Dosing Help Needed

[Pikeman]

I’ve just started a new round of zeoliths (1.8L) and measured my phosphates with my new Hanna instrument (most cool) so I wanted to update my dosing schedule. For the past 6 weeks I ran the zeoliths, activated carbon, and dosed the amino acid at 4 drops 2x/week. I did not dose the other zeo additives per the recommendation of Aged Salt. I also removed my aragonite rock substrate over the past six weeks to achieve a bare bottom tank. (I know its better to do it all at once, but I didn’t want to totally disrupt my tank.) I’ve been on the zeo system since mid-November, 04.

Net water volume 200 gal.

PO4 and NO3 are non detectable, Ca 475, Alk 8.4, Mg 1300 (Salifert)

(I just turned my Ca Rx off and will manually keep the alk at 8.0 until my Ca drops)

Hanna PO4 = 0.01 (measured twice to be sure)

Over the past 6 weeks my coral coloration and growth have started to improve on my pink Mont Cap and purple rimmed Mont. My Caulastrea has also shown a recent growth improvement. This may be a result of transitioning to a BB tank and removing more and more of the nutrient source. However, my Monti Digitata remains light brown (the frag started out green) and my A. jaquline remains a pale white. My Bird’s Nest remains a healthy pink and is still growing slowly.

In summary, I have some signs of encouragement, but I’m not close to the growth and coloration I see other people achieving with the zeo system. What really puzzles me is my low nutrient readings on my tests (PO4 in particular) and the brown Mont Digi (nutrients to high???). While at the same time, my Acro Jacq is very pale (nutrients to low???). So in essence, I’m a little confused as to what to do next for my tank. Need help!!!

[Aged Salt]

Hi Pikeman, we really need more info in order to understand the tank's trend:
1)your exact dosages of all zeo's that you are presently using, including the quantities of carbon & zeolites & flow rate thru the filter.
2)any other recent changes in your reef, new lights, new Ca Rx media, change in salt-mix, etc.
3)levels of your parameters & if they had been moving around too much, especially KH & water temp.
Thnx. Bob

[Pikeman]

Ages Salt,

Here's some more info on my tank...

-I'm using about 1.8 L of zeolith changed every 6 weeks in a 3 on/3 off mode.
-In terms of flow, I've not measured it, but I am using Madison's reactor and I pump the cartridge 2 times a day.
-Over the past six weeks I've only been dosing AA at 4 drops 2x/wk. Previous to the past 6 week period I was dosing 6 drops of bac and food 2x/wk, 4 drops/wk FIPI, 4 drops/wk AA, 2 drops/wk Fe, 20ml ME, and 1.75 ml every other week of zeospur. My zeostart2 dosage was down to about 0.2ml 2x/day because I was getting pretty regular diatom blooms.
-I use 1 cup of activated carbon changed every 4 weeks.
-Recent changes to my reef include 1) the salt, I was using Oceanic but the Ca was getting to high so I transitioned to a mix of ~80% Tropic Marin Pro Reef and 20% Oceanic. Over the past 2 weeks I've started to blend instant Ocean with the Tropic Marin to help transition my calcium down. 2) I upgraded my lights in Mar, 05 to 250W DE's 10K BLV from Hamilton 10K SE's. and 3) I changed my Ca Rx media from Koralin to ARM about 12 weeks ago because the koralin was a phosphate source. 4) I was dripping my Ca Rx outlet through some phosban, but recently put about an inch of phosgaurd in my Ca Rx to elimante P from getting into my system. 5) I removed the aragonite substrate over the past 6 weeks to go bare bottom.
-My alkalinity has been as low as 7.6 and as high as 8.6 over the past 18 weeks but is typically just over 8.0.
-My water temp runs between 77 and 79.5 as my high end in controlled by a chiller.
-My MH's are on for 8 hours a day and my t5 actinics are on for 12.

In general I've put off buying more coral frags or fish for months (boy thats been hard!) so I could get my water quality where it needed to be. (My tank nutrient level was high when I started the zeo) I thought that when I got my PO4 levels way down everything would "brighten" up. Thus, when I found my Hanna phosphate at 0.01 and brown out corals in my tank, I wasn't sure how to proceed.

FWIW, the browned Monti Digi has been in the tank for months and has grown well, it just hasn't returned to its original color as my purple thin stags have (which haven't grown well). Go figure!

[Aged Salt]

Hi Pikeman, I had a short story already written but lost my transcript before posting--so I'll go directly to the recommended dosing for the next 6 wks:
1)dose 3/4 ltr carbob
2)dose 2 ltrs zeolites at 200gph--be sure about this
3)dose 2 drops Bak 3x's/wk
4)dose 1 drop Food7 once a wk
5)dose 1 drop Start2 2x's/day
6)dose 6 drops AAHC daily[dercrease if slime appears on LR]
7)dose PIF 3 drops 2x's/wk
8)dose Fe 1 drop 2x's/wk
9)do not dose Spur2 or Spur-ME this 6 wk. cycle, Bob

[cookie extreme]

hi Pikeman,
i have a couple monti's from the same mother colony. i placed one under a Ab 10000 150M/H in about 8 cm of water and within a short time it turned purple but with very little growth. the same colony in a less lit spot in deeper water stayed brown but grew unbelievable fast, needs to be fragged all the time. go figure. i came to conclusion that it depends what you want greta colour or growth. i take what i get.

[Pikeman]

Thanks! I'll apply the dosing schedule as noted. Also, I'm going to take some frags off of my brown-out coral and set them at varying depths in the tank to see if I can coax them into turning colorful.

[G.Alexander]

hi Pikeman,
i have a couple monti's from the same mother colony. i placed one under a Ab 10000 150M/H in about 8 cm of water and within a short time it turned purple but with very little growth. the same colony in a less lit spot in deeper water stayed brown but grew unbelievable fast, needs to be fragged all the time. go figure. i came to conclusion that it depends what you want greta colour or growth. i take what i get.

Cookie, corals need energy to build up the pigments, giving them the colour we can administer. In most cases, these pigments are produced to prevent the coral from unsuitable light which can not be reasonable used. These pigments act like a filter for the different lighting wavelength. These energy can not be used for growth which explains why you observe different grow ratios in the different areas where the fragments are placed.

G.Alexander