My Bacteria Driven Journey

[Tswifty]

I'm heading over to check in on the tank here in a little, and plan on updating the thread/taking some pictures. I've been gone for around 2 weeks... so hopefully I walk into good news.

[mischief nite]

Well?!?

[trueblackpercula]

Let's hope and good luck

[Tswifty]

Just got back and took the first look at tank... and WOW!

Maybe it's because I was away from the tank for so long, but with the increased feedings and amino acid dosing. Almost all my coral's colors have finally returned! Others have shown noticeable progress, and have really begun to darken up. Coraline algae growth seems to have returned, and my rocks are beginning to look nice and deep purple again. Also, all the Maroonish/brown turf algae has vanished.

However, there are some negatives... Bubble algae has gone bananas through the tank. I'm really not sure how to attack it, as nothing I have done thus far has seemed to have any type of effect on it. Also, I noticed a few patches of the deep maroon "fuzzy" algae in the tank similar to the pics RC member newsalt posted on the previous page, but nothing that really concerns me.

Overall I'm thrilled with what I arrived home to. I've got to get some maintenance tasks out of the way, but will hopefully have new pictures soon.

[aquaph8]

Tswifty, Ive had some pretty serious battles with bubble algae. I have never found anything that does a great job of killing it. Ive always had to go with manually removing and rinsing. Its kind of a tough battle, but like anything it just takes patience.

[Tswifty]

I snapped a quick FTS for the progression pic for now. More pics will follow later.

FTS Progression

Aug 9, 2009



Aug 30, 2009



Sept 15, 2009



Sept 20, 2009



October 4, 2009



October 21, 2009



November 6, 2009

[Tswifty]

Aug 9, 2009



Aug 30, 2009



Sept 15, 2009



Sept 20, 2009



October 4, 2009



October 21, 2009



November 6, 2009

[Genetics]

That bubble algae makes me concerned. You may want to think about upping your MB7/vodka dosing or decreasing your AA additions.

[Tswifty]

I'm trying to decide which course of action to pursue. During the 2 weeks I was gone, I doubled AA additions (from 4 to 8 drops per week), and I also increased feedings to twice per day, as well as upped the amount in each portion. I would like to attack one variable at a time, wait a week, then depending on what I see... move onto the next variable if necessary. Here is what I am thinking:

1st - scale back to 1 "normal" portion feeding per day.
2nd - Cut back Amino Acid additions to 6 drop (from 8) per week.
3rd - Make an adjustment to Vodka/MB7 dosage.

[Tswifty]

[elijaher]

Wow tank is lookin better and better.

[mischief nite]

I think you need an army of emerald crabs!

[Robert Patterso]

Well I'm on the bandwagon now. Been dosing MB7 for 2 weeks now and start the vodka tomorrow. Tank is a 140 with approx. 100lbs of rock. 75g sump. There is very little gha in the tank, no bubble or turf algae and the dinos are all but gone. Tank is basically a 140 gal. frag tank right now. Did some testing last night and here is what I came up with.

Ca. 500
Alk. 8.0
Mg, 1400
No3 15-20
Po4 .25

Not to bad other than the nitrates. Po4 definetly needs to come down also.
Tank had been sitting idle for about 18 mos. with no lights over it. Basically was on a slow cook gettin the you know what skimmed out of it. Skimmer got to where it wouldn't pull anything out of it. My wife likes fish so I have a few more than I would prefer but hey she's into it now hook, line and sinker. Have 4 tangs, all small and some other small ones. African Blenny, gobi and black chromis. Some turbo, cerith and astrea snails, and blue leg crabs. Need to get her to learn they won't starve if she doesn't feed 3 times a day.
In the past I did the Blue Coral Method (papone) with great results. Lost that tank due to a power outage That was almost more than I could stand, almost.

Have 800w of Reeflux 12k in Lumenbrights and electronic ballast. New Cone skimmer and we're of to the races.
Only have about 20-25 frags going right now. Not sure we will be adding much more. Well maybe a few more, 6 or 10. Want to let them grow out real well.
We'll see where this journey leads us

[Rodrigo_BG]

Tswift witch brand of aa do you use?

[Robert Patterso]

Originally Posted by Rodrigo_BG

Tswift witch brand of aa do you use?

I believe he uses the Brightwell product. Think that's what i read

[Tswifty]

Originally Posted by elijaher

Wow tank is lookin better and better.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by mischief nite

I think you need an army of emerald crabs!

I've tried a few before, but I always seem to end up with only 1.

Originally Posted by Rodrigo_BG

Tswift witch brand of aa do you use?

As mentioned, I'm using the Brightwell Aquatics CoralAmino. I ordered it from Salty Critter

Originally Posted by Robert Patterso

Well I'm on the bandwagon now. Been dosing MB7 for 2 weeks now and start the vodka tomorrow. Tank is a 140 with approx. 100lbs of rock. 75g sump. There is very little gha in the tank, no bubble or turf algae and the dinos are all but gone. Tank is basically a 140 gal. frag tank right now. Did some testing last night and here is what I came up with.

