Mike M.

It is only too much when the flesh blows off in a couple of days. Until you have really large and dense colonies, this is not an issue. Don't wear yourself out on this issue.

I am selling my calcium reactor. It is a two year old Precision Marine. It has a new flow restrictor valve and new o-rings. In addition, this package includes a 10lb CO2 bottle and a Milwalkee CO2 controller.

The reactor was modded to allow use of a controller.

Your gift with purchase will be a bucket of reactor media to get you started. CO2 bottle is about 1/3 full still.

Package deal, no part out. $325

I'd like to sell my wavebox. It is the full size 6212 with mounting magnets and a brand new impeller. This is the new, blue impeller that is more durable. Unit is in good to excellent condition. I used it on a 4' long tank. It worked just fine on that length.

$325

I'm located Anderson Mill at 183.

Mike

Thanks for the heads up. I have a 30% off coupon for entering their Checker Contest that i want to use for just this purpose!

Regardless, it was nice to see some hard numbers and in real life it doesn't really matter because both Tunze and Vortech are used in top notch systems around the world.

I agree completely with Robb. The "numbers" don't really matter. Sure they do for arguments sake and "relative" comparison, but honestly, they are great pumps, they move water dependably, and the customer support, especially here in Austin, is fantastic.

I do believe that Roger and Axel with soup up their pumps to bring them near their long time advertised specs, but really, does it truly matter? They can be mounted at a 90 degree angle to the side of the tank. Vortech's can't. That's what they can do that Vortech cant. They are also very, very, very silent and I listen to my MP60 and my new MP10 make their own unique sounds each evening sitting on the couch. So if you want to play the "look at how smart I am" game on internet forums, this article makes good ammunition, in the wet fingered world of reef keeping, these test results don't make a hill of beans bit of difference. I still like my Tunze pumps.

Mike

I had a sump built for me at GC. They actually worked well for me and the sump worked great with no leaks over a year before I reconfigured. They do not build a beautiful tank like AGE, but for the money, they got the job done. I wouldn't have a huge display made by them, but I did want to share that I had a decent experience personally. Remember, it is the unhappy customers that make the most noise. You never hear from the happy ones. You usually only hear the cacophony of the unhappy ones.

Thanks for looking. I sold both my 6105's on Reef Central in 35 minutes for $200 each. Hot market there!

And that my friends is why we buy Tunze gear in Austin Texas. Roger is the best!

Based on my last four months of pain, I'd take the phosban offline. You are at a ULNS state. No need to worry that anything phosphate wise will get out of control in a few weeks without the phosban. Take your carbon out also if you are running carbon.

In addition, if you are carbon dosing, using biopellets, zeo, microbacter or any other nutrient control method like GFO, take it offline until your stuff recovers. Then add back slowly if you are think like I am that you are in a stressed, malnourished state.

it seems like my corals are starting to die.. at least it looks like it.

I recently added more t5 lighting to my tank and thought that would help with growth. My water parameters have always seemed ok.. I tested them today see below for results.

ammonia - 0ppm

nitrates - 0ppm

nitrites - 0ppm

calcium - 520ppm

alkalinity - 8dKh, 2.85Meq/L, 143ppm

magnesium - 1200ppm

phosphates - 0ppm

salinity - 1.025

I have been dosing strontium and Magnesium

anyone have any advice? Thanks...

Based on your photos and a review of your test results, I don't think it is a light issue at all. I have recently come through a very similar situation and it was only after I stopped chasing the things recommended to me and the things that everyone usually blames that I realized my corals were starved. Yup...malnourished and stressed. Your SPS look just the same and with zeros for test results down the column, you tank looks to be just like mine when it went into slow necrosis, weak color purgatory. My solution was to dose Amino Acids, feed heavily, and then two weeks ago, I added enough potassium nitrate to bring my nitrates up to 4 ppm. That's right, I ADDED nitrate.

So, if you don't get improvement in the next week with adjusting your light, give some thought to heavier feeding, turning off any carbon dosing and bacteria dosing, reduce biopellet or zeo flow, and let your nutrients come up. Get a Red Sea Coral Pro Nitrate Test kit and see where your nitrates are. I think you tank is starved.

