.....BC BELLICOSE TROBAIRITZ......

PSXerholic · Apr 16, 2018

bubbaque said:
Here is a pic of mine. It doesn't seem to have grown much at all. It is under an 8 bult ati with one SB reef bar. The light is 17" off the water and the tank is 10" deep. I don't know the par.

Interesting, I can see the yellow traces in this picture already coming through ;-)
Do you recall what Nitrates were at that time?

bubbaque · Apr 16, 2018

PSXerholic said:
Interesting, I can see the yellow traces in this picture already coming through ;-)
Do you recall what Nitrates were at that time?

I just went and looked through my log book and it says the day after that pic my no3 was 9-10ppm. I tested yesterday and they are 2.5ppm and I feel it looks the same.

PSXerholic · Apr 16, 2018

bubbaque said:
I just went and looked through my log book and it says the day after that pic my no3 was 9-10ppm. I tested yesterday and they are 2.5ppm and I feel it looks the same.

Great, thx for the info.

bubbaque · Apr 18, 2018

PSXerholic said:
Great, thx for the info.

Andre, here is a pic from today. Nitrate is 2.5

Battlecorals · Apr 18, 2018

bubbaque said:
Andre, here is a pic from today. Nitrate is 2.5

Not looking to bad. I can see hints of Pink in those polyps

PSXerholic · Apr 18, 2018

Beautiful!!!
Any idea of the Po4 levels in both cases?
Like to know if there is correlation on the yellow to the Po4 levels.

bubbaque · Apr 18, 2018

During the pic I took last month I was experimenting with dosing po4 daily. I would dose it to .04 and the next day it would be 0 again. I got tired of the chase and gave up. It just sits at 0 now. This pic was 2 days ago.

MTBake · Apr 18, 2018

bubbaque said:
During the pic I took last month I was experimenting with dosing po4 daily. I would dose it to .04 and the next day it would be 0 again. I got tired of the chase and gave up. It just sits at 0 now. This pic was 2 days ago.

I've been trying to keep my po4 levels readable as well with dosing. It's a never ending cycle it seems. Dose it and check 12 hours later and it's back to 0ppb from 30-40ppb.

bubbaque · Apr 18, 2018

MTBake said:
I've been trying to keep my po4 levels readable as well with dosing. It's a never ending cycle it seems. Dose it and check 12 hours later and it's back to 0ppb from 30-40ppb.

Yeah, I gave up. I also noticed when I was doing the dosing that corraline algae growth slowed. Just letting it be and it has returned to normal.

PSXerholic · Apr 18, 2018

bubbaque said:
During the pic I took last month I was experimenting with dosing po4 daily. I would dose it to .04 and the next day it would be 0 again. I got tired of the chase and gave up. It just sits at 0 now. This pic was 2 days ago.

THX for sharing. I was just asking since I do see the yellow traces coming through if your Po4 was below 0.1!
I see a strong correlation that Po4 above 0.1 basically inhibits yellow a lot of times.

bubbaque · May 13, 2018

@PSXerholic how is yours growing? Mine isn't growing at all, lol.

PSXerholic · May 13, 2018

bubbaque said:
@PSXerholic how is yours growing? Mine isn't growing at all, lol.

Tomorrow I have to take a picture of the Vivids'RA then I will take a shot of the BC Trobaiitz as well.

Not looking too often at it, but it seems to grow really slowly. Will check it out from top ;-)

PSXerholic · May 14, 2018

@bubbaque
as you can see, not too much growth, but some encrusting.

May

April

bubbaque · May 14, 2018

PSXerholic said:
@bubbaque
as you can see, not too much growth, but some encrusting.

May

April

It looks good! That's about as much as my base grew. This coral feels like a slow grower but Adam had it encrusting on the glue before shipping, so who knows. I just moved mine today to a little less light to see if it helps.

PSXerholic · May 15, 2018

bubbaque said:
It looks good! That's about as much as my base grew. This coral feels like a slow grower but Adam had it encrusting on the glue before shipping, so who knows. I just moved mine today to a little less light to see if it helps.

Yes, let me know how that works out!
Having these monthly shots on hand is great.
Another issue I mentioned earlier I can see here as well.

I'm still struggling with low Barium levels, can't keep the consumption and dosing correct right now, due to the fact of Barium can only be tested via ICP :-(

If you look at the coral right of the BC Trobairitz at 3 o'clock, you can see how the Coralline algae made a success inside the coral tissue and competed it out! That happens as one of the indicators when I have extreme low Barium levels ( @ 2 microgram/L).