Ca. 500
Alk. 8.0
Mg, 1400
No3 15-20
Po4 .25

Not to bad other than the nitrates. Po4 definetly needs to come down also.
Tank had been sitting idle for about 18 mos. with no lights over it. Basically was on a slow cook gettin the you know what skimmed out of it. Skimmer got to where it wouldn't pull anything out of it. My wife likes fish so I have a few more than I would prefer but hey she's into it now hook, line and sinker. Have 4 tangs, all small and some other small ones. African Blenny, gobi and black chromis. Some turbo, cerith and astrea snails, and blue leg crabs. Need to get her to learn they won't starve if she doesn't feed 3 times a day.
In the past I did the Blue Coral Method (papone) with great results. Lost that tank due to a power outage That was almost more than I could stand, almost.

Have 800w of Reeflux 12k in Lumenbrights and electronic ballast. New Cone skimmer and we're of to the races.
Only have about 20-25 frags going right now. Not sure we will be adding much more. Well maybe a few more, 6 or 10. Want to let them grow out real well.
We'll see where this journey leads us

Sorry to hear about your loss. A backup power system is one of those things you never think about until it's too late. I too am guilty of this. It's getting towards the winter here now, so I need to get moving on implementing some type of at least temporary solution at the very least.

It sounds like a very nice setup you have going there. Be sure to take pictures as you progress. It's really amazing looking back at where the tank was when I started, and where it is now.

Congrats on starting your journey, and good luck!

[Robert Patterso]

Thanks! Think I'm off to a pretty good start. First dose of vodka went in today along with the low dose of MB7.

[chercm]

any one tried with bio digest ?

[Tswifty]

A pic I really liked of my Blue Tort from today:

[cobra2326]

Didn't you add an algae-eating critter at some point (sea hare)? Do you think that helped more than the Vodka/MB7? I'm still torn in the debate about whether low nutrients alone will keep problem algae at bay, so just looking for opinions...

[Reefer08]

I agree with everyone else on here, dose more MB7! Keep an eye out for brown slime though and reduce as necessary

[boret]

Great progress Tswifty!!
I took the liberty to bundle your pictures together into a couple of animated GIF files to better see the progress.
Here they are:

[saltygeek]

Wow, thats pretty cool boret. You can actually see the coral growing. I cant believe how well the bubble algae took over.

[rsuplido]

Just to join in, here's my 30g after 3 months of dosing vodka. I have the same birds of paradise birdsnest (middle to the right of idaho grape cap) but it's polyps are quite thick compared to Tswifty. I don't have any GHA or bubble algae problems though.

[Tswifty]

Originally Posted by cobra2326

Didn't you add an algae-eating critter at some point (sea hare)? Do you think that helped more than the Vodka/MB7? I'm still torn in the debate about whether low nutrients alone will keep problem algae at bay, so just looking for opinions...

Yes, I added a Sea Hare a while back, but really don't think it made any noticeable impact on the GHA. With how much of it there was in the tank, and how quickly/the way is died off, I feel that the Vodka/MB7 was primarily responsible for my results.

Originally Posted by Reefer08

I agree with everyone else on here, dose more MB7! Keep an eye out for brown slime though and reduce as necessary

I'm going to sit down tomorrow, and try and figure out what my next course of action is going to be. The corals are really starting to color up and many are starting to post consistent noticeable growth now, so I'm not sure if I want to reduce the AminoAcid dosing. So I may increase my Vodka dose. I also need to test the water before I make any decisions.

Originally Posted by boret

Great progress Tswifty!!
I took the liberty to bundle your pictures together into a couple of animated GIF files to better see the progress.
Here they are:

Thanks... that's awesome!

Originally Posted by saltygeek

Wow, thats pretty cool boret. You can actually see the coral growing. I cant believe how well the bubble algae took over.

Yeah, it's a little odd to see how it exploded in just 2 weeks. However, I am happy with the reduction in all the other types of nuisance algae. I have a little bit of the Maroon Turf Algae here and there, but the majority of it has been eradicated.

I'm going to take some time tonight or tomorrow to try and manually remove as much as possible. At this point I'm just thrilled that the color is returning to many of my corals, and will keep plugging away at the algae.

Originally Posted by rsuplido

Just to join in, here's my 30g after 3 months of dosing vodka. I have the same birds of paradise birdsnest (middle to the right of idaho grape cap) but it's polyps are quite thick compared to Tswifty. I don't have any GHA or bubble algae problems though.

Very nice! The tank looks great.

I wrestled with my Bird's of Paradise for a LONG time until I was finally able to get the stubby polyp look to it. I really was disappointed with how it looked when you couldn't see the skin. I finally was able to get the look I wanted with it in high flow... I have it sitting in PAR of around 200-300 as well.

Here are some older pics: