Bubba's SPS Journey

RandyC · Mar 17, 2019

bubbaque said:
That was my worry about the brushed model. I wanted something quiet and with my brushless I can not even tell it’s on.

Have you checked out the kamoer pump? Seems to have decent reviews and the people I’ve seen use it have been happy with it. If it was available at the time I bought my pump I probably would of gave it a try.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/fx-stp-peristaltic-dosing-pump-kamoer.html

I have a couple of masterflex 7523-80 running and you can't even tell they're running at the speeds we typically use for a calcium reactor. I have to look at the pump head moving to know that it's on. They've been tanks for me too. Have one that's been running 24/7 for two years and the other for 1+ year.

Definitely offer a lower price on eBay for those auctions that accept them. Sellers are usually somewhat motivated. I've definitely gotten them much less than what the initial offering price was listed.

ankitgandre · Mar 19, 2019

What all you dose to get such great colors on acros? trace elements? aminos etc??

bubbaque · Mar 19, 2019

ankitgandre said:
What all you dose to get such great colors on acros? trace elements? aminos etc??

I don’t really dose anything. Every now and then I’ll try an amino but I never see any color change. I might get a little more polyp extension when I use it. Other than that I just feed my fish.

SneakyTortuga · Mar 19, 2019

bubbaque said:
I don’t really dose anything. Every now and then I’ll try an amino but I never see any color change. I might get a little more polyp extension when I use it. Other than that I just feed my fish.

Ever mess with the infamous acropower?

bubbaque · Mar 19, 2019

SneakyTortuga said:
Ever mess with the infamous acropower?

I did but I noticed nothing with it. When I was using Fuel I would notice my glass getting dirty pretty fast so I knew it was doing at least something.

Gablami · Mar 19, 2019

bubbaque said:
I did but I noticed nothing with it. When I was using Fuel I would notice my glass getting dirty pretty fast so I knew it was doing at least something.

I decided to give a fuel a try a couple months ago. My local LFS uses it, and I read a post from you maybe a year or two ago saying that you liked fuel (at that time).

Yes the glass needs to be cleaned more often, and I saw some cyano here and there. But my nutrients are lower and my chaeto not growing as robustly. I think it’s because of the carbon dosing effect of fuel. Not seeing that much of a coral difference though.

bubbaque · Mar 19, 2019

Gablami said:
I decided to give a fuel a try a couple months ago. My local LFS uses it, and I read a post from you maybe a year or two ago saying that you liked fuel (at that time).

Yes the glass needs to be cleaned more often, and I saw some cyano here and there. But my nutrients are lower and my chaeto not growing as robustly. I think it’s because of the carbon dosing effect of fuel. Not seeing that much of a coral difference though.

I still do like fuel but it’s not needed to have good color and growth. You will probably get more out of it if you have pale corals or don’t feed a ton.

I haven’t heard of any carbon dosing effect with it. What do you mean?

RandyC · Mar 19, 2019

I've tried acropower and Fuel. I think most of those that see a change run an ULNS. When I danced that fine (dangerous, IMO) line, I definitely saw a change with acropower, but doing the ULNS dance is not for the tepid. After I started being stable around the 2.5-5 nitrates and 0.04-0.08 phosphates, acropower and Fuel didn't have a noticeable effect for me. I for one don't ever want to do that dance again. It's stressful!

Gablami · Mar 19, 2019

bubbaque said:
I still do like fuel but it’s not needed to have good color and growth. You will probably get more out of it if you have pale corals or don’t feed a ton.

I haven’t heard of any carbon dosing effect with it. What do you mean?

The product had carbohydrates in it. I’m sure not as much as nopox or a similar product. So when using fuel you are dosing a carbon source.

I used to change my gfo probably every 3-4 weeks when po4 would rise to 0.1, but since using fuel I haven’t needed to change my gfo as much. It’s been probably 6 weeks since the last change and my po4 is at 0.02. I’m considering dosing fuel less since I don’t want my chaeto to die on me.

Jen_h · Mar 22, 2019

bubbaque said:
I made a thread a few months ago asking if anyone knew what this one was. I never got a definite answer on trade name or species. It's grown out a bit more so maybe someone can better answer it now. It's hard to capture it in a pic but on the very tip there is a bright blue polyp.

Wwc Sarmentosa maybe....

thaveteran · Mar 24, 2019

bubbaque said:
One of my favorites.

Hung's rainbow

How long have you had this piece?

hatfielj · Mar 24, 2019

Hey Bubba, sorry if this has been addressed multiple times (your thread is so long I can't find it!), but I'm setting up a new frag tank that's 48 x 24 x 12...I want to do LEDs (Radions) and 4 T5s. Would 2 XR15 pro fixtures be enough, or would you run 2 XR30 pros? Thanks! And your corals are looking better than ever!

bubbaque · Mar 24, 2019

thaveteran said:
How long have you had this piece?

I think about 4 months.

hatfielj said:
Hey Bubba, sorry if this has been addressed multiple times (your thread is so long I can't find it!), but I'm setting up a new frag tank that's 48 x 24 x 12...I want to do LEDs (Radions) and 4 T5s. Would 2 XR15 pro fixtures be enough, or would you run 2 XR30 pros? Thanks! And your corals are looking better than ever!

I personally do not think two would be enough for that size. My frag tank is similar in size (48 x 24 x 10) and I use three of the xr15's along with four t5's. If you go with the aquaticlife hybrid fixture it will have three mounts for the radions on the 48" size.

My lights are 16" off the water so keep that in mind if you are setting your tank up in a place where the lights being up so high will shine in your eyes if your relaxing on a couch or something. I do run my radions at 100% so you might be able to lower them if you turn the power down but I never tried that.

I remember your thread and it was awesome! I hope to see you start posting pictures again one day.

hatfielj · Mar 24, 2019

bubbaque said:
I think about 4 months.

I personally do not think two would be enough for that size. My frag tank is similar in size (48 x 24 x 10) and I use three of the xr15's along with four t5's. If you go with the aquaticlife hybrid fixture it will have three mounts for the radions on the 48" size.

My lights are 16" off the water so keep that in mind if you are setting your tank up in a place where the lights being up so high will shine in your eyes if your relaxing on a couch or something. I do run my radions at 100% so you might be able to lower them if you turn the power down but I never tried that.

I remember your thread and it was awesome! I hope to see you start posting pictures again one day.

Thanks! My main display has had all sorts of issues over the last 6 months or so. I lost a lot of pieces unfortunately. A lot had to do with alk spikes and unstable parameters I believe. I have a separate frag/grow out system now that I am going to focus on high end acros. My display is going to be more of a mixed reef now. I will be trying to document it with pics soon though.

29bonsaireef · Mar 24, 2019

Bubba, do you have "Flowers grow out of my grave" acro from BC? Thought I remembered reading it in your coral list a while back.. Would be interested to see it if you do. It's one of the best looking corals on his site imo, and haven't seen anyone else with it.

bubbaque · Mar 24, 2019

29bonsaireef said:
Bubba, do you have "Flowers grow out of my grave" acro from BC? Thought I remembered reading it in your coral list a while back.. Would be interested to see it if you do. It's one of the best looking corals on his site imo, and haven't seen anyone else with it.

I do. He let me know up front that it was going to be a tiny frag, so it’s taken a while to turn into something but it’s finally encrusted the whole plug. Mine is not as yellow as his yet but hopefully as it gets some size it turns just as nice.

Bps619 · Mar 24, 2019

bubbaque said:
I do. He let me know up front that it was going to be a tiny frag, so it’s taken a while to turn into something but it’s finally encrusted the whole plug. Mine is not as yellow as his yet but hopefully as it gets some size it turns just as nice.

no picture, no proof. Just Kidding! dont mind me, im just patiently waiting for the next photo to be posted.