FarmerTy

Mbrown is gonna go crazy over all those star polyps!

A majority of the larval stages of the pods I would imagine would get toasted in the UV. If you ran it on your 90g, I doubt it will be as effective for disease control as the UV is underrated for that size tank. So the only function it will have is killing planktonic algae and larval pods. For me at least, I see no reason to run it on your 90g then... unless you upgrade to a larger UV capable of disease control for that size tank.

If they threw people out for long-windedness... I'd be right behind you!

Way to bust out a patented Bpb reef tank soliloquy all over my build thread man! [emoji23] That pure polyp fuzz ball... believe it or not... is this mille I got from AquaSD. The one on the right. The one on the left has a bright pink base and translucent green polyps now. It's at the 4:05 mark on the video though the video is not the best with capturing the true colors of the coral. I can adjust white balance on pictures but with a video like that, I'm stuck with my initial white balance so the first shot basically sets it for the rest of the video. That's why some colors look crummy in some and great in others.

I'm pretty sure he spelled out his name in tonga branch rock and is letting the GSP cover it now... M....I....K...E... spelled out in the sand!

GSP business suit!

That looks great Manny. I'm a big fan of T5 lighting! There's a reason I don't keep acans... they don't do too well in my SPS dominant tank. Do you guys still do water changes?

Helps that you had my cell number too. [emoji14] How's the no skimmer experiment been treating you?

Possibly. I don't really know the stages of growth for hair algae so I can't add too much. Most of the time, it's used to treat for planktonic algae that resides in the water column, though I'm sure it helps kill off algal spores for those types that reproduce and spread that way. Depending how long ago your tank was setup, it just may be part of the cycling process. I don't really worry about algae, cyano, diatoms, or dinos that pop up in the first year of the tank. Just part of the maturation process. I'd look into nutrient level control as a better way to control algae. Keep your nitrates and phosphates in line and you'll rarely have issues with algae.

I would imagine the 75-90,000 has the ability to kill some of the larval stages of pods. Yes, algae and bacteria are encompassed in the killing ability of 75-90,000. Quick note to add, unless you know the age of the UV bulb, I'd go ahead and replace it. Aqua UV bulbs last longer than most other bulbs and they recommend every 14 months. I'd also try to wipe off the quart sleeve at least once a month if possible to remove any growth on them. For dosing, I don't really stick to a particular brand. I've used reefroids, cyclopeeze, reef chili, coral frenzy, Pappone's recipe, and even mashed up flakes. Protein is protein to me... just as long as the size of the particles are in the right range.

Just to give you perspective... I very much enjoyed your tank OceanTraveler. This is coming from an SPS guy who likes to strip his tank of nutrients. I very much enjoyed a softie focused tank as yours and the health of the corals is something to speak to. Running a more natural system without all the equipment and allowing nutrients to be a part of the system is refreshing. It's similar to what one previous member's ideology of natural systems were with no skimmer and some macro algae to export nutrients but his methodology and actual execution where just never on par IMO. Yours though, was impressive to say the least, as your corals seemed healthy and vibrant. I hope you kick back up your build thread on your current tank and start posting more pictures and videos. The RBTA in your tank was as healthy as I've ever seen one and I wish mine looked as happy in my tank... he'd probably sell his first born to move to your tank and get out of mine. [emoji23]

Your unit is rated up to 70 gallons so that should work just fine for your wife's tank but may be undersized for your own tank. If you are just trying to kill algae and bacteria, then 30,000-45,000 uw/cm2 should work, which means you want roughly 428-642 GPH flowing through the reactor. For disease control, they recommend 75,000-90,000 uw/cm2, which then you should run a flow of 214-256 GPH through the reactor. When running disease control, you will have a tendency to kill the "good stuff" too. Hopefully, Timfish's vet friend can shed some light on this as they experiment with UV sterilization and ich protists. For me, I compare running UV to running a skimmer. They both have the ability to take out good and bad. My viewpoint on the UV is fortunately, most of the useful bacteria are within your liverock and sandbed. It will kill some useful plankton but I supplement with microfoods anyways so I am not as concerned with that. I prefer disease control and algae control with the UV and will just dose plankton when needed.

I swear you keep a reef log on my tank to bust me when possible! Either that or you're really good at scanning my build thread backwards! Believe it or not, I lowered my CaRX dosing by increasing my pH level up 0.05 to anticipate the lack of uptake from the non-existent clam and my alk started to drop. This leads me to believe that in a system that in a normal mixed reef system, clams, especially giant ones, are usually the most alk/Ca hungry individuals in the tank, but in a dominant SPS tank, it's usage is high but the net usage in comparison to the SPS colonies is not that pronounced in comparison. I have a 14" long, 7" wide colony of warp speed monti that says it'll eat more Ca/alk in a day than my clam could. Be it known though... that the warp speed monti is kind of a jerk.

You guys are hilarious! Thanks for the comments guys. How do I get PE like that? Well, it helps that some of them are milles and they love to polyp out. Honestly, I'm sure it's a combination of things but if I had to pick one, I'd say it's the amount I feed. Before everyone starts dumping tons of food in their tanks, I also aggressively remove nitrates, phosphates, and overskim... so my ability to export a lot of the food waste is as high as my desire to dump all that food in there. I also believe that my lack of mechanical filtration helps, as I'm sure there are tons of particles in the water all the time to warrant a reason for the polyps to always be so fully out. To stack on that, no water changes and no siphoning of detritus probably keeps them in the system. I do dose aminos 2x a week, like Jim said, neon green Red Sea Energy B so my corals can grow up strong like the hulk! I had the same polyp extension in my 125-gallon tank as well and I've used basically the same methodology. -heavy feeding (feeding fish and micro foods like reef frenzy... I don't feed corals directly... just broadcast micro foods in water) -heavy export (biopellets for nitrates, GFO for phosphates, GAC for toxins and organics, giant overrated skimmer rated roughly 2x more than system) -aminos 2x a week -no water changes -no mechanical filtration -MH lighting -calcium reactor to replace the foundation elements (Ca, alk, Mg) I will say that we as reefers have a very difficult job of trying to emulate nature... to have the abundance of food on a natural reef without the nutrient issues that come with that in a closed system. So I just do the best I can to replicate that... tons of food, and then heavy export. New to this system is the addition of UV but I was honestly getting PE like that before the UV. I will say that some polyps appear to have come out even more once starting UV but it may be pure coincidence so I wouldn't assign a direct correlation there just quite yet. Anyways, thanks for the comments guys. It helps keep me motivated to pump out reef videos... knowing that people actually take time to watch them is nice. It really is just another outlet for me to enjoy this hobby.

Polyp mania! Please excuse the algae growth and cyano... my natural tank balance has been thrown off since the marine velvet incident.

Welcome to the club Smallz! Happy to have another new/old hobbiest on the forum and it was great meeting you the other night. You're in good hands!

Sweet!

Well said... I'd give it a couple of days before panicking.

Nvrenuf will probably chime in.

Good meeting you Arthur... and I'm sure you meant fungia plates. [emoji6]

Minimum 48 hrs but I wouldn't get it wet for at least a week in my experience.

Looks like at 150, 4'x2'.

Never used it but hard to argue if it says aquarium safe.

You have any pictures of the clown? I know he's hiding but any pictures would help. Also, did you QT the small clown before putting him in the tank? My bet is you've introduced something into your tank from the new clown and it has infected the old clown. What were the interactions like with the new and old clown when you put them together? Friendly? Adversarial?

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