Cali Kid Corals

CAD Lights 46G

My one and only attempt with a red dragon RTN'd in less than 24 hours.

My icefire is hanging in there. I can't say it's thriving but it is surviving.
 
Gonna be testing and tracking nitrates and phosphate to see where I'm landing at.

Monday 12:38 P.M. testing
Nitrates: 0.2 ppm (Salifert)
Phosphates: 0.16 ppm (Hanna ULR)

Added 1 tsp KNO3 dry dose to sump
Monday 1:45 P.M. testing
Nitrates: just a hair under 2 ppm

Will be testing nitrates again for the next few days and logging that. Phosphates will be measured more spread out.
 
iCon said:
Holy macro! Nice pictures, any chance for a recent FTS?
Click to expand...

Sure can. It's not much to look at unfortunately. Just a scattering of branches here and there at the moment.
fts_030617.jpg
 
Upgrade isn't happening as this is a work tank.

Boun on the other hand just needs to grow out his corals. I don't think I've seen any of his tanks ever grow in.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Man seemed only yesterday you were rocking that pico tank, no getting away with a CBB in that! :D
Click to expand...

Definitely not! This CBB is a winner so far. Ate all the aiptasia in the display tank and wolfs down mysis like it's going out of style in the water column (eats ~6-8 mysis at each feeding multiple times a day).
 
Remeasured nitrates ~24 hours after the initial dose. Back down to less than 1 ppm. Added 1/2 tsp of KNO3 and hit it around 1-1.25. Added an additional 1/2 tsp to make it a fully tsp. Remeasuring again tomorrow and after to see if that's what it takes to keep nitrates up.

2nd feeding of many throughout the day.
 
16:1 according to the Redfield ratio, but I still wouldn't automate it since it could go wrong in so many ways.

I'm measuring again tomorrow, but possibly 1 tsp of KNO3 daily to keep the nitrates from bottoming out. Automating it would keep it more consistent, but that's assuming that you don't empty the reservoir due to a mishap.
 
Nitrates looks like it's holding at ~1 ppm or so after approximately 24 hours after yesterday's dosing. Looks like I'll be adding 1/2 tsp daily for the tank.

Already noticing some new growth from pieces that stalled recently after 3 days of dosing nitrates.

ASD Rainbow. Had a growth spurt and then stopped. Starting to go again with the left tips.
asd_rainbow_table_side_030817.jpg


Pearlberry. White growth tips on the edges. I've never been able to get whites in this one most likely because it hasn't really been growing even though it has and has definitely gotten thicker than when I got it. It's also recovered from the time when I dropped the feeding hole cover on top of it and broke off a branch (pretty much dead center on the base). Waiting to see what it does in the coming months.
pearlberry_side_030817.jpg


Oregon tort. Looks like it's finally beginning to send a branch upwards.
oregon_tort_side_030817.jpg


This wild was one of the faster growers and looks like it's getting back into form again with multiple branches heading up.
crc_frag_side_030817.jpg


RR Pink Floyd. Lost the base as well as the pink polyps on this one. One side effect of the nitrates seems to be the darker color base so far, but I'm finally starting to see growth with that little knob on the bottom there. Gonna keep nitrates up for now to spurt the growth and then cut back as needed once phosphates are back in check and I can play around with less nitrate in the system.
rr_pink_floyd_side_030817.jpg


Haven't taken any fish pics in awhile, so just a quick update on some of them.

Female misbar onyx. One of the side effects of them hosting in the Euphyllia is the discoloration of the area near the dorsal fin base. Those used to be straight black like the rest of the body, but not since they've hosted for awhile now.
onyx_030617.jpg


Largest of the three green chromis in the tank. Love their subtle colors and the three seems to be doing well with each other as they're being kept in check by the bimacs.
green_chromis_030617.jpg


P. bimaculatus in between transition to male coloration. Loves to chase the green chromis around and probably the reason why they haven't killed each other off. These bimacs are probably one of the better looking anthias around and they're easy to keep.
bimac_male_030617.jpg
 
Last edited:
Flagg37 said:
Your pearlberry has so much more color than mine. I'm jealous. I may have to start dosing NO4 too.
Click to expand...

The pearlberry, other than when I first got it, has always had pretty solid colors for me even before dosing KNO3. It could help with the green sheen though. My buddy started dosing recently as well (KNO3) and noticed that greens are coming in on his piece, which has no shortage of white on it. It kind of makes sense as well since we're providing nutrients to the algae, which corals consist of (zooanthellae), and most likely causing the colors to darken in the tissue.

RandyC said:
I've been thinking about switching from AcroPower to KNO3. I think I'd rather use something that's measurable.
Click to expand...

I still use Acropower after I do my water change. It's slightly different from the KNO3 which is basically there to keep my nitrates up so that bacteria can use it alongside the phosphates. My phosphates are high and this should bring it back down eventually. The chaeto will also hopefully bring it in check as well. Chaeto reactors supposedly work so well that it strips both nitrates and phosphates over time. I'll have to see how the phosphates works out since I feed pretty heavily and hopefully that'll stop it from bottoming out. I want to bring it down, but not run it at a 0 ppm number.
 
Ibn said:
The pearlberry, other than when I first got it, has always had pretty solid colors for me even before dosing KNO3. It could help with the green sheen though. My buddy started dosing recently as well (KNO3) and noticed that greens are coming in on his piece, which has no shortage of white on it. It kind of makes sense as well since we're providing nutrients to the algae, which corals consist of (zooanthellae), and most likely causing the colors to darken in the tissue.



I still use Acropower after I do my water change. It's slightly different from the KNO3 which is basically there to keep my nitrates up so that bacteria can use it alongside the phosphates. My phosphates are high and this should bring it back down eventually. The chaeto will also hopefully bring it in check as well. Chaeto reactors supposedly work so well that it strips both nitrates and phosphates over time. I'll have to see how the phosphates works out since I feed pretty heavily and hopefully that'll stop it from bottoming out. I want to bring it down, but not run it at a 0 ppm number.
Click to expand...

In the end, the nitrogen is what is needed to feed photosynthesis. Zooxanthellae can produce all the amino acids that corals need so as long as you have a sufficient source of nitrogen for photosynthesis to allow the zooxanthellae to thrive. (http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2014/3/corals) There are studies that indicate that corals can uptake amino acids from water column (same link), but anecdotal evidence from various forum threads suggest that amino acids really only help ULNS that have undetectable nitrate levels. Often you'll see posts of amino acid dosing not working and if you read closely, you can often correlate those posts with non-ULNS. I don't know what the magic number is, but if I were to start dosing KNO3, I'd probably shoot to get my nitrates somewhere around 5ppm. Right now I read zero on API and Salifert.

I'm not saying don't dose amino acids, heck, I'm doing it right now, I'd just prefer to dose something I can measure. Especially when the directions on the Acropower bottle are so vague on how often to dose. Before I started dosing AcroPower, I was overfeeding which provided the nitrogen/amino acid source and things were coloring up nicely, but then I also got a rise in phosphates and green hair algae came with too much food.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top