.

I don't clean my glass all the time unless I am having someone over. You can judge the health of the system based on the growth of the algae on your glass, how fast it grows and what the system does to control it. If your copepods and snail population is low and you have a food source for them to eat, you know something is wrong. When healthy if you get a temporary bloom the system it will increase the pods and snails because of the increase in food and eat the extra algae. If my glass gets diatoms fast I know I have to check my system, change my filter media or do a water change. Because I know algae in mine usually takes more then a week for it to grow heavy on the glass. If I have to clean it before my weekend maintenance something has changed. Filters are dirty, to much food, dirty skimmer or my carbon source is low are a few common causes.

I like to cultivate the food web to. If you have a healthy food web you have a healthy reef. It will help you take care of your system and process the waste and excess food. A healthy refugium goes a long way in tank health and food web.
 
scubasteve

scubasteve

Distinguished Member
Joined
May 4, 2014
Location
Cambridge, Ontario
Kman said:
If you learn to pay attention to the tank it is pretty easy. Corals and algae are good indicators of what is going on.

I don't clean my glass all the time unless I am having someone over. You can judge the health of the system based on the growth of the algae on your glass, how fast it grows and what the system does to control it. If your copepods and snail population is low and you have a food source for them to eat, you know something is wrong. When healthy if you get a temporary bloom the system it will increase the pods and snails because of the increase in food and eat the extra algae. If my glass gets diatoms fast I know I have to check my system, change my filter media or do a water change. Because I know algae in mine usually takes more then a week for it to grow heavy on the glass. If I have to clean it before my weekend maintenance something has changed. Filters are dirty, to much food, dirty skimmer or my carbon source is low are a few common causes.

I like to cultivate the food web to. If you have a healthy food web you have a healthy reef. It will help you take care of your system and process the waste and excess food. A healthy refugium goes a long way in tank health and food web.
Click to expand...

thats just what i do lol i only clean my glass once a week and like you said if sooner is normally just something needing to be swapped out for new..... and yes i am a super huge believer in deep sandbeds, refugiums and algae scrubbers... my system relies on them :)
 
Kman

Kman

Super Active Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Location
KW
Nice. it sure works.

I like to use cryptic zone filtration system. I create a dark or darker area in my sump and grow sponges and other cryptofauna. Sponges have bacteria in them that use phosphates as a food source and they are excellent at polishing the water of phosphates, organic and fine particulate matter. It is considered as a environmental gradient system and is somewhat old school. But it works great as a natural way of cleaning your tank. Some people even set up a totally dark tank attached to the main system.

Check out this link if you want some information on how it works.

http://www.dynamicecomorphology.com/getzoned.htm
 
Thanh

Thanh

Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2013
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
Quick note guys and girls. I received a few emails asking( should I test my tank for nitrate and phosphate.)Sorry if I didn't mention it above. The answer is YES!!! Please do lot of testing if you are new to the hobby or just starting out SPS and specially if you're running a smaller volume of water. Benefit of testing is that you will have an idea of how your system run.
The reason I don't test my system for Nitrate/Phosphate anymore, cuz I have a feel for what my system need or don't.
My bad if I steer some of you the wrong way.
Remember Good import and export is key.
 
Kman

Kman

Super Active Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Location
KW
Most definitely if you are new to the hobby you should test. Only after experience you don't need to rely on it as much. If you so choose that option.
 
Kman

Kman

Super Active Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Location
KW
A frag beer meet what a great idea. Lol
You get to meet other reef enthusiasts and have a beer.
 
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