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I discovered the same thing when I accidentally dumped 3/4 a bottle of Zeovit coral vitalizer and nothing happened good or bad. I begin wondering if this stuff really does anything Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks for the kind words. Move hasn’t happened yet. It’s KIND OF up in the air. Long story short, we need more space, another bedroom, and another bathroom. We also want a new home, possibly custom, and want to stay in it for 10-15 years minimum so don’t want to settle or make a lateral move. Looking at likely being house-poor for a while so we are saving just about everything we make outside of essential expenses. Almost no fun money budgeted in right now. Wanting to come up with a very large down payment for a home (something in the 40-50% range) to make living in said home actually affordable. I’d estimate we are about $50k away from our goal. So it’ll be a couple years. I hate having so much money tied up in saving for a home and not generating any interest. If anyone has better ideas or experience, PM me please! Next topic. Lighting. My current arrangement is 4 blue+ 2 True Actinic 2 6500k My “dawn dusk” array is actually the 6 bulb channel which contains the blue+ and actinics I run 6 bulbs from 13:00-13:30 All 8 bulbs from 13:30-21:30 6 bulbs from 21:30-22:00 I want to increase my photoperiod for viewing purposes. Without a par meter I can not verify what my light levels actually are. I want a longer dawn dusk period. I don’t get to see the tank much under the blues. Any harm y’all think in extending those periods some to have maybe a 10-11 hour total photoperiod or is that a bad idea. I’d keep 8 hour full strength Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I'm currently watering my pennies and waiting on the weather to hit the high 70's and I was gonna actually hit you up and see what you'd recommend as far as getting something sent out overnight. Ive researched their bulbs a fair amount. There's a handful of people who claim to like this or that bulb better than the ATI equivalent, but there's a mega thread where someone used one of the nicer lab grade spectrometers and found them to be nearly identical in par and spectral layout to the ATI bulbs. I can't imagine the variation would be that significant if they're using the same phosphor formula with maybe a minor tweak in percentages. The actual readouts the person on the thread got were pretty different from what Giesemann reports on the box of the bulbs. Par tests were within a negligible range as well. All in all, it's the same thing. Even though its just a few bucks. Why pay more for the same thing? I exchanged PM's with diesel for a while about a year ago. He is a pretty respected person in the hobby, but I really began taking what he said with a grain of salt. I understand he gets a lot of very nice gear at free and heavily reduced pricing for putting his seal of approval on those brands. Basically an unofficial sponsorship. Once there is some form of incentive involved I can no longer trust any advice given. He REALLY hyped the giesemann bulbs to me heavily, but I basically ignored it, knowing he gets them for free from coralvue due to his long time relationship with them. I use their 6500K bulb though, because ATI doesn't have an equivalent. I just haven't found a good deal on another 6500K bulb many places online, nor do I trust the reliability of a cheaper alternative so I keep using the Giesemann version of that particular bulb, but I am likely to continue using ATI for the rest.

Thanks man! I wish I had better access to new pieces. Can’t travel as much so it’s been tough to acquire new stuff. Haven’t tried any giesemann bulbs beyond the 6500k tropics I use now. I have heard overwhelming praise of their actinic and their blue+ equivalents but I’ve also read they lose their par quicker and their spectrums look identical to the ati bulbs so I can’t see any reason to spend an extra $2-3 per bulb for what amounts to the same thing that may not last as long Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Been a couple months since an update. Sps growth is trucking along at an awesome pace. Calcium reactor has been holding alk super stable at 7.8 and nitrates hanging out at 8 ppm for a couple months now. Very happy with how the tank is responding. Added a couple new specimens recently FHC Mega Man Oldie but goodie ORA Red Planet Unfortunately my experiment with the reef brite bulbs has come to an abrupt conclusion. After having one burn out already less than 2 months since installing I’ll be switching back to a mixture of ati/giesemann bulbs as it’s time to replace them. I realize even good bulbs have a lemon here and there. But one is enough for me on a new experiment. No plans to change the overall layout. Colors could “pop” a little more, the 6500k bulbs do have a bit of a washout effect on certain acros but they seem to really love the spectrum from a growth and PE standpoint so I’m going to roll with it Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

You sir, have some of the most dramatic, boldly colored, pleasantly shaped, and symmetrical growth in acropora I think I may have ever seen in an LED lit tank. Every time I look at this build thread, I am floored at the size of some of this table growth. You scaped perfectly for it. Nothing is shading anything

Another mention! I am now officially changed over to the Reefbrite Actinic Blue t5ho bulbs. They’re a direct replacement for the ATI Blue+. Visually they look identical to me and growth/color/PE response has been as if nothing happened. Best part, they cost a little over half what the ati bulbs do. I know $10 isn’t a huge deal for the most part but if I can save myself a total of $80-100 a year on my bulb replacements I’ll take it. Once the actinics and whites go out I’ll be changing over to the Reefbrite equivalents of those as well. Very happy with them Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Also. Montipora > favia. Shame shame. This favia has been slow growing and finally starting to look really beautiful. The rainbow monti will eventually take over and kill the whole favia. I can’t reach them in the tank and the rocks they’re on are too heavy for graspers. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Took some new top downs today

That’s a beauty of a regulator! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

MTC minical was actually on the top of my list but at the time he wasn’t taking any orders due to health reasons. I think you’d find differences in quality to be marginal/negligible between MTC, MRC, Lifereef, GEO Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I rather enjoy answering noobie questions to be honest. I know when I was starting off there were folks who were (and still are) patient with me and I am forever grateful so I enjoy paying it forward. Thanks for stopping by the thread! Half my posts are still questions this many years later Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Oh bother. Used nearly half a pill and 6 hours later I still see bugs. This is my second dose. I planned on 3 but I kinda figured the first would do it and the others were just academic. I must have super bugs Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Excited about this reboot. You know where I stand. CARX with a dual stage regulator all the way. I love how Ty put it. Don't get cute with your reactor. From the sound of it you didn't plan to, but there are lots of brand new CARX out there by some of the more reputable companies out there, but they're trying to reinvent the wheel and you may bet burned. GEO will do you right. What are you thinking about for flow and lighting?

