Diving The World's 80g Acro Wonderland!

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DivingTheWorld said:
I don’t have any videos, but I should maybe do one at some point. You are correct on my flow. I run my MP40s at 90% Reefcrest Anti-synch 24/7. I did try adding a 3rd MP40 a while back and my acros didn’t like the additional flow and Alk shot up. I think every tank has its sweet spot.
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I would definitely be interested in a video to see the flow. I am trying to find my sweet spot in the tank now that I am getting colonies without it being too rough too.
 
Orphek OR3 reef aquarium LED bar
BC Miss Scarlet

100.JPG
 
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Yes, it has green at the base. It's a nice coral, kind a poor man's Vivid's Confetti. The colors are much better than the pics on the BC site.
 
happyhourhero said:
How well does yours grow? Mine is pretty slow
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It definitely started slow, but it's beginning to speed up. I have it mounted on the end of the tank right at the edge of my T5's so not as much light as most of my acros get. That hasn't helped with growth!
 
I find that new users of T5s often post asking when they should change out their bulbs. While I can’t really answer that, I can tell you how and what interval I change out mine. I’m actually in the middle of a change out right now!

I change mine out every 6 months. Many people will probably say, “You’re crazy!”. Perhaps, but to me my acros are worth a few extra bucks in up keep. At a 6 month interval I’m guaranteed minimal PAR drop and a more fluid replacement.

The way I change mine is all at once. I swap out all bulbs during my lights off period. I then reduce my lighting period (T5 only) to 1/2. I then add back one hour of lighting every 3 days. I do not do any dimming.

One thing that can get very tricky when doing this is Alk. Luckily I have an Alkatronic so it’s giving me readings every 6 hours. But in general, I drop my dosing by about 1/4, then gradually raise it back up and manually dose if necessary.
 
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Excellent pics, super tank and great collection so far ! Really enjoyed the thread to this point , keep up the sick work!
 
So back in post #10, I outlined my dosing of Vibrant to take care of Bubble Algae. I had it BAD and Vibrant worked great to erradicate it from my tank with little to no affect on corals. But after around a year, I started seeing a few bubbles growing in the cracks and crevices, so decided to dose it again. Were the few bubbles an issue? No, but I suffer from tank perfectionism syndrome...

Anyways, I followed the same dosing procedure I used before (although sped up the transition from once a week to every 3 days) and again it wasn't until I got to dosing every 3 days that the Bubble Algae disappeared. I started dosing on 02/08/2020 and completed my final dose on 03/12/2020.

This time my acros were exponentially larger than last time and I did notice some issues with certain acros. A few of my acros are more sensitive and I consider them indicators. Battlecorals Snipers Blue and JF Fox Flame both became annoyed by the end of dosing, showing some burnt tips and discoloration/lightening. I again saw annoyance in my BBEB Zoas. The rest of my corals all seemed to fare well.

What caused the acros to be annoyed this time? My personal opinion is the erratic Alk, especially during the latter part of dosing. While dosing Vibrant I saw my Alk/Cal consumption plummet, especially near the end of dosing. My theory is that in addition to the acros consuming less, the Vibrant also targets coraline algae which my tank is LOADED with. So as coraline was dying, it was consuming less Alk/Cal which further exasperated the issue. I did monitor Alk very closely during dosing and it was super helpful to now be running the Alkatronic and testing 4 times per day. Another possible issue is my speeding up of the dosing. Last time I SLOWLY transitioned over 2-3 months. This time I did the whole thing in one month!

So for those thinking to use Vibrant in their tanks, my big thumbs up moves to more of a cautionary thumbs up. I think if you have relatively few acros and coraline in your tank it should work great. If you have a very seasoned tank filled with acros and coraline, you need to be very cautious and test Alk often. Also, up the dosing SLOWLY over time and don't rush it.

But yes, it works. And it's the only thing I've found that works for Bubble Algae.
 
WWC
I believe it whole dosing vibrant my corals were mad because of the bottoming out of phosphates I have an all monitor so I was steady but still had the same problem
 
Some reefers like to keep their "secret sauce" for what they dose and what they keep their parameters at. I'm an open book. I use the KISS principal and don't dose anything other than Cal/Alk. I have enough fish to keep Nitrates/Phosphates where I want them and run a little bit of HC GFO & Rox 0.8 Carbon to keep the water polished and help maintain even phosphates. So what are my parameters? Here's what I shoot for (x) as well as what my test results were yesterday. I try to do my full range of tests each Saturday (sometimes I get lazy...). Lately I've been testing Iodine, mostly to verify what my water changes (10%, once per week IO) are keeping it at. I don't dose it.

Ammonia 0.0
Nitrite 0.00
Nitrate 5 (5)
Phosphate 0.0184 (0.03)
Calcium 400 (400)
Alkalinity 7.336 (7.3)
Magnesium 1395 (1400)
Salinity 1.0263 (1.0264)
pH 7.9 (tested in the morning before lights on, ranged 7.86-8.17)
Iodine 0.04 (0.05)
 
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