Mike

I have been questioned about the term "grindy" with regard to the MP60. Maybe the word should have been "whiney". You can hear it ramp up and down when on the modes that vary the speed of the pump dramtically. Both of these pumps, Vortech and Tunze, are extremely quiet when operated on an single speed setting and not at 100%. If you need silent, you will need to forget the variable speed modes for either pump as they both make noise. Sorry folks, there is no silver bullet for this one. It is why I use the various profiles with my APex unit to ensure I get silent operation when I need it and then variable modes when I am not home to hear it.

THis is not an adjustable ballast. It is available along with the used ballast.

Bryan,

bottom line is that they both make noise, they just make different noises.

The Tunzes are extremely quiet if not run on a variable speed program. They are extremely quiet if you don't have a big hood to act like a resonance chamber.

Now, if you have them run from 30%-100%, they drone and under a hood, at least in my case, they drone loudly.

You are right, the Vortech product makes that "grindy" racket when it is on reef crest, or tidal, or pulse modes etc. That's why I bought an MP60...I run it no faster than 60% and it is relatively quiet.

My Tunzes run off the Apex controller and they have a nice interface. It isn't as fancy as the Vortech modes on the WXM module, but they control nicely off the Apex controller nonetheless. I think you would do well in moving to the Tunzes if noise is a big problem for you like it is for me and you don't want to pony up for an MP60.

They are both excellent products and the MP40 is nice if it isn't run full bore, just like my MP60. During TV time, my MP60 runs at 10% and my Tunze(one now) runs at 30-50% and I can't hear either of them.

During the day, my Tunze runs 50-70% and I can hear it droning under the hood. Conversely, I can hear the MP60 "grinding" away also. For me the ability to control them and program for having the higher output noisier times when I am asleep or away and then it goes into "quiet" mode when I am home here on the couch.

I think you would do fine adding a 6105 to your tank and dialing the MP40 way back. That would be best of both worlds.

I have used this pump for a little over a year. It just came off the tank and was working perfectly and quietly prior to removal. I am steam lining my setup and my Vortech MP60 is adequate with only one of my two 6105's on the tank. I'd like to move it out so I have less wires and junk on my system and less stuff hanging around my garage. $195

This pump is excellent in a 4 foot wide tank. Controls back with an Apex controller to work super in any size tank. I have the Apes cable that I can sell for another $15 if you want the cable also.

I had a warranty issue that resulted in me getting a new ballast sent to me from Coralvue. It took so long to get it worked out that I put in Lumateks in the meanwhile. I need to sell this. It has never been fired. Asking $85

I also have a used Coralvue ballast with 18 months use at 6 hours per day for sale. I would like $75 for it. Pictured is the new ballast.

Did you receive my information on the calcium reactor?

Sounds like the consensus is for using dead stuff these days. I have had my live rock eight years or so and put the tank together back when dead rock wasn't even being talked about.

All that said, I recently purchased 50lbs of the BRS dead rock. I used it to fashion a rock facade around the frag rack I built for Fat Jack, our little 60 gallon LED experiment tank. I really liked working with the "cheap" rock and used an auger bit to drill holes to mount frags in and such. It allowed me to customize the rock work for the tank in ways that I have not been able to do with "live" rock.

Now, when I put it in the tank...holy mother of algae blooms Batman! It cycled out with the carbon dosing I was doing at the time in about three weeks, but the mat of algae that it propagated was truly unbelieveable. So what you are being instructed about curing it is completely correct and I would urge you to use a good 6-8 weeks to cycle your tank. I would recommend something like microbacter 7 or zeobak and a carbon source to help things along and then you'll probably need a sea hair, emerald crabs, and snails down the road to deal with the algae. I was amazed at what work the emerald crabs did on the hair algae once I put them in the tank. They are great janitors!

If you want to dabble with zeo products, here is what I would suggest:

First, if your corals are not dark, stay away from B Balance and ZeoSpur.

Zeo Start 2 and 3 are carbon sources and you do not need that.

Food7 - Coral food/bacteria food-I think this is a useless or of little use supplement. Don't buy this one either

Coral Vitalizer and Sponge Power - Dose 4 drops of each 3-4 times per week in a 100 gallon system. If you have a bad case of majanos or aptasia, don't use Sponge Power. It is rumored to aggravate growth of those pests. Otherwise, these two are two of the cornerstones of the Zeo regimen. I like them and feel like they are part of the success I had with zeo.

Pohl's Xtra Special - This is my second most favorite after the Coral Vitalizer and Sponge Power supplements. 3mL twice per week. Helps with reds.

