Coral Color

[tike]

Well i just finished reading a thread on that "other" forum about AA and zooplankton to give your corals more color. Interesting....I am having color probs
( all params are REALLY good) and so i am thinking about it. Does anyone here dose AA and zooplankton in their tanks? Good, bad or indifferent?

 

[returnofsid]

IMO, the majority of color issues with corals involves lighting, flow and proper skimming. For instance, I have great lighting but a POS skimmer, soon to be replaced. I think I'll see an improvement in color after that. I don't know what AA is, but I do feed my corals zooplankton and have seen it effect color as well.

 

[tike]

AA= amino acids. My lighting is fine, has been for the 1.5 years I have been using it. The color drop came from RB infection. That's all done with now, however a few of my corals are showing no improvement on color. it could very well be i just need to sit on my hands and WAIT!:badgrin::lol:

 

[treehugger]

i tried using phycopure for a bit and noticed a huge change in color and general health in some of my corals while others seemed to care less...and that stuff was expensive for the majority to care less about... good lighting, flow, skimming and good parameters are the most important thing...although a good feeding is always welcome i find

 

[OldFishMan]

Hello;

IMHO --- I read a lot about Plankton. Where there is little Plankton in certain areas of the Ocean --- a lack of nutrients are almost always the cause --- Nitrate, Phosphate, Silicate and in some areas Iron. These are just the nutrients most limit from their tanks for Algae control. I supplement my tank for these nutrients and feed a little home made food once a week. I started my tank with live substrate and rock and feel I need to feed Plankton to help keep them alive.

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"Put a drop on a slide and look at it with a microscope, if the stuff is moving everything is okay. If is is not moving, change water!"

Enjoy!

OFM

 

[tike]

Hello;

IMHO --- I read a lot about Plankton. Where there is little Plankton in certain areas of the Ocean --- a lack of nutrients are almost always the cause --- Nitrate, Phosphate, Silicate and in some areas Iron. These are just the nutrients most limit from their tanks for Algae control. I supplement my tank for these nutrients and feed a little home made food once a week. I started my tank with live substrate and rock and feel I need to feed Plankton to help keep them alive.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Put a drop on a slide and look at it with a microscope, if the stuff is moving everything is okay. If is is not moving, change water!"

Enjoy!

OFM

What do you use to supplement with?

 

[burning2nd]

took a good 6 months after my lighting upgrade... b4 i started to see some color improvement.... i saw loss from the switch... but thats my fault.

 

[OldFishMan]

Dosing Suppliments

Hello;

tike666 -- I use a mixed bag really. I dose Iron in the forms of an Iron tablet every couple of months and I use Flourish which has many things people usually do not add to Reefs. I like my Live Rocks/glass with a nice green tint and I know I am growing Phytoplankton. For Zooplankton I mix up raw seafood (a medley I get at Wal-Mart or Cosco) and some vitamins with trace elements in a blender until liquid (small particles still) and feed every other day. Once a week I feed at night after lights out for things that are out at night.

I turn off all filters and leave a circulating pump on only --- I usually let it flow around for 30-minutes. I have a UGF on the left side of my tank and it pulls this into the substrate for feeding and the worms and others in my deep sand bed on the right side of the tank come out to feed.

When I turn off all lights (DARK) and wait 1-2 hrs at night and then check with a red light there is a lot in the water moving around and my substrate and Rocks have a lot of life moving about. I feel this small larva and green Algae spores helps me keep Gorgonians and other species alive in my tank.

I do not recommend this unless a good sump or refugium is on the tank with a lot of plant life to use the extra Nitrate, Phosphates, etc,. Most tanks will just break out with an Algae bloom of some kind without something (plants) to consume the nutrients.

I should add I have over 50 hermits and many more snails for a cleanup crew.

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Enjoy!

