Perry's 90 Gallon Acro Dominant Bommie

[BranchingHammer]

Did a side shot today, as it seems some corals are not shown often, like the montis bottom left, check out the Chilli pepper monti and Nauti Spiral totally growing on each other, Chilli pepper winning this war. If you look close enough, that red monti plate is actually purple and red grafted, very cool piece
This week I broke 20ppm for N03, 17.7ppm!!! P04 continues to stay put, at 0.08-.12ppm, so that is actually perfect. This has been a long road from some close calls with smoothies, they didn't like 80ppm n03, nor did they like red bugs. That said, water changes have gotten me there. I did several weeks at 20 gallons a week, last 2 weeks at 15 gallons. I will continue at 15 gallons until I reach 10ppm. There, I will begin 10 gallons weekly to offset any rise.
I have now moved to a more simplistic way of reefing, I feel that I am getting close to a balanced, happy reef, no carbon or bacteria, no zeolites, and no amino acids. I do run passive carbon, but that's it. I feed the same foods daily very heavy, LRS quarter size chunk, and 2 hikari mysis cubes. I disable return pump and skimmer, and let all the food stay in the tank for 30 minutes. Many mouths to feed on the reef, corals need it too

That side view is awesome! Sounds like we have a really similar approach to reefing. Keeping it simple seems to work for me, but I also use auto water changes, which I think help.

 

[Perry]

I’m so jealous of your rich, deep coloration! I’m having a hard time maintaining nutrients as I think bubble algae is sucking it all up. Maybe I need to shut off skimmer and return pump during feeding for a week and see what happens.

Thank you kindly!!!
The thought is that the tank should be equipped with enough life to break down the food. Having food trapped in sponges, filter rollers/socks, to me makes zero sense. I also don't rinse foods either, that chum is enjoyed by many animals from micro up to fish. This is why I love sand I have quite a clean up crew, but everything serves its purpose in breaking the foods down. So once the system is turned back on, the food is gone, water clear, and then the skimmer goes nuts, then returns to normal skim. Heavy in, heavy out

 

[Perry]

That side view is awesome! Sounds like we have a really similar approach to reefing. Keeping it simple seems to work for me, but I also use auto water changes, which I think help.

Thank you so much!
I have always, and I mean always been into the cutting edge systems for advanced ULN. This tank has been through a lot, and finally, I feel like its balancing, and simplicity is truly getting things looking good. Corals, despite everything have maintained health and color, but rocks not so much. Frankly, I decided to go back to my old skimmer, and let it do the work, and man it's a power house AF salts are batch tested with ICP, they are well balanced near nsw values, and balanced with trace as well. No need to supplement with larger water changes Also nice to constantly refresh your water, some may not agree, but many ways to do this, lol.
Cheers

 

[Mellotang]

That arc eye hawk though!!

keep Doing what your doing!

 

[Perry]

That arc eye hawk though!!

keep Doing what your doing!

Thank you very kindly!!!
That arc eye is tempermental, to put it nicely If I skip a day feeding, other fish get stressed, so I feed a bit heavy. I am likely going to try for 2 feeds per day. I really need to add more fish, just have to add those that are not going to put up with my angry fella, lol...

 

[Mellotang]

When’s the last time you changed RO membrane?

 

[Perry]

When’s the last time you changed RO membrane?

Probably a month ago.

 

[BranchingHammer]

Probably a month ago.

How often are you supposed to change them? Every two years? Because I haven't changed mine in more than two years and feel like I should change it soon...

 

[Perry]

How often are you supposed to change them? Every two years? Because I haven't changed mine in more than two years and feel like I should change it soon...

I change it at 10ppm tds. I probably change 2 to 3 times per year. I also tee off my RO and run 1 line to DI pass, and the other theough a remineralization pass for drinking. After 8 tds, I usually start blowing through DI resin, so that gets me time to get another.

 

[BranchingHammer]

I change it at 10ppm tds. I probably change 2 to 3 times per year. I also tee off my RO and run 1 line to DI pass, and the other theough a remineralization pass for drinking. After 8 tds, I usually start blowing through DI resin, so that gets me time to get another.

Thanks for the tip. I'll have to check the tds of my effluent out of the RO membrane and see where I stand.

 

[Perry]

Thanks for the tip. I'll have to check the tds of my effluent out of the RO membrane and see where I stand.

