FarmerTy

Got that CaRX dialed in finally I'm guessing. Sent via Tapatalk

What happened? Heater cooked your tank? Sent via Tapatalk

Looks great! When are you going to setup the frag tank and go into full production mode? Sent via Tapatalk

Looking good! Maybe the largest chromis got shanked by one of the smaller chromis as he was swimming around a piece of live rock? Sent via Tapatalk

Maybe just flip it over and bury the polyps in the sand? Sent via Tapatalk

That I am not sure of but I would imagine near the intake of the reactor would suffice. Sent via Tapatalk

Yeah, I came upon a thread discussing it in one of the larger forums. The basic concept was since biopellets remove so much more nitrates than pellets (due to bacterial activity), that you end up with a nitrate-limited system. Once the nitrates are all consumed, there is residual phosphate left over, which is why the majority of biopellet users employ GFO... to take the residual amount out. Some reefers have looked into dosing nitrates, giving the bacteria enough nitrates to consume the remainder of the phosphates in the system, and allowing the reefer to not have to use GFO at all.

It's been looking better already Seth. Thanks! The idea was to tweak things to my tank. My previous tank, I ran biopellets for about 2 years in conjunction with GFO and that tank was bulletproof! I'm still adjusting both my biopellet usage and my GFO usage to this tank. I consider it more of a fine tuning issue now... trying to read the language of my new tank. The cool thing was I was never able to fully take my GFO offline in the previous tank, as my tank was always nitrate-limited and with just running biopellets alone, left me with a residual phosphate concentration which I had to employ GFO to remove (biopellets use up a lot more nitrates than phosphates). Looks like this new tank has plenty of nitrates to go around and with the biopellets, it is able to remove both my nitrates and my phosphates to near zero levels without a residual amount of phosphate left in the system, which is ideal. Very similar to people who have biopellets who are actually experimenting with dosing nitrates to help remove the last bit of phosphates in their system that typically lingers around when you only run biopellets, except I don't have to dose more nitrates. Here's hoping I find that sweet spot where I have low-level nutrients, not stripped, and not too high nutrients either, but perfectly balanced so I can kick GFO to the curb!

Quick update, I think my biopellets are just too overwhelming for my system right now and I have reduced the amount drastically. It was starting to cause STN on some SPS and I couldn't keep my nutrient levels from zeroing out. I even added phosphate to my system and brought it up to 0.02-0.03 ppm each time and the next day it would be stripped from my system. The more interesting part is my GFO reactor was off so it was only the biopellets... which is way more effective at removing nitrates than phosphates. Even only being minimally efficient at removing phosphates, it was still stripping my system of it. Here's hoping the reduced biopellets and increasing my feedings/amino acid dosing will keep everything from starving out and the STN will stop. Had a couple of SPS casualties but everything is starting to look a little better already. I hate the fact that I'm still dialing everything in with this system. Well at least I have the alk stable now and most of the other parameters stable as well, just need to maintain a low level of nutrients (not zero) and I think I'm good to go. Sent via Tapatalk

I got 2 ice fire echinata frags care of my coral broker, KimP. :-p. I'll post pictures later tonight if I get a chance. Sent via Tapatalk

Gabe! That's going way back Robb! Sent via Tapatalk

The person who sold it to you doesn't know? Sent via Tapatalk

I've dosed prazipro in my tank with ill effect. It did overflow my skimmer as many have reported. Sent via Tapatalk

I think sometimes we forget corals are animals and some have quite the appetite! Haha! That's awesome... well, not for the snail at least. Sent via Tapatalk

It's alright, I'll just hit up Victoly for some of his tank water so I can set up a drip for my phosphate dosing regiment.

I might be able to get my fish trap back sometime at the end of the week. If so, you're more than welcome to borrow... but it's huge! 12" x 5" x 5" roughly.

I agree with Tim, I would treat with prazipro and call it a day. You fish seem healthy enough so I wouldn't be concerned with ich at all. I'm still in the boat of ich won't kill a healthy, unstressed fish so I don't worry about having an ich free tank. To me, it's like trying to keep germs out of my house. If healthy enough, I won't get sick.

I'm holding out for the big reveal Manny! I'll tease with some pictures here and there but I'm waiting for the day for when my canopy is completed and all my frags are glued up! At this rate, 2016 is looking pretty doable. Sent via Tapatalk

Of my phosphate results? I actually spoke too soon, my 0.02 ppm of phosphate dropped to 0 ppm again overnight. Sent via Tapatalk

I haven't been using the exact same bulbs for 4 years, just the brand... in case what I wrote was confusing. I replace every 6-12 months. Sent via Tapatalk

Exactly... that's what I'm hoping for!

Reburn mentioned possibly swinging by my house when the order comes in. If that is the case, I'd be happy to hold anybody's order in my sump for pick up that night or the next day since I'm a little closer into town. I will just leave the bag in my sump. Please coordinate with Reburn if that is something you want to do.

It's just been sitting at 0 ppm for much longer than I would like. It's generally hard for me to notice the subtle differences of color as generally, SPS will fade and start looking pastel. Since I stare at them everyday, that's hard to notice changes over time as opposed to seeing it once a week. It's like not realizing you gained 50 lbs since you look at yourself every day in the mirror. I am going to run without GFO for a bit and see which way the GFO concentration goes. Some is being uptaken by my biopellets and at the same time, being added through my feedings. I want to see which way it swings and see if its even needed.

I'm in for a piece. PM'ed.