gregoryleonard;920623 wrote: Awesome pics of your livestock Seth. Would love to see it in person. always admire a nice mature tank.
What are your regular husbandry duties and frequency if you don't mind sharing? Any dosing or supplements on a regular basis?
Thanks Greg, just let me know when you're in my neck of the woods.
My standard big three stay at:
dKH 9-10
Ca 450
Mg 1350
Dosing- None
I do keep on hand 2 part and Premixed Mag Chloride/Sulfate but rarely if ever use them. I usually only do when I have to change out my Ca Reactor media and the tank needs supplementation until the reactor is fully online. (Takes a couple weeks after a fresh media change.)
How do I keep Mg up?
Two things in the Ca Reactor. Dolomite and a top secret mystery media. (It's still in experimentation stage and I can't talk about it.) I have the reactor PH set point down to 6.35 to ensure the dolomite dissolves at a decent rate.
Supplements-
Seachem Trace Elements and Aquavitro Vibrance (Iodine). I also use Seachem Phyto and Zooplankton as a tank additive per the bottles recommended dosage if not more. I think the Phyto is only good for the clam and my sun coral's offspring. I have hundreds of sun coral heads all over the underside of LR and back wall of the tank. That seemed to coincide with starting to use Phyto over a year ago.
Feeding-
I use a ton of cyclopeze. Also like to use rotifers and oyster eggs once a week.
I do 30g a week of automated water changes on a ~200g TWV system. About 4 gallons a day everyday of the week. I will do at least 2-4 "manual" (and I use the word very loosely) 30g WC's a month on top of that.
I love Salinity salt and it's accounted for 50% of the total salt I've used. I'm forced to use either IO or RC the other half. Since my WC is automated I have to keep a container of premixed salt circulating for a week. Doing that with Salinity won't work since it's designed for immediate use and quickly precipitates out. That leaves me to use Salinity for my "all at one time WC's" and the other salt's for my automated WC's.
*I've since stopped using regular IO at all and using RC in its place. It's simply not formulated or designed for the demands of a reef tank and it shows IMO.
I will admit there's one other HUGE factor I'm not mentioning here. I didn't come up with the idea for it but I think it's working for me and I don't think it would work for most. <u>Dual light cycles</u>. I do 6 on and 6 off. For anyone who thinks all you need to do is change your light timers and you're good, you're not. You are effectively doubling your tanks equipment and nutrient needs and nutrient export. You are also doubling your current tank's monthly upkeep costs.
Double everything-
Salt
Bulb replacement
Energy costs
Food
Supplements
GFO
Carbon
etc, etc, etc...
I'm not saying I know what I'm doing by any means. I don't even know if I'm happy with all my own results. But, if you think what I've done is good in your opinion, there's some info for you. I didn't spill EVERYTHING but there's enough to point someone in the right direction if they think it's where they want to go. Everything I know about reefing I learned here. Not all in one spot or from the same person. Just pass it on. We all learn from each others successes as much as we do from mistakes. I try to be humble enough to share them both.
