Scdell
Valuable Member
- Joined
- May 31, 2017
- Messages
- 1,930
- Reaction score
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- What state or country do you live in
- North Carolina
Here I am 3 1\2 years into a reef tank. What a trip this has been!
First of all I did have a tank back in the 80's. That was awful. It amazes me how little we knew back then.
We used to buy dead coral just for decoration. Colored ones were worth what people spend on frags these days.
Bio balls, laminar flow powerheads, filter floss, undergravel filters, VHO compact florescents. And so many other
"state of the art" equipment. The good tanks had MH, but the reef overheated like mad.
I finally had to get out as I hit a bad spot in life financially
But I always had the bug.
I found a 150 gallon tall tank on Letgo for $50, brought it home. Surprise! It held water.
Off on my journey I went!
I made a stand, I made a sump (which ended up leaking about six months later)
I bought a bunch of cheaper stuff I thought would be fine. Some new, some used here on R2R.
I was on my way, I was going to have a bunch of sticks growing, maybe sell some frags to pay for my hobby. Hah!
As I bought frags and watched them die, some within a few days, some I managed to keep alive for months????
I became the master of RTN. I really got good at it
.
I never lost my enthusiasm. I tried and tried and tried. Spent some God awful money trying.
Until about 6 months ago. I couldn't keep a stick alive.
Actually that's not totally true as I do have some sticks that managed to stay with me for a few years now. Not happy ones by any means.
Sometimes they would be happy, but most of the time just hanging on. God b!ess those resilient little buggers!
They are the ones that kept me going. But something was going on I couldn't quite figure out.
New frags never survived long. Yep that RTN thing I mastered. The frags I had would pale out.
I read and I read and I read some more.
Lighting was too strong, lighting was too weak. Flow was too strong, flow was too weak. Etc, etc, etc
It had to be something! My Alk was fine, salinty fine, calcium fine.All my parameters were pretty good except for N&P are a little high. So I started focusing on that.
All to no avail. I was destined to be the world's champion of RTN
A few weeks ago I turned things around for the better, way better.
I sent out an ICP test. I was drastically low on quite a few elements!. Even doing water changes every two weeks.
But that's not all of it.
I learned that chasing #'s isn't all that important. Yes you need certain parameters to be in check. But there's more to it.
Everyone talks about stability and this is so. But everyone focuses on only certain things like clacium, DKH, magnesium and Nitrate/Phosphate.
Calcium, Dkh and magnesium are important, but they can fluctuate without real detriment as long as they don't fluctuate drastically.
N&P. People worry way too much about these. There'stoo much focus on ULN. Reefs can do alright with higher #'s as long as their not too high.
Everyone preaches stability and they are right. Stability goes further than C, DKH, mag and N&P.
Elements are key to stability and one more thing I feel is most important.
Bacterial balance.
This is the real key to success. All living things depend on bacteria for survival. Good bacteria, bad bacteria. The key is keeping them balanced.
Every thing you throw at the reef affects the bacterial balance. Gfo, carbon dosing, Vibrant ( I used that once. It took 6 months or better for the bacterial system to adjust) etc.
Every one wants a quick fix for things so they throw anything and every thing at the reef to fix the problem. All these things affect the bacterial balance which could take months to adjust to and cause many other problems along the way. Heck, I've had hair algae you need a weed whacker to cut!
There's an old saying that nothing comes quick except for bad things in a reef tank. That's the bacterial system. It takes time to get that balanced.
A good bacterial system will help with N&p. It'll help with your fishes health, coral health, even ich and other diseases.
It IS the key to a healthy reef! It IS the key to our health! And bacteria need all the key elements to survive.
Do an ICP test. It's about $50. How much do you spend on those corals and equipment?
First of all I did have a tank back in the 80's. That was awful. It amazes me how little we knew back then.
We used to buy dead coral just for decoration. Colored ones were worth what people spend on frags these days.
Bio balls, laminar flow powerheads, filter floss, undergravel filters, VHO compact florescents. And so many other
"state of the art" equipment. The good tanks had MH, but the reef overheated like mad.
I finally had to get out as I hit a bad spot in life financially
But I always had the bug.
I found a 150 gallon tall tank on Letgo for $50, brought it home. Surprise! It held water.
Off on my journey I went!
I made a stand, I made a sump (which ended up leaking about six months later)
I bought a bunch of cheaper stuff I thought would be fine. Some new, some used here on R2R.
I was on my way, I was going to have a bunch of sticks growing, maybe sell some frags to pay for my hobby. Hah!
As I bought frags and watched them die, some within a few days, some I managed to keep alive for months????
I became the master of RTN. I really got good at it
.I never lost my enthusiasm. I tried and tried and tried. Spent some God awful money trying.
Until about 6 months ago. I couldn't keep a stick alive.
Actually that's not totally true as I do have some sticks that managed to stay with me for a few years now. Not happy ones by any means.
Sometimes they would be happy, but most of the time just hanging on. God b!ess those resilient little buggers!
They are the ones that kept me going. But something was going on I couldn't quite figure out.
New frags never survived long. Yep that RTN thing I mastered. The frags I had would pale out.
I read and I read and I read some more.
Lighting was too strong, lighting was too weak. Flow was too strong, flow was too weak. Etc, etc, etc
It had to be something! My Alk was fine, salinty fine, calcium fine.All my parameters were pretty good except for N&P are a little high. So I started focusing on that.
All to no avail. I was destined to be the world's champion of RTN
A few weeks ago I turned things around for the better, way better.
I sent out an ICP test. I was drastically low on quite a few elements!. Even doing water changes every two weeks.
But that's not all of it.
I learned that chasing #'s isn't all that important. Yes you need certain parameters to be in check. But there's more to it.
Everyone talks about stability and this is so. But everyone focuses on only certain things like clacium, DKH, magnesium and Nitrate/Phosphate.
Calcium, Dkh and magnesium are important, but they can fluctuate without real detriment as long as they don't fluctuate drastically.
N&P. People worry way too much about these. There'stoo much focus on ULN. Reefs can do alright with higher #'s as long as their not too high.
Everyone preaches stability and they are right. Stability goes further than C, DKH, mag and N&P.
Elements are key to stability and one more thing I feel is most important.
Bacterial balance.
This is the real key to success. All living things depend on bacteria for survival. Good bacteria, bad bacteria. The key is keeping them balanced.
Every thing you throw at the reef affects the bacterial balance. Gfo, carbon dosing, Vibrant ( I used that once. It took 6 months or better for the bacterial system to adjust) etc.
Every one wants a quick fix for things so they throw anything and every thing at the reef to fix the problem. All these things affect the bacterial balance which could take months to adjust to and cause many other problems along the way. Heck, I've had hair algae you need a weed whacker to cut!
There's an old saying that nothing comes quick except for bad things in a reef tank. That's the bacterial system. It takes time to get that balanced.
A good bacterial system will help with N&p. It'll help with your fishes health, coral health, even ich and other diseases.
It IS the key to a healthy reef! It IS the key to our health! And bacteria need all the key elements to survive.
Do an ICP test. It's about $50. How much do you spend on those corals and equipment?
I've gotten my beliefs on barium and Rubidium not being helpful elements from Randy Holmes Farley (our resident reef chemist). I can find some posts on the subject from him if you'd like. Otherwise keep on keepin on and good luck with your reef