So I have lifted Ba and dose now daily Barium, while waiting for another test result to proof my theory and other signs of low Barium effect. If Ba is being supplemented and stable for a while, the coral will take over again very quickly.

Rakie · May 25, 2018

PSXerholic said:
I'm still struggling with low Barium levels, can't keep the consumption and dosing correct right now, due to the fact of Barium can only be tested via ICP :-(

If you look at the coral right of the BC Trobairitz at 3 o'clock, you can see how the Coralline algae made a success inside the coral tissue and competed it out! That happens as one of the indicators when I have extreme low Barium levels ( @ 2 microgram/L).

So I have lifted Ba and dose now daily Barium, while waiting for another test result to proof my theory and other signs of low Barium effect. If Ba is being supplemented and stable for a while, the coral will take over again very quickly.

Are you using a Calcium Reactor? I'm wondering if that may alleviate your issue.

PSXerholic · May 25, 2018

Rakie said:
Are you using a Calcium Reactor? I'm wondering if that may alleviate your issue.

Well, that's a good thought! Wondering how you got into that direction ???
I personally had that thought also a while ago.
I use 80% Reborn and about 20% Coral Lazarus as media in a 818GEO reactor.
The second stage is filled with Reborn for degassing.
Since Barium and other Alkali metals are supposed to be locked in the Reborn media I'm wondering where this depletion comes from. Checking the tests on my previous tank I used water changes a lot to maintain traces and Ba was always lower in the 6-7 microgram/L range where the ideal level is in the 14/15 range.

hatfielj · May 25, 2018

bubbaque said:
During the pic I took last month I was experimenting with dosing po4 daily. I would dose it to .04 and the next day it would be 0 again. I got tired of the chase and gave up. It just sits at 0 now. This pic was 2 days ago.

I had the same experience for about a month, then levels stayed up on their own. I think it shows that the organisms in our tank are using the nutrients quickly, meaning, they need them. Then they get to a certain point where everything is saturated and happy. Now I dose 50 mL a day of No3/PO4 solution and my levels stay up where I want them. No nuisance algae problems or anything weird. If I do a water change, I have to dose more to get my levels back up, but for the most part it's set and forget.

Rakie · May 25, 2018

PSXerholic said:
Well, that's a good thought! Wondering how you got into that direction ???
I personally had that thought also a while ago.
I use 80% Reborn and about 20% Coral Lazarus as media in a 818GEO reactor.
The second stage is filled with Reborn for degassing.
Since Barium and other Alkali metals are supposed to be locked in the Reborn media I'm wondering where this depletion comes from. Checking the tests on my previous tank I used water changes a lot to maintain traces and Ba was always lower in the 6-7 microgram/L range where the ideal level is in the 14/15 range.

Honestly I've always thought that coral skeleton should contain good amounts of everything corals need, sans what the living flesh uses. I haven't seen much substantiated proof it was just a hunch that made sense to me.

I've seen a few people with large systems have success with switching to a multiple dosing method, which is basically throwing the kitchen sink at it.. Adding some light dosing of Triton or ATI Essentials WITH the calcium reactor. The rationale being some things are precipitating out due to an ionic imbalance. Which could make sense why some random elements are being 'used up' far faster than they could actually be used.

This is all the fringe theory end of reefing though. Very little substantiated, proven, or testable ideas. Just connecting dots in the dark hoping for a home run.

PSXerholic · May 25, 2018

Rakie said:
Honestly I've always thought that coral skeleton should contain good amounts of everything corals need, sans what the living flesh uses. I haven't seen much substantiated proof it was just a hunch that made sense to me.

I've seen a few people with large systems have success with switching to a multiple dosing method, which is basically throwing the kitchen sink at it.. Adding some light dosing of Triton or ATI Essentials WITH the calcium reactor. The rationale being some things are precipitating out due to an ionic imbalance. Which could make sense why some random elements are being 'used up' far faster than they could actually be used.

This is all the fringe theory end of reefing though. Very little substantiated, proven, or testable ideas. Just connecting dots in the dark hoping for a home run.

Well, here is the ugly truth !!!!
I have the Calcium reactor with good costly media.

In addition, while doing frequent ICP's I dose:
Daily:
Barium
Fluoride
Iodide
Iron
Manganese
Vanadium
Zinc/Cobalt/Nickel shortly again after my RODI issue is fixed and parameter are back to zero.

As a correction after ICP's I typically dose:
Molybdenum
Boron
Bromine

And rarely correct Strontium, Potassium, and something else I forgot.

So all the above of course, when Tank is thriving ;-)