Bubba's SPS Journey

bubbaque · Feb 15, 2019

addictreef said:
I’m looking now for my fuge light now for my new system. This could work great. How many hours a day do you run this. In my current system I run my fuge light 24/7. Not sure I would be comfortable running this all the time [emoji91] [emoji91] [emoji91].

Some may run it 24 hrs a day but I would not. When I first got it I ran it 24 hrs a day it it dropped my nutrients fast. That light is very effective at growing algae. There was a point when I ran it 3hrs at night because it worked too well but I think I’m at 10-12hrs now.

najer · Feb 15, 2019

bubbaque said:
Some may run it 24 hrs a day but I would not. When I first got it I ran it 24 hrs a day it it dropped my nutrients fast. That light is very effective at growing algae. There was a point when I ran it 3hrs at night because it worked too well but I think I’m at 10-12hrs now.

I love your corals and camera skills, exactly, macro algae fan, sounds like you are getting close to having it balanced!

lbacha · Feb 15, 2019

najer said:
I love your corals and camera skills, exactly, macro algae fan, sounds like you are getting close to having it balanced!

Has anyone tried dragons breath in their fuge instead of cheato. I know cheato grows faster but I’m actually more interested in ph balancing in the evening with my fuge as my fish load is light. I only ask because I just throw cheato away but with dragons breath I’m sure I could sell it or trade it in to my LFS.

I have both in my fuge now but I’m considering slowly pulling the cheato and just letting the dragons breath keep growing until it’s only DB in there.

bubbaque · Feb 15, 2019

lbacha said:
Has anyone tried dragons breath in their fuge instead of cheato. I know cheato grows faster but I’m actually more interested in ph balancing in the evening with my fuge as my fish load is light. I only ask because I just throw cheato away but with dragons breath I’m sure I could sell it or trade it in to my LFS.

I have both in my fuge now but I’m considering slowly pulling the cheato and just letting the dragons breath keep growing until it’s only DB in there.

I have not. It's too expensive for me and it seems like they give you a 3" frag to start with.

justingraham · Feb 15, 2019

lbacha said:
Has anyone tried dragons breath in their fuge instead of cheato. I know cheato grows faster but I’m actually more interested in ph balancing in the evening with my fuge as my fish load is light. I only ask because I just throw cheato away but with dragons breath I’m sure I could sell it or trade it in to my LFS.

I have both in my fuge now but I’m considering slowly pulling the cheato and just letting the dragons breath keep growing until it’s only DB in there.

I have but it’s good to have booth each do different things

lbacha · Feb 15, 2019

bubbaque said:
I have not. It's too expensive for me and it seems like they give you a 3" frag to start with.

Yeah I heard off for a long time but last week I was at my LFS and they had small 2” pieces glued to frag plugs for $5 so I pulled the trigger. I put half in my display and half in my fuge. So far the growth has been pretty fast and the stuff in my display is really cool looking the edges glow a nice orange.

the picture doesn’t do the glow justice (this started out about half that size a week ago)

justingraham said:
I have but it’s good to have booth each do different things

What type of differences, out side of the dragon breath using more iron I would think it would be similar

BigJohnny · Feb 15, 2019

lbacha said:
Yeah I heard off for a long time but last week I was at my LFS and they had small 2” pieces glued to frag plugs for $5 so I pulled the trigger. I put half in my display and half in my fuge. So far the growth has been pretty fast and the stuff in my display is really cool looking the edges glow a nice orange.

the picture doesn’t do the glow justice (this started out about half that size a week ago)

What type of differences, out side of the dragon breath using more iron I would think it would be similar

They have different nutrient uptake ratios. Chaeto is 100:1 N

. Not sure what dragons breath is but I'd wager its probably a smaller ratio, like 85:1 or less. Not sure about the other differences.

lbacha · Feb 15, 2019

I’d have to say the scrubber has been a success so far

lolgranny · Feb 15, 2019

bubbaque said:
Some may run it 24 hrs a day but I would not. When I first got it I ran it 24 hrs a day it it dropped my nutrients fast. That light is very effective at growing algae. There was a point when I ran it 3hrs at night because it worked too well but I think I’m at 10-12hrs now.

+1 I run my 8hrs. It grows it like a dang weed.

litenyaup · Feb 15, 2019

I guess when I get my system up and running I’ll be growing cheato. I would be concerned about the dragons breath using the iodine and then having to dose for it.

BigJohnny · Feb 16, 2019

litenyaup said:
I guess when I get ,y system up and running I’ll be growing cheato. I would be concerned about the dragons breath using the iodine and then having to dose for it.

Chaeto uses a lot of iodine too. I have to dose it to keep it at 60 ug/l. What makes you think dragons breath uses more?

Big E · Feb 17, 2019

Here's some info for those interested---

An excellent read on algae nutrient uptake. In the early 2000's Caulerpa was the the dominant algae of choice for Sps keepers. No one had issues with limiting factors, as can be seen in the article it does a more balanced job for what a tank needs than chaeto.

https://dspace.carthage.edu/bitstre...on - Senior Thesis.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

I don't know if gracilaria is the same as the red algae you all are talking about but it's a better candidate than chaeto keeping a balanced ratio as well.

If you go and look back at a lot of the TOTM most algae filters had a mix of various macro algae.

Here's a table showing some of the trace metal uptakes from algae. These are some of the elements reefers seem wanting to dose now a days if you don't do water changes. The algae is competing with the corals for these elements.

drawman · Feb 17, 2019

Big E said:
Here's some info for those interested---

An excellent read on algae nutrient uptake. In the early 2000's Caulerpa was the the dominant algae of choice for Sps keepers. No one had issues with limiting factors, as can be seen in the article it does a more balanced job for what a tank needs than chaeto.

https://dspace.carthage.edu/bitstream/handle/123456789/465/James Paulson - Senior Thesis.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

I don't know if gracilaria is the same as the red algae you all are talking about but it's a better candidate than chaeto keeping a balanced ratio as well.

If you go and look back at a lot of the TOTM most algae filters had a mix of various macro algae.

Here's a table showing some of the trace metal uptakes from algae. These are some of the elements reefers seem wanting to dose now a days if you don't do water changes. The algae is competing with the corals for these elements.

Nice thing with gracillaria is you can recycle it back to the tangs. That said it never grew quite as fast as chaeto for me.

lolgranny · Feb 17, 2019

Big E said:
Here's some info for those interested---

An excellent read on algae nutrient uptake. In the early 2000's Caulerpa was the the dominant algae of choice for Sps keepers. No one had issues with limiting factors, as can be seen in the article it does a more balanced job for what a tank needs than chaeto.

https://dspace.carthage.edu/bitstre...on - Senior Thesis.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

I don't know if gracilaria is the same as the red algae you all are talking about but it's a better candidate than chaeto keeping a balanced ratio as well.

If you go and look back at a lot of the TOTM most algae filters had a mix of various macro algae.

Here's a table showing some of the trace metal uptakes from algae. These are some of the elements reefers seem wanting to dose now a days if you don't do water changes. The algae is competing with the corals for these elements.

I agree, the more variety the better. I’ve been debating calurpa again, but it always worries me it going sexual in my house... we watch a lot of **** and the tanks right right by the tv....

blackizzz · Feb 17, 2019

Hey bubba, tried to find it in your thread, but 150 pages makes it a bit difficult

What bulb combo and which SBreeflights' bar do you use on your T5 tank? 50/50 or actinic?

Thanks mate ;Bookworm

reef life · Feb 19, 2019

Hey Bubba, What size and type of return pump do you use on your frag tank?

Renton777 · Feb 20, 2019

Ah @bubbaque , you got me. I couldn't stop thinking about a Co2 scrubber. So, I used some of my frag swap proceeds and I got myself one and set it up last night

I got the Duo Jumbo one from BRS and boy it is big but I am hoping it will last a while between changes. I already saw some purple showing up this morning in the media. I am getting the plumbing to setup it up to draw the air in from the skimmer collection cup.

BigJohnny · Feb 20, 2019

blackizzz said:
Hey bubba, tried to find it in your thread, but 150 pages makes it a bit difficult [emoji14]

What bulb combo and which SBreeflights' bar do you use on your T5 tank? 50/50 or actinic?

Thanks mate ;Bookworm

You know there's a search function right?