Potassium/Iodine/Fluoride- 4-6 drops 2-3 times per week. This will bring up your blues and purples

Coral Snow-waste of time

Jod Complex-Another iodine supplement. Good for purples

Amino Acids-2-6 drops 2-3 times per week. IF you polyps are dark, discontinue using amino acids. If your corals are light, use more.

So there it is. Coral Vitalizer, Sponge Power, Iodine in some form, and Pohl's Xtra Special That's my team of zeo favorites.

There are users running both zeolites and biopellets. There is the danger of OVER CLEANING the water. Zero nutrients is not the goal and if there is any question, just come look at how I killed about $3000 worth of colonies when I took the tank near zero on nutrients. It has taken me several months to diagnose this and at this point, I am certain that you can crash a tank trying to get to ZERO PHOSPHATE. So, learn from me...zero is not the goal in ULNS systems. If you are successful with biopellets, stick with it, but don't add additional carbon/bacteria systmes running concurrently or you WILL crash your tank and it will likely make you cry!

I'm going to cut to the chase on all this. You cannot water change your way out of a nitrate or phosphate problem. There, I drew a line in the sand. In addition, you can reduce those levels too quickly and cause STN to begin in your stoneys so don't get in a hurry(i.e. a huge load of GFO)

I suggest a slow approach. Take weeks or month or two to begin reducing your nutrient levels via use of the BioActiv Salt you mentioned which I do believe is a good product and then using a carbon source... I would suggest ZeoStart3 and Zeo Bak. Dosing 3 drops of Zeo Bak three times a week and 1mL ZeoStart 3 daily and you will get the problem under control in an ordered fashion. Pick your alk point and run it there. If 10 is your bag, then 10 it is, but if you do dose bacteria and carbon, you'll find your tank will run near seven.

Get a Hanna Checker and monitor phosphate. When you get between .02-0.04, reduce your carbon dosing by 50% so as not to over reduce the tank. At that point, everything should be looking super. 5 gallon weekly water changes for your tank at the most. Don't rock the boat with water changes. They are overrated in my mind.

Run your magnesium at 1300 and calcium 380-420. Higher isn't better like Mark said.

Skim, skim, skim.

This ought to fix you up!

I'll TAKE THE CLAM! I'LL PM!

I use double ended 250watt MH bulbs for my tank. I am thinking about replacing the bulbs. Currently I have 12k reeflux bulbs, but I don't think they are giving me enough PAR.

Any suggestions/recommendations on bulbs?

Thanks

Troy

Concerning your concern about PAR, there is a growing group of opinions that we over light our reef tanks. Your 250W DE lamps are A-okay. Putting a higher K lamp will lower PAR so take that into consideration. The Reeflux lamps you were using will grow SPS and anything else...so will the Phoenix 14K. If you feel like you are not achieving ideal growth rates, look to your chemistry stability and husbandry as the source of the problem. Most young reef keepers believe that a certain lamp or circulation pump or wave box will solve the growth rate problem. It just isn't true. If it was, we'd all have tanks of the month! I have grown more and more convinced that you can use whatever lamp you want and get good growth. An excellent example is the current fad amongst the local SPS guys for using these $20 Plusrite lamps. Shoot, I may even change to them next when my ungodly expensive Aquaconnect 14K's get to their replacement point.

Another interesting change locally is Hydro's move or rumored move to 250W lamps from 400W. Once again, growing opinion that we overlight our tanks.

So I'm not trying to cause a poop storm, but instead, keep you from feeling like you need to chuck huge dollars into a variable of your husbandry that in all likelyhood is not as critical to growth as you have been led to believe by all the attention paid to what lamp people us and their obsession with dissecting the "numbers" on the ballast and lamp pairs.

Mike

I think your best bet is to remove the rock that is most infected with the aptasia, use Aptasia X, boiling freshwater, or one of the many other creative ways to mechanically kill aptiasia, reduce bioload on the tank and figure it will take 6-12 weeks to get in control. That's the sort of approach I have used in the past with Velonia and Aptasia.

Hey K!

What model Poseidon PUmp is that...T1,T2,T3 or T4?

The Apple Air Ports work flawlessly with the Apex controllers. Not the least expensive, but the user interface is for mere mortals as compared to that Windows based PC stuff. Just FYI.