FarmerTy

Still pretty hard to tell but #3 looks like lunar eclipses Shawn. -Ty

Pm'ed

I ran my tank for 7 years with phosphates around 0.08. I wouldn't worry about it too much. I would recommend waiting on the anemone however, until your tank is more established. You only really need your phosphates around 0.032 (natural seawater) or lower if you plan to keep SPS, IMO. If you aren't keeping them, why bother spending all that extra money keeping the water so clean for corals (most softies and LPS) that don't really need it. They may even enjoy the higher phosphates and nitrates anyways. -Ty

This article claims that "passive" is a lot less effective. Article's conclusion: Granular activated carbon is a valuable tool for the reef hobbyist. It can play a significant role in maintaining a healthy reef or saltwater aquarium. The hobby’s traditional approach to the use of carbon, however, has been misguided. Optimum use of carbon requires only periodic use. Slow circulation of water through small amounts of carbon will remove significant amounts of color. Passive use of carbon, as well as circulation through high-volume power filters should be avoided. This is why I just throw a bag in the sump every couple months for 2 weeks and then remove. I put it in an area with some flow so that it is passive and not tumbling. No need for a reactor for the carbon to do what it needs to do, especially when your sump flow should supply enough flow to use it. At least that is the strategy I employ. May not work for everyone. -Ty

I just throw a bag of it in the sump once every couple months and then remove it 2 weeks later.

Sorry Don, Got some of them but not in a fraggable state yet. -Ty

Hey Max, I do but it's in a sad state right now. Kind of got kicked on the sand in lieu of all my SPS. I moved it back up so hopefully it starts looking good again soon. Check back with me in a couple months and I could probably frag you a small piece. -Ty

No problem. Thanks for the good reef talks as always.

Max, they are green button polyps.

Tangs are a coral reefs' own personal fertlizing crew. Haha. They do but even after the poop is eaten, there is still wastes once the coral digests what it can use and excretes it back out.

Sweet! Congrats bud! Looking forward to the new tank build.

Thanks Shawn. It was a pleasure meeting you. When you make your way up north, you got a reef buddy right here! Chris, I told you the piece was no joke! haha. You could almost hurl it at someone and knock them out... "I was hit by a meteor shower!" Reefer74, I gave my last frag of zoa to Chris since I figured he would need two frags because he will definitely kill one of them. So I don't have any more zoa frags but I definitely have the kyptonite candy canes on hold for you. Sent you a PM. -Ty

That's weird, it pops right up on my computer. It however, does not pop up on my android phone. You browsing through your phone? -Ty

Agreed! Good catch! I believe most doing this have a pretty aggressive formula for removing nitrates and phosphates and an oversized skimmer. If your system is balanced, I would always hesitate to upset that balance. Just shot a PE (polyp extension) video with my phone, sorry for the cruddy quality but I figured a visual would be appropriate. Just a quick note, you can see the detritus in the video very clearly. The video actually over emphasizes it, it's not nearly that bad in person. I've actually gotten more comments on how clear my water looks then anything else.

I remembered some obscure lecture in one of my classes about the amount of energy expended to extend polyps... if there was no net payoff for the amount of energy expended, that it was not in the coral's advantage to extend the polyps. So I figured, no detritus in the water column, the polyps would have no reason to extend... then the opposite must be true. I appreciate all who added their results and for Rory to bring it to light. I like it when we all have an opportunity to learn together... the theory is nothing without the experiments to prove it. -Ty

Updated what's left. I had an extra frag of the zoas so there's one left. Cheers. -Ty

That's quite a deal! Looks great... wished mine bubbled as much as yours.

Still available

H20COOL, you have PM.

No problem Hall1027! I'm curious as to how they look under your LEDs. I bet they look spectacular! -Ty

Pm'ed 67stang.

Sounds good. I will pull it out from the garage and have it ready to view. -Ty

Jhilt7743, pm'ed.

Yeah, you can dose at the same time but as far away from each other as possible, otherwise you are just wasting money because some of it may precipitate out.

Korallin Calcium Reactor Setup - $60 Got it from someone who was getting out of the hobby Comes with Korallin Calcium reactor with bubble counter, regulator, needle valve, custom made (looks funky but works) secondary chamber for reactor (reduce pH swings). It's an older looking setup, never tried to run it myself but saw the owner take it offline at his place so I know it was working. Only caveat being the equipment is older looking (salt spray on regulator and needle valve, a little rust here and there). I'll throw in an old, rusty (but working) CO2 tank for free (still has CO2 in it, probably only 1/4 - 1/2 full), caveat again being it is pretty rusty and its huge. I think it is a 20lb tank, but my estimation skills are horrible. Also throw in an extra regulator as parts. It works but the 2nd gauge doesn't read the PSI and I stole the bubble counter off of it for my current setup. This setup is for the DIY'er who doesn't mind spending the effort to polish this setup up a bit, hence the low price. The reactor alone is probably worth more than the price I am selling the whole setup for. Let me know if you're interested. Still has some media in it. Let me know if you want to pick it up. Thanks! -Ty