How often do you feed your tank?

[oceanparadise1]

Yea i totally agree with that, but thats all i add and its been 1 year(knock on wood) with no real problems at all

 

[EliteReefs]

Yea i totally agree with that, but thats all i add and its been 1 year(knock on wood) with no real problems at all

great. and if i recall right your system is very simple. HOB filters no sump or anything right?
i think that was you anyhow

 

[oceanparadise1]

yup i have a HOB fuge a HOB skimmer 4 k1s and thats it and its been nothing but good so far

 

[EliteReefs]

yup i have a HOB fuge a HOB skimmer 4 k1s and thats it and its been nothing but good so far

my very first system years ago was just like that. i had a biowheel hob filter. the big dual version. a aqua c remora HOB skimmer<--- great skimmer for any system even today.
and regular tube lights. i crammed 8 20 watts bulbs on that thing lol. tank was fine for more then two years.

now i will say that things improved 100% for the better once i added a sump fuge MH lighting and a better skimmer.

i feel the only thing you should have for a great tank is high quality lighting, good skimmer, a sump and a fuge, and good flow control. (maybe a ca reactor if sps dominate tank. everything other then is complicating things IMO.

if you have less then this the only thing I find is different is the system needs more tending to but it can be done

 

[oceanparadise1]

i am using the aqua c lol, i have a bigger tank and sump and fuge and everything but im waiting till i move into my house in october to set it up, just got it a month ago and seeing as im moving no point in setting it up for what 3 months? so i have to wait, as hard as it is i will manage

 

[EliteReefs]

i am using the aqua c lol, i have a bigger tank and sump and fuge and everything but im waiting till i move into my house in october to set it up, just got it a month ago and seeing as im moving no point in setting it up for what 3 months? so i have to wait, as hard as it is i will manage

cool. you will love the new level of ease you will have with your tank. be sure to hit me up when you set up your new tank and i can shoot ya a few frags to help get ya started

 

[oceanparadise1]

O MAN!!! thanks bro thats awsome ill def hold ya to that

 

[EliteReefs]

O MAN!!! thanks bro thats awsome ill def hold ya to that

no problem at all. you know where to find me

 

[oceanparadise1]

thanks man, that is just one reason i love this site the most, people here are a different kinda breed(in a GREAT WAY guys relax LOL )

 

[oceanparadise1]

everyone keeps voting but no more post?!?!? come on guys after you vote explain!

 

[Reef Goddess]

I feed my fish about 3-4 times per day pellets and frozen food. Our corals get what's left over and my husband uses reefbooster.

 

[oceanparadise1]

u dont see any spikes with that much feeding? Im thinking i should feed more then once a day just bc my fish always seem hungry lol

 

[robharold]

What is reefbooster?

 

[oceanparadise1]

i was wondering the same ting

 

[Reef Goddess]

chemistry and stuff....

Here, this is taken out of context from an email to someone that was asking us what kind of chemicals/additives we use in our tanks. I asked my husband to make an article out of it, but he hasn't had time. He handles all the reef chemistry and complex stuff like that, I'm just a simple farmer. ;p

Hi, Johnny here. I'm the mad scientist behind the scenes. In our systems, we use Prodibio's Bioptim and Biodigest to keep an ultra low nutrient system. The Biodigest is the vial with the numerous strains of bacteria that are packed in nitrogen alive. The Bioptim is the carbon source. The bacteria will consume waste until they run out of carbon, hence the addition of carbon via Bioptim to bring nitrates and phosphates to zero. Some poeple use vinegar, some sugar, some use vodka as the carbon source. I like Bioptim because it's a more refined product, more likely to give me repeated results.

The Zeovit system uses a 4 chemical approach to achieve the same. Both systems will bring nutrients levels SO low, that corals will eventually become washed out.


In come the various additives: Prodibio's ReefBooster; a formula of fatty acids and food for corals and inverts. Zeovit's Coral Vital aids in polyp extension, ammino acids for accelerated tissue growth.

For color tweaking try: PIF, K-Balance, B-Balance.

Sponge Power wont do squat for your sponges but it gives your acros much longer, brighter growing tips .

We still skim the heck out of the water with DAS, H&S, EuroReef, and Deltec Skimmers.

We use Tunze/Korallia propeller pumps. On our customer's 800gal tank, we use (2) waveboxes in addition to other 6200 Tunze's.

On our grow out tanks, we use Deltec and Aquamedic kalkwasser stirrers supplied by Liter Meter 3's. All evaporation water goes through the kalk Rx's. We use 5 stage RO/DI filter and two part additives as needed.

We dose Magnesium Sulfate to keep levels above 1250.

Calcium is kept at 400plus.
Alkalinity 3.5 meq/L

We have a trigger, a lionfish, a myriad of tangs, wrasses, and we feed heavily. We try to keep nitrates below 20ppms even with all the ReefBooster and feedings to the lion and trigger.

We run Prodibio in both bare bottom and tanks with sandbeds. The tank with sandbed runs with zero nitrates.

Water changes are about 10 percent monthly, aimed at vacuuming detritus from the bare-bottom systems and the sumps.

Lighting ranges from Iwasaki 14K 175watts, Reeflux 14K 400 watts, Phoenix 250watts double ended. I try to match the best performing combination of ballast-bulb-reflectors. I use IceCap, PFO HQI ballats.

We have some t5's on our holding tanks, but really prefer MH's because they cover more area while occupying less space above the tanks. Since we have our hands inside the tanks so much, access is extremely important. A blanket of T5 bulbs really hinders access into the tanks making husbandry difficult and therefore less frequent.

We use Lumen Max and Lumen Bright reflectors to cover a 2.5 x 2.5' or 3 x 3' area using a single bulb. Our prop tanks are 14" tall max. Some are 8" tall.

 

[oceanparadise1]

awsome read thanks for the info!

 

[dan10342]

i feed my occelaris clown once a week. its been like that for over a year now, so dont tell me he's under fed. the end. oh, and that red flake algea i used to have in the 55, was fueled by overfeeding.

 

[aquarius77]

I feed my fish about 4 times a week and i dont directly feed my corals anything. I also use algae for my yellow tang a few times a week.

I used to dump this that and the other in the tank trying to feed every possible coral fish and invert in there but all it got me was brown corals, a violent case of algae and nutrient laden rock. None the less if i see something that i think is going to starve ill surly feed it. Im far from low nutrient still so ive not seen anything going downhill, i think ill be able to tell when and if the time comes.