Bacteria vs Algae

proreefer · Jun 24, 2011

saints fan 420 said: ↑

I too agree that there's a lot of underfed tanks, so many people worried about keeping nitrates at 0.. But every tank is different and a lot of people in this hobby like to skimp on equipment, and i think skimmer and lights are the most important. Also with that good skimmer it allows me to be able to "overfeed" my tank compared to someone running a lesser quality skimmer. It also depends on water changes as well.. Ill be the first to admit that Im not afraid of making sure my tank is well fed at least once a day.. For my 150, with a yellow tang, 2 maroon clowns, 2 triggers, and sailfin tang: my tank gets nori sheet, fish mash(oysters, shrimp, clams, cod, halibut, salmon), cyclopeeze, flakes, pellets, phytoplankton and zooplankton, and mysis... i also feed my carpet small chunks of shrimp, oysters, or clams... i do waterchanges every week 10% and i feel my tank is very healthy, everything opens up fully, has great color, and honestly already showing growth, even though the tank has only been set back up a month or so.. i use algea to tell me whether my tank is too nutrient rich, with metal halides and high nitrate water, the algea will pretty much instantly start to show you signs of overfeeding, or an overstocked tank..

I am in no way an expert in this hobby, but i have had a lot of success... Its all about keeping your system balanced.. and everyone has their different ways of keeping that balance..
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I only wish I was as smart as you when I was 24 you got it going right.James

saints fan 420 · Jun 24, 2011

:grinthumbs:

Corailline said: ↑

Beautiful mixed reef proreefer.

Personally I would rather see a new hobbyist use a skimmer and closely monitor feedings. My rational is that new tanks tend to have radical swings in water chemistry and size of biological filter. The learning curve for a new hobbyist with all the theories on different techniques and styles makes it hard to find a good balance. A skimmer and moderate feedings provides for a larger margin of error.

Someone as far down the road as you are with regard to your experience is better able to see the big picture, but that came with trail and error over many years.

My tank I feed pretty heavily considering it's size and I have not used a skimmer for over a year. The reason I think it works for me is that the tank is 3 years old. I am not trying to incorporate too many different types of corals into one environment. Mostly sps with some lps and a few softies.

Lastly, I do not believe chasing the numbers is the only way to achieve the same outcome, a healthy tank. Let the appearance of your corals, inverts and fish play strongly into your tank husbandry.

I have seen many a reef with pale, slow growing corals where the hobbyist thought that adding another piece of equipment or the addition of a certain product would help them achieve what was eluding them. Usually if they increased their feeding, stopped aggressively polishing the water and backed of on trying to obtain the nirvana of consent values of 0 for N/P they would most likely see better results in the long run.
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jrwoltman · Jun 24, 2011

Great posts all, I really enjoyed reading them.

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