OFM

 

[matts125]

I just started using Seachem amino acids and with in 1 weeks started seeing tremendous growth and color improvments, and my tank wasa really fast grower and great color before.
I dont feed very often in my tank and this may be part of the reason i am getting such great results but never the less the amino acids ROCK!!!! I highly recomend them...

I will begin using Elos brand amino acids as soon as I make a trip to Barrier Reef to get some..

Matt

 

[matts125]

Hello;

tike666 -- I use a mixed bag really. I dose Iron in the forms of an Iron tablet every couple of months and I use Flourish which has many things people usually do not add to Reefs. I like my Live Rocks/glass with a nice green tint and I know I am growing Phytoplankton. For Zooplankton I mix up raw seafood (a medley I get at Wal-Mart or Cosco) and some vitamins with trace elements in a blender until liquid (small particles still) and feed every other day. Once a week I feed at night after lights out for things that are out at night.

I turn off all filters and leave a circulating pump on only --- I usually let it flow around for 30-minutes. I have a UGF on the left side of my tank and it pulls this into the substrate for feeding and the worms and others in my deep sand bed on the right side of the tank come out to feed.

When I turn off all lights (DARK) and wait 1-2 hrs at night and then check with a red light there is a lot in the water moving around and my substrate and Rocks have a lot of life moving about. I feel this small larva and green Algae spores helps me keep Gorgonians and other species alive in my tank.

I do not recommend this unless a good sump or refugium is on the tank with a lot of plant life to use the extra Nitrate, Phosphates, etc,. Most tanks will just break out with an Algae bloom of some kind without something (plants) to consume the nutrients.

I should add I have over 50 hermits and many more snails for a cleanup crew.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enjoy!

OFM

This is a very difficult and dangerous way to feed a tank, as stated at the end of your post. I would not recomend anyone using this method or any similar method unless they understand and are able to remove the amount of phosphates, nitrates and possibile spikes in amonia that will result from the feeding.
sounds similar to the Blu coral method...

I would love to see some pictures of your tankand more details on its specs, it sounds very interesting...

Matt

 

[OldFishMan]

Hello;

My stats are all zero, that is why I have to dose. When my rocks and my front glass starts to lose the green tint I know I need to dose again. Also, I never have an Ammonia spike, I use a UGF (underground filter for the young readers) on the left 1/3 of my tank under 3-inches of Aragonite gravel. I have a 3-inch deep sand bed on the other side of my tank covered with 1/4 to 1" of Aragonite gravel. I have an overflow to a 10-gallon sump filled with Chato Algae. (Main Tank)

I have 10-fresh water and 3-salt water tanks.

I filter through a Fluval with fine (stacks of filter pads, then polyester fill, Ceramic tubes and finally Carbon) and I rinse all but the Ceramic media with tap water to clean. Once a week, usually on Sunday, I remove my Fluval and dump the water, when I finish cleaning I fill it with fresh mix. Every couple of months I vacuum my substrate over my UGF, this usually amounts to an extra 10-15 gallons of water changed.

This has been called "Old School" etc,. but I do not ever worry about over feeding. I have always mentioned I do have Algae, and some hair Algae. My tank does not look perfect, and I do not have much hard Coral (SPS or LPS), I grow a lot of Coralline and I dose 2-part to raise, and dose Kalkwasser 2X with Vinegar (45-ml per gallon) to maintain.

I use a Corallife Super Skimmer and skim wet. I have found it to be one of the most sensitive skimmers, it will start to remove any addition (iodine, vitamins, etc,.) immediately after addition and it skims the most during the day about 1/2 hour after feeding.

IMHO -- Ammonia is the killer in Aquaria, and I always use a UGF on all of my tanks along with a mechanical filter of some kind. I have about 1-lb per gallon of Live Rock and do not want to add to my rock. If I relied on Live Rock alone for all filtering @ 1.5 to 2-lbs per gallon I would use RO/DI and limit everything I put in my tanks.

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"When we are told something long enough, we tend to believe it!"

"Some Athiest, Somewhere"
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Enjoy!

OFM