I own Reef2Reef and I am coming clean....

ReeferBen · Dec 19, 2015

Rev FWIW I have been in the hobby since the mid 90's and feel like my best tanks are behind me. Although I know what my problems are. For me I have taken up a lot of new interest. In the winter I am skiing whenever possible and in the summer I am out with my teen aged son on dirtbikes/4wheelers. With that comes all the maintenance and lots of time away from the tank. It doesn't give me the time to really be in sync with my tank all the time. When I spend more time with my system I get a better feel for everything and time has been hard to come by lately. I had to come to realize I would be better off with some amazing fish, softies, lps, clams, and very little easier sps. There are some really nice tanks with some basic corals, some times looking back at my old systems reminds me of how nice my tank looked with out having the craziest set up.

When I ran a ULNS system my SPS thrived, but the LPS didnt do nearly as well. I fed the tank and always had a nice fish load, but the LPS really didn't flourish. When I target fed them, things turned around. I think in a ULNS target feeding the LPS becomes more important.

Sabellafella · Dec 22, 2015

Rev Look into this, im not one to add polymers or chemicals to my tanks only because i just dont feel comfyy about it but i grabbed this is the mail yesterday nd ive tryd it before because of my maganese and rusting mp40 magnet issue, regardless if its the issue at hand or not i swear by this stuff being the master qt/metal eliminator nd its very very good to have on hand, beware there is absolutly no reviews on this stuff other then macna nd it wasnt even supposed to be in the aquarium trade

Sabellafella · Dec 22, 2015

l8_apex_it · Jan 3, 2016

I'm in the same boat! I've had a reef tank since 1996. While I've never had a Tank of The Month (or remotely close), I''ve had better days. I just can't get my corals to grow. Using a controller, keeping things more stable, better lighting, refugium with cheato (not growing)...

I'm convinced I am keeping my water to clean. I no longer believe what others say about no problems with over-skimming! In fact I'm dosing KNO3 to increase my Nitrates. I'm also at a point where I am sending a test sample into Triton instead of beating my head against a wall. Hopefully I can find something to point me in the right direction!

scardall · Jan 3, 2016

a starving coral looks great and a fat and sassy not so much,but grows. This was in so many words interesting as far as opinions go. So I'm going to try to find a happy median or maybe just alternate between .05 and .14ppm PO4 and NO3 5ppm to 20ppm. 3rd option if the corals look good visually then test less often and see. IMO I have alot to learn here

melev · Jan 3, 2016

David, I just finished reading your thread. It was mentioned once about checking for stray electricity, which was my first thought. I also believe hobbyists fear feeding their tanks because they want low PO4 and No3. The high end equipment allows you to feed more heavily, so perhaps being a little more liberal in that area will help.

When do you get the Triton report back?

timkenagy · Jan 5, 2016

revhtree said:

It's not even that bad!

reef life · Jan 6, 2016

I seem to know what Rev's experiencing. I also had my system where I could buy dying chalice or corals and revive all corals back to colonies. I am going back to what used to work for me. I'm adding rock a little at a time. I removed lots of rock over the last few years to make a neat looking aquascape and still dont have the Holy Water yet. LOL. Will post results with more Rock in future.

revhtree · Jan 6, 2016

Tank seems to be doing better. I have seen some lps that were receding stop and start to grow again. I turned off the GFO for now and removed a Magnet cleaner from the glass that I always kept in place. I received my Triton kit to send in the test sample but I haven't sent it yet. I will be doing it come Monday.