You can pick up a 3 channel inline TDS meter fairly inexpensive, but useful informaton. I test incoming from home/municipality, then RO, then DI. I usually see 150-180 TDS inbound. Really not bad water, when I lived on the beachside in Ormond Beach(peninsula), I saw double the rating. I went through RO membranes in a couple months, DI like every 3 weeks, making a lot less water.
So the inbound info can be useful like that

 

[Rick5]

Did a side shot today, as it seems some corals are not shown often, like the montis bottom left, check out the Chilli pepper monti and Nauti Spiral totally growing on each other, Chilli pepper winning this war. If you look close enough, that red monti plate is actually purple and red grafted, very cool piece
This week I broke 20ppm for N03, 17.7ppm!!! P04 continues to stay put, at 0.08-.12ppm, so that is actually perfect. This has been a long road from some close calls with smoothies, they didn't like 80ppm n03, nor did they like red bugs. That said, water changes have gotten me there. I did several weeks at 20 gallons a week, last 2 weeks at 15 gallons. I will continue at 15 gallons until I reach 10ppm. There, I will begin 10 gallons weekly to offset any rise.
I have now moved to a more simplistic way of reefing, I feel that I am getting close to a balanced, happy reef, no carbon or bacteria, no zeolites, and no amino acids. I do run passive carbon, but that's it. I feed the same foods daily very heavy, LRS quarter size chunk, and 2 hikari mysis cubes. I disable return pump and skimmer, and let all the food stay in the tank for 30 minutes. Many mouths to feed on the reef, corals need it too

@Perry - The richness and depth of those colors are great!

 

[drawman]

Did a side shot today, as it seems some corals are not shown often, like the montis bottom left, check out the Chilli pepper monti and Nauti Spiral totally growing on each other, Chilli pepper winning this war. If you look close enough, that red monti plate is actually purple and red grafted, very cool piece
This week I broke 20ppm for N03, 17.7ppm!!! P04 continues to stay put, at 0.08-.12ppm, so that is actually perfect. This has been a long road from some close calls with smoothies, they didn't like 80ppm n03, nor did they like red bugs. That said, water changes have gotten me there. I did several weeks at 20 gallons a week, last 2 weeks at 15 gallons. I will continue at 15 gallons until I reach 10ppm. There, I will begin 10 gallons weekly to offset any rise.
I have now moved to a more simplistic way of reefing, I feel that I am getting close to a balanced, happy reef, no carbon or bacteria, no zeolites, and no amino acids. I do run passive carbon, but that's it. I feed the same foods daily very heavy, LRS quarter size chunk, and 2 hikari mysis cubes. I disable return pump and skimmer, and let all the food stay in the tank for 30 minutes. Many mouths to feed on the reef, corals need it too

Is feeding alone keeping your PO4 up Perry? Love those numbers and love the colors your getting from them great work!

 

[Perry]

@Perry - The richness and depth of those colors are great!

Thank you Rick!!!
I am quite happy with the deeper saturation, I used to try and push to more pastel, but the overall system seems happier

 

[Perry]

Is feeding alone keeping your PO4 up Perry? Love those numbers and love the colors your getting from them great work!

Hey Tim, thanks for the kind words brother!
My P04 has been quite stable for a long time,.08-.14
N03 has been steady lowered over 8 weeks or so. I finally got tired of seeing the funkiness associated with carbon/bacteria dosing. Corals looked great, but the rocks would be continuous with some sort funk. I noticed that when I did a water change of significance, that the tank looked better, and despite my natural instincts, I decided to just let the tank run basic, no bacteria. Each week, it just kept getting better, finally some cyano is heading out, without intervention. That said, the corals have deppened in color, my pink milli is so hot pink, it's ridiculous But yeah, I don't do anything to lower P04 or N03, outside of water changes. I feed quite heavy, so that holds P04 steady as a rock ..

 

[branbray07]

Wow Perry Seems every time i check the thread out , the tank looks even better. Shows that we dont need all the fancy potions that are sold nowdays.

 

[Perry]

Wow Perry Seems every time i check the thread out , the tank looks even better. Shows that we dont need all the fancy potions that are sold nowdays.

Hello,
Thank you very much for the kind words! I would like to see more hobbyists understand observation, and what that means to this particular part of the hobby. My goal is to be connected to my tank, for that, I actually prefer less than more. Things can really get overcomplicated, if you let them. I believe that monitoring, controlling, and automation is the opposite of my specific goals, and for that, a total waste of money. I would rather spend 1G on a coral, than a monitor for example. Also, this tank has never been ICP tested, even in the past when offered free ICP from AF, I declined. Why? Too much info, too many wild goose chases to be had. PAR? To me, a total waste of time. If you know how to observe corals, then start low, work up, as far as LED. For halide and t5, start 12" above the tank, and slowly move the light down as corals get happy. SIMPLE! Trace? Again, I see people dumping that stuff in, when they are barely pulling Alk, CA, and MG. Trace is utilized fractionally to be main minerals, so again, overdosing leading to other issues. Alk monitoring and a belief that stability is 100% a deal breaker, I call B.S. I remember a buddy of mine with a full blown clam and acro reef, back in 2006, dosing main minerals whenever thing looked a bit off, and that was a thriving reef, no testing....lol....
You see, too many putting themselves in debt, and over their head, before the first coral is in the tank, and we wonder why so many coral death threads....hmmm.... Watch Reef Beef, they give the best advice I have seen, non filtered, real info that questions the industry, who after all, wants to be in your pocket...

 

[chipchipbro]

Hello,
Thank you very much for the kind words! I would like to see more hobbyists understand observation, and what that means to this particular part of the hobby. My goal is to be connected to my tank, for that, I actually prefer less than more. Things can really get overcomplicated, if you let them. I believe that monitoring, controlling, and automation is the opposite of my specific goals, and for that, a total waste of money. I would rather spend 1G on a coral, than a monitor for example. Also, this tank has never been ICP tested, even in the past when offered free ICP from AF, I declined. Why? Too much info, too many wild goose chases to be had. PAR? To me, a total waste of time. If you know how to observe corals, then start low, work up, as far as LED. For halide and t5, start 12" above the tank, and slowly move the light down as corals get happy. SIMPLE! Trace? Again, I see people dumping that stuff in, when they are barely pulling Alk, CA, and MG. Trace is utilized fractionally to be main minerals, so again, overdosing leading to other issues. Alk monitoring and a belief that stability is 100% a deal breaker, I call B.S. I remember a buddy of mine with a full blown clam and acro reef, back in 2006, dosing main minerals whenever thing looked a bit off, and that was a thriving reef, no testing....lol....
You see, too many putting themselves in debt, and over their head, before the first coral is in the tank, and we wonder why so many coral death threads....hmmm.... Watch Reef Beef, they give the best advice I have seen, non filtered, real info that questions the industry, who after all, wants to be in your pocket...

I do 100% agree! KISS is the best thing you can do

 

[dwest]

Hello,
Thank you very much for the kind words! I would like to see more hobbyists understand observation, and what that means to this particular part of the hobby. My goal is to be connected to my tank, for that, I actually prefer less than more. Things can really get overcomplicated, if you let them. I believe that monitoring, controlling, and automation is the opposite of my specific goals, and for that, a total waste of money. I would rather spend 1G on a coral, than a monitor for example. Also, this tank has never been ICP tested, even in the past when offered free ICP from AF, I declined. Why? Too much info, too many wild goose chases to be had. PAR? To me, a total waste of time. If you know how to observe corals, then start low, work up, as far as LED. For halide and t5, start 12" above the tank, and slowly move the light down as corals get happy. SIMPLE! Trace? Again, I see people dumping that stuff in, when they are barely pulling Alk, CA, and MG. Trace is utilized fractionally to be main minerals, so again, overdosing leading to other issues. Alk monitoring and a belief that stability is 100% a deal breaker, I call B.S. I remember a buddy of mine with a full blown clam and acro reef, back in 2006, dosing main minerals whenever thing looked a bit off, and that was a thriving reef, no testing....lol....
You see, too many putting themselves in debt, and over their head, before the first coral is in the tank, and we wonder why so many coral death threads....hmmm.... Watch Reef Beef, they give the best advice I have seen, non filtered, real info that questions the industry, who after all, wants to be in your pocket...

Hi Perry. Your corals are amazing and I have read much (probably all) of this thread. I have a question for you.

I’ve been reefing for a long time. My current 180 gallon was slowly rising in nitrates (getting close to 50 ppm) and phosphates (rising above 0.3 ppm). So, for the first time, I started carbon dosing. After 6 months or so nutrients have stopped rising and have dropped a bit. Other than AWC and Ca and alkalinity control, I don’t add anything else to the tank.

If I understand your methodology correctly, you would try a larger skimmer for my tank and stop the vinegar dosing. You believe that the skimmer should be able to handle nutrient load. Am I right about this?

 

[Zero_Cool]

Thank you for sharing this beautiful journey. I am not 100% sure what it is but something about your approach and methodology inspires me.

Your willingness to accept different points of view and the successes of others in an open discussion is fantastic. This is what a strong community does - share information without accusation or bias.

Please keep posting updates. I will keep following.