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So I have been after ULNS for about 2 years now and recently with the Orca products I reached that, my N03 was 0.10 my P04 was 0.02 and my calcium mag etc was rock stable...

Then came the tank crash when I got back from NYC about two weeks ago (My C02 bottle finished and cal dropped to 200ppm).

Since then I just had bad luck one after the other, recently I got my Achilles tang and it gave me some hope and enthusiasm to go and fix everything up. Chatting to fellow reefer @Chris Franky he was asking me if I had installed some toys I had bought and frankly (no pun intended) I just don't get time anymore - Hence the heavy investment in all the toys.

So today get back from the driving range looking at the tank and I noticed something, the corals have started to color up. I was getting some SERIOUS dull colors in my SPS, my bright greens were going like a pastel yellow, my blues were going well as confused as a Thailand dancer purple / blue/ brownie. My LPS I had to give to @Chris Franky as they were all bleaching and dying....

I then put two and two together for the last two weeks (which I have started to notice the color up) I have let my N03 climb to 0.75ppm and my P04 to 0.10.

Now somewhere there is a balance because not all the coral is coloring up... The greens are getting greener and the blues deeper but the corals that have beige and pinks are going deep brown and a rustic red.

I also started dosing (the recommended amount) of Iodine/ied the safe one... and Potassium daily at night. @Adee once again helped me out there....

Looking at all this I now wonder, is it the nurtient levels going up (remembering when I use to have heavy high nutrients my greens where GREEN) or is it the Iodine and Potassium.

Like my mission to get to ULNS I now have a mission to get the colors right.... @irie ivan and @Adee I would love to start a debate here on this thread and use my tank as the test bed :)

To tell you the truth I was getting bored ..... hence the Achilles and now at least I have a problem to play with :)
 
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Yup So I know greens are from Fe - That's one:

Reds are pretty simple to keep - WE sure thats I or K?
Pinks are just impossible. - We sure thats I or K?
Yellows well I was getting there with starving the system...

So why the color up at the same time as the nutrients going up....
 
@mytank, I have a very similar problem, my PO4 varies between 0.04 and 0.08 and my nitrates sit at around 0.1-0.2, my frogspawn doesn't look at it's best, infact @Chris Franky said my colours looked a bit pale. I also having a debate if not to increase my nutrients. I never dose iodine as my tests say they are ok, so does my K test kit. I do have Seriotopora that has lighten up a bit, from a dark brown to a very light brown, and with great growth, and polyps always out, but not pink, what I do have is some very nice Zoas that have turned pink around their oral discs.
I can't keep Acros (have a few montis that are doing quite well and one or two other sps [don't know what they are]) but that's because I can't keep my Alk stable no HUGE swings, only 0.5dkh over a week, hopefully with my new tank, kalkstirrer and CARX reactor, this will sort out my slight swings. Ca and Mg are very stable.

Maybe I should just add some Iodine and K, small doses, see what happens. Man this hobby is confusing.

PS, great articles @mytank
 
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:) come see how I am about to set up my new carx (I blew up my old one) and bought a kalk stirrer too, not to fond of the idea of putting it on my to topup had snails jam the level switch ......

I think it's key to dose k I and fe I don't care what water changes or test kits say ..... I for example has a very short life span in water .....
 
Dosing potassium came about as potassium is used up in zeovit systems. Corals dont use much potassium so there is no need to actually dose potassium in non zeovit systems. No one used to dose potassium three years ago in SA and sps did great :) just look at long running systems like Robs tank
 
Dosing potassium came about as potassium is used up in zeovit systems. Corals dont use much potassium so there is no need to actually dose potassium in non zeovit systems. No one used to dose potassium three years ago in SA and sps did great :) just look at long running systems like Robs tank

Ummmmm you sure corals don't use Pots?
 
They use it, but nowhere close to the quantity adsorbed by zeolites with their chemical affinity for ammonia and potassium.
 
come see how I am about to set up my new carx (I blew up my old one) and bought a kalk stirrer too, not to fond of the idea of putting it on my to topup had snails jam the level switch ......

Yeah that would be a good idea! If you're keen and you're home, can do Sat afternoon, I am going to Adee in the morning, will give you a ring around 10 to see what you up too. Thanks man!:thumbup:
 
That article u posted sums it all, ito color additives, there are a couple on the net that basically say the same thing.
You can also use some additives from zeovit to do further tweaking of colors. there is two halves to the zeovit route getting to ULNS (with stones and bac), the second part is getting colors. There are number of ways to skin the cat to get to LNS, so does not stop u from using other things like amino's, potassium, iodine, iron, etc.....end of the day, each tank is unique and there is no iron clad recipe other than the reefer themselves applying knowledge and dosages as to what they can visually see in front of them...the "stop adding drops when u see a green tinge on your yellow acro's" is an example of this.
 
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