You can really see the red bugs all over that last one. Surprised I'm still getting fairly decent growth and some PE on that one despite being so infested. I guess if I had to pick between the two I'd take red bugs over flat worms any day of the week. Second interceptor treatment happening today. I think I need to up the dose a little. I don't have a high precision digital scale and chopping up a pill isnt quite an exact science. My tank being 86 total gallons net water volume should get me about 3 treatments out of the one pill. I have more interceptor coming in the mail. I can treat more than 3 times if necessary.

Couple more words of update. Growth and PE have taken a sharp up turn since the interceptor dose. I need to get my calcium reactor back up. Kalkwasser is just too erratic and I forget to refill the ato sometimes. Alk is kinda bouncing around more than I’d like. Don’t know if I mentioned but at some point I lost a fitting for the tubing on the feed pump which caused a big leak so I took it down and cleaned the reactor out a month or so ago and have been using kalkwasser since then, dreading and procrastinating setting it back up. Needs to happen though because kalkwasser will soon not be enough. Next interceptor dose will be tomorrow when I leave for work. And I’ll water change as soon as I get home. Here’s a couple pics for fun. The ORA acro has settled in and showing excellent PE by my standards. Efflo is just encrusting for miles. No plating growth yet. Most the encrusting is on the back side where you can’t see. Color is shifting on most acros rapidly since adding the warmer colored bulbs in. Zero negative response. Really enjoying the electric blue polyps on the tips of this one. It’s a no namer I got in Austin many years ago, lost, and reaquired. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks for the comments man! I do love the quality of the geo reactors. They’re very no nonsense. Not a lot of tiny thin plastic specialized parts. Seems like literally everything except maybe the lid and body could be replaced without having to special order. Acrylic is super thick and durable as well. Zero complaints. I wish I had gone with the smaller version though. In over a year of use my media level has dropped maybe an inch. Just way oversized. Love the lifereef as well. Mine is old AF and has hazing and what not but minus a small repair I had to do it is built like a tank. Thick and heavy. Love it. Not the most energy efficient but I love it’s huge capacity and higher flow. With my 10 fish, three time a day feeding, and small amount of vodka dosing, I keep my po4 between 0.03-0.07 and my NO3 between 0-2 ppm. It’s all working real well. The regulators are typically built. These companies don’t sell assembled regulators with the fittings and pieces we use for our purposes so they typically are assembled by the user. I didn’t have the time or inclination to hunt down all the correct fittings so I just got mine on the classifieds in RC and on Marsh. You can expect to pay between 200-300 for a good one (great ones will be higher of course). I wouldn’t go any other way honestly. Though if you’re keeping your gas near the sump, I’d strongly recommend stainless steel or at least chrome plated brass because my unfinished brass regulator is getting some heavy oxidization on it as a result of the salty air under the sump. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

The slimer is getting pretty strong flow. My powerheads have an alternating gyre and it basically comes down right on top of it. Think the bugs could have caused thin branches? Interceptor treatment success so far. Nothing looks mad. At the six hour mark now and am mixing up water for a water change. Amidst the chaos I managed to add my first ever aquacultured acro straight from the source. An ORA Laura’s purple polyp acro. This pic was taken the second after I dried my hands from gluing it down. I cut it from their black plug because I couldn’t break the stem. Also ordered an aiptasia filefish but it was DOA Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Green slimer. Cali tort, a nasuta and a couple other no namers. The slimer is the worst culprit. I started with a single piece, about 4” long and as thick around as my thumb. The new branches on the top are like spaghetti noodles. I’ll post some pics when I get home from the auto shop. You can see the green slimer in the pic above though. Top left of the tank if you zoom. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Also....question for you acro guys. I’m getting very thin branch growth. I know the classic causes for that are weak flow and high nutrients. My po4 has stayed between 0.03-0.07 and no3 between undetectable-2 ppm for many many months now. No odd nutrient spokes. And enough flow to constantly keep making bald spots all over the sand. Any ideas as to why the brittle growth? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks! Just administered the first full tank interceptor treatment this morning. I knew my lack of quarantine would come back to bite me eventually. Oddly enough all the acros are actually growing really well, have passable color and most decent PE. I just know without the red bugs they’d be doing even better Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I have no doubt you’ll enjoy that color though. Mine isn’t the PERFECT combo. Some acros have browned immediately. But what really stands out is the purples. Any purple or violet variation really looks nice under the new lights. Blues tend to wash out purple I feel like. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Changed up the bulb combo. I’ve always really favorited a more natural hue to the tank. Definitely bucks the current trend of heavy royal blue dominated tanks and all the mega photoshopped-amber-lensed rainbow tenuis type things that are so popular now. I still honestly prefer a mid day look. 10k halides with Blue supplement is still my favorite appearance. My tank lately has just been too blue for my taste so I decided to go against the grain and brighten it up. Above are the before and after shots. Top bulb arrangement is Blue+ True actinic Coral+ Blue+ Blue+ Coral+ True actinic Blue+ New arrangement is Blue+ True actinic 6500k Blue+ Blue+ 6500k True actinic Blue+ I’m really enjoying it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks fellas. Very kind words Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks man!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro