Coral Euphoria's New Methods

[trevorhiller]

I'm curious if anyone recently saw Abe Tirona's (Coral Euphoria's) new update video on YouTube. He stated that he wasn't getting as good of growth with the heavy in/heavy out method as he used to. He was previously running a simple[r] system with a lot of light coverage, Rowaphos, heavy flow and heavy feeding and limited to no N/P testing. He noted stalled out growth and began carbon dosing w/vinegar which he reported appeared to improve his growth. After this, he has shared his adjusted methods:

1. Carbon dosing w/Vinegar
2. Added Zeolite to his sump baffles
3. Dosing Ammonium Chloride

I'm quite curious on your thoughts on this. He seems to have come up with what I'd describe as a hybrid Zeovit/Elevated Nitrate methodology. The Zeolite is being run in an atypical way (between sump baffles vs a traditional reactor).

I don't know much about the traditional Zeovit method, but I thought they recommend periods of no flow to promote anaerobic bacteria.

He's also dosing Ammonium Chloride to prevent "nutrients" (ie. Nitrates) from bottoming out (although I was under the impression that Zeolite would remove this additive).

He's obviously got an amazing tank and I'm sure he wouldn't share this content if he hadn't been doing it for a while (18 months if I heard the video correctly).

Original Video:


I thought this was an interesting compilation of methodologies worthy of discussion.

 

[LOVEROCK]

Did he say he’s mixing vinegar with calcium cholride ? ,

 

[trevorhiller]

Did he say he’s mixing vinegar with calcium cholride ? ,

Yes he did…

 

[LOVEROCK]

Yes he did…

Is