Can you tell us more about the condition of the tank pre-application and have you considered whether the progress you are observing could be the result of other factors
It would be my pleasure to explain 'my journey' to you
I set up this tank 2 years ago, primarily to grow and appreciate
Acropora corals as well as to learn something new.
I decided, after much research and discussion to try GlennF's DSR method! I used Glenn's calculator to make my own salt water from scratch and started from there, incidently, I think Glenn's recipe is similar to Randy's,which I have attached here:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-11/rhf/index.php
Then I stopped the water changes and have not done one, other than to top up that which was lost to bagging of frags or when I had my 'troubles', which I will get to shortly.
After one year the frags, which had become colonies, as well as some original colonies saved from another tank had begun to grow out of the water
..then...I found AEFW!!!
To cut a long story short I had to remove all my sps corals and leave my tank fallow for 40 days, this is documented here:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/radical-new-treatment-for-aefw.209416/
I moved all my sps including montis to a separate holding tank, but eventually lost almost 90% of the colonies, I was able to save many little frags from almost all of my colonies.
During this time I dropped my Radion intensity and dosing in the DT and kept on going, I never shut it down, just rearranged the old rock and because I had the chance, added new (dead) rock to make another landscape.
I had no new cycle or none that I would call of any significance (tested continuously) and started adding frags back after ~50 days.
This was also my chance to get frags in, that are considered or at least by me to be, for "expert" level only
This system ran perfectly fine for 7 months,but as we are constantly tweaking to get the best growth or colour from our corals we decided to give the bubbles a go, after much research again.
The maintenance aspects are:
Liquid carbon dosing, vodka now, but before it was vinegar and glucose(might go back to that again,then switch back).
Addition of strontium
Potassium
Potassium iodide
Boron
Magnesium sulfate (occasionally,as my sulfate levels drop)
Sodium nitrate
Iron chelated with citrate
Aquavitro fuel for AA's and the microelements I miss dosing (another product I can't do without)
Aggressive GFO use, in the form of Rowaphos
A calcium reactor with dolomite to take care of the rest.
It has run like this, with all the additives for 7 months or one year and 7 months, depends on how you look at it
I know the growth rates and health of the corals I have in my tank, so when the bubbling started and I started seeing enhanced growth and vitality, I was shocked!!
In my experience, it takes a tank a good year or two
In my experience, 6 months, however, the tank, especially mine is always in flux
without changing much at all
a good test of the hypothesis would be to stop bubbling for a month record your observations that start again
Maybe, but your tank won't revert to being a cesspit if it was pristine to start with. I'm not saying your tank is anything other than wonderful
I also think once the corals have been stimulated to start growing they won't necessarily just stop,if all other conditions are being met
I did drop the hours I bubble, down by half and noticed after a few days a drop in vibrancy,this is hard to quantify, but those acro keepers now what I'm talking about.
I also see a little boost in growth 3-4 days after replacing my GFO
you didn't want to risk upsetting the acro cart, but science!
Too much to ask of me mate, when it's going well don't go there
However, others here are going down that road and I look forward to what they come up with
There in a nutshell,
Cheers
