grassi Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 For many reasons and for about 5 weeks my system was running without a skimmer, filter sock, water change, old carbon and without my care. Also I run the display without lights for a week (when you leave everything decide to broke). I was worried to come back and look at the tank. It was a surprise to notice a huge amount of health and coloration on pretty much all my sps. I liked the color I had before, but what I see now it is even better. There is a little bit of brown here and there, but all the other colors are popping too. Now I'm confused: my water was polished too much and now the corals do have the time to get the food and supplements I'm dosing? the DSB is starting to work? the new ballast is better than the old one? Jamie is better than me? As she suggested none of the above The problem is that with all the variables I'm not able to understand what it is happening :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mohaynow Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 maybe because you were gone so long you remembered just how amazing they are. Like eating a really nice steak every day, yea its really good but after about a month that really nice steak is just part of the norm. Go a month without it and BANG it amazing again. but who knows. Anyways welcome back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saltfinsax Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 I vote for the last one. hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 Welcome back Alex and I agree. Jamie is better than you . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigjohnwoody Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 Tagging along on this one. Wish I had some input but I'm stumped. That seems really weird!! Hopefully they stay really colored and this is not a calm before a storm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 For many reasons and for about 5 weeks my system was running without a skimmer' date=' filter sock, water change, old carbon and without my care. Also [b']I run the display without lights for a week[/b] (when you leave everything decide to broke). I was worried to come back and look at the tank. It was a surprise to notice a huge amount of health and coloration on pretty much all my sps. I liked the color I had before, but what I see now it is even better. There is a little bit of brown here and there, but all the other colors are popping too. Now I'm confused: my water was polished too much and now the corals do have the time to get the food and supplements I'm dosing? the DSB is starting to work? the new ballast is better than the old one? Jamie is better than me? As she suggested none of the above The problem is that with all the variables I'm not able to understand what it is happening :( So out of 5 weeks being gone you ran your display without lights for 1 week? Was the tank "fed" What were the params N03 before you left, once you returned, how about PO4 before, after Welcome back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted April 29, 2011 Author Share Posted April 29, 2011 Thanks for all that voted for the last one lol My dual ballast was working only on one side. So Jamie was switching the 2 cords every 2 days for about a week. Then it run with no lights for about 5 days. The tank was fed as usual. NO3 was 0 (from what I can read) and P was about 12 (0.03 P04). I will test the water asap I liked the color I had before better in average. Some colonies looked better before, some now. It was more 'pastel', less intense but nicer to my eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 I've read great things about shorter light periods-I've also know of quite a few that do water changes every month or 2 and if you knew who they were and had seen there tanks you would not believe it. Maybe your skimmer is stripping out nutrients?? Not running a skimmer with normal feeding and still having 0 'trates is just odd in itself-that's a secret mainy would like to know how that ws accomplished-(laugh) " I have not changed my water in 5 weeks, I dont skim, I feed regularly and I have zero NO3 and my PO4 is .03" (scratch) I'd say you found the holy grail of secrets to reefing(clap) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danik Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 I only change 45 gal a month in my 400g system. Some time it's longer than a month. 0 nitrates, 0 pos. I do run a de-nitrator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted April 29, 2011 Author Share Posted April 29, 2011 Brad, the values were BEFORE this. I will get actual values asap You asked for before and after, I only have data for before. I will find some time to test the water tomorrow before the water change that I'm preparing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylaster Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 Here is what i am thinking is happening. 1) Increase in organics in the water has increased so the corals are using that for a source of energy 2) With the lights out the corals have probably increased the amount of zooanthallae to the surface of the tissue to try and catch what light was available and they are probably using the organics as a food source until the lights come back. Do the corals appears to have a darker richer color? (due to more zooanthallae under the surface of the tissue, and less pigmentation to deflect uv rays) 3) The DSB will keep the nitrates down, not sure what is keeping phosphates down, perhaps some of it is being used by the zooanthallae, but not enough i would think to make any difference in readings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted April 29, 2011 Author Share Posted April 29, 2011 Yes roy, the color is more darker and richer. I think as well that the color difference it is a consequence in the different water chemistry. It is amazing how a little change can do that. I have to find a way to keep the water clean and give the corals the organics nutrients I want Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 I have been thinking about all this skimming we do to strip everything out of our tanks, only to buy amino acids and pro skimmer to dose our tanks? It seems like this does not make sense at all or rather defeats the purpose. So would not running our skimmers all the time leave some nutrients in the water column that the coral could consume, instead of having to put in amino acids? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted April 30, 2011 Author Share Posted April 30, 2011 What you want to achieve is to strip everything out and add what you think is the best supplementation for your livestock. The pros of keeping your water clean are way more than the cons in my opinion. Amino acids and liquid food are not the same thing as high nutrients, which is just pollution in a small system. The problem is that we have so many variables nowadays that is difficult to trace the causes of some issues. I'm with you on that: sometimes we tend to add complexity when and where is not needed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefboy Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 I'm going to post without reading much but I found that less in can sometime be better and a tad of nutrients is good as well.I have found that trying for those perfect pram's just don't fly especially when a few tests on our own coast were different over a week and we wont count gallonage lol . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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