Another Rebirth?

Hi Reef Sparky

I have one special Milli as you know that developed STN at the very same time as its started colouring up , it was going from cream to purple at the top, whilst changing to bleached white at the base - that was incredibly frustrating - so good and so bad at the very same time

DKH - before I started dosing , I was just doing water changes and maintaining acceptable parameters
my thinking at the time was "as long as the numbers I get are within the acceptable ranges I am fine"

so for example my calc varied from 440 - 470 and my DKH could be between 8 and 9.6
as all those numbers where acceptable I figured no need to dose, the water change on a weekly basis is adequate

what I decided to do was pick a number and work to ensuring that I stayed closer to that number , using supplements

so I selected 440 and 9
I allowed the calc to drop, naturally over a couple of weeks and it reached 410
I dosed over 2 days and got it back to 440
I allowed the DKH to drop to 8.3 and again over 2 nights took it back to 9

I now use 1 teaspoon of 1 and 2 teaspoons of the other on a daily basis, mixed with RODI and dosed into my tank

whenever I test I get 440 Calc and 9 DKH and have done for many weeks now.

fluctuations - even those that remain within tolerance , are not ideal IMO

Steve

 

Sorry for the SPS loss and hope you are able to have them in your build someday. On the other hand the growth on the hammer is more than a small victory and I have to admit I'm a jealous because getting a Euph to split or pop heads is something I haven't been able to do. Congratulations on that!

 

I'll take that as good advice, sir.

Thanks, reefmonkey! One small step for man. . . . .

 

Just an update with some more pics. I posted this in my other thread by accident--but here it is:










The 4 buds are growing nicely, and there's a 5th now too.

I continue to run Purigen, and I will change out my phos reactor with ROWA and carbon weekly when I do my water changes, until the cyano is completely absent. It'll be a long haul, but I'll stick to it.

When all algae is gone and my parameters are rock solid, I'm going to buy a test acro frag. If that does well--it's off to the races.

 

Great update Reef Sparky

Test Acro frag - go big IMHO ,
I have found that the mini colonies with 2 or more branches seem to do a lot better for me in terms of growth and colour up, than the single sticks I have purchased

I have also found that Millipora colonies are without doubt are showing the quickest adjustment, colour up and growth, than the other species I have (which in all honesty I dont know what many of them actually are)

Good luck with whatever you choose to try out in there

Steve

 

Thanks, Steve. I'll take that advice.

 

hey Sparky! I had the same problem as you. My LPS corals never thrive.

I come on here and see people with torchs and frogs etc all growing really quickly, mine just dont.
I had a duncans head for 8/ months that never once sprouted a new head. I have all sorts on my tank, decent skimmer phosban reactor calc reactor etc... could for the life of me fathom why these corals will not grow!

Then it hit me - i dont feed them. I decided as a tester about a month ago to start feeding my duncans. Low and behold it now has 6 new heads sprouting out of it.

I wonder if this is the same issue with you?

 

What are you feeding the duncans? I plan on purchasing some in the very near future.

 

Yeah, I had considered that. I spot feed them a couple of times a month, and used to spot feed more often than that. It didn't seem to matter.

I'm beginning to think it might be as simple as the right parameters, for a sustained time. The jury is still out, but I'll be reporting back.

 

I got two frags after I upgraded to MH lighting that turned brown in about a month. The guy at my LFS recommended "oyster eggs". I put one cube in the return of my sump about three times a week for the past two weeks. I can see some color coming back and the tips of the branches are budding/growing faster.