Good morning Randy, so a question on this topic. With the idea in mind that it may/may not effect trace elements, what would your recommendation be on the usage of a UV sterilizer? I have always left mine on 24/7, but if periodically leaving off would be more beneficial than not, I am certainly willing to give it a go.
THank you, I never thought about this from that perspective, but it makes absolute sense to me.
After starting Reef Moonshiners in January and increasing dosing each month by 50-100% I ended up adding 15-30 mls daily of numerous elements to my 135g system due to continued low levels. After following Andres' advice and turning off my UV, as well as removing cheato and adding zeolite last month, cobalt, iron, nickel and barium skyrocketed. Manganese is the sole element remaining low despite heavy dosing. His suggestions have certainly proved beneficial but I'd like to better understand the process. Don't get the purpose of zeolite either as it's not for nutrient reduction. btw I also carbon dose with vinegar!
What's puzzling to me is that tons of reefers use UV. Plus algae reactors and such commonly in use would seem more aggressive than my ball of chaeto. It's hard to argue with empirical results however, and the actions of UV and chaeto removal, possibly combined with something zeolite brought to the table seems to have led to dramatic effects in my system.
I have a large uv (largest I could get) 120 watt. I have manufacturer recommended flow through at 1100 gph for treating parasites. I dose trace elements (Right now using Prodibio Coral colors trace elements). I'm also dosing manganese and chaetogrow as I have an algae turf scrubber and it lets me know when I ran out of something as the algae all bleaches out white on the screen. That said, between using chaetogrow and trace element dosing I have no issues growing macro algae in the turf scrubber, using the UV, and dosing trace elements for corals. I keep tons of SPS - acropora, monticap, cyphastrea, tons of hammers and frog spawn, all growing crazily, and I have some orange yuma and I have BTAs, that also reproduce and grow big relatively rapidly (seem happy not angry). I feed heavily as well, 10+ cubes of food per day + a sheet of nori.
My issues were with chronically low element levels so any trace elements in food would only help. You say your tank is doing great so I wouldn't be concerned about trace element levels but have you ever actually tested them? I've been using Oceamo MS tests since starting Reef Moonshiners in January and it's one of very few companies who's equipment measures very low levels of several trace elements.
I dose manganese based on Randy's feedback that most algaes consume manganese rapidly and I've got gonipora. 2 4-5" Colonies. One Red and one white, and an Alveopora colony that's growing by the day. I want to make sure they have enough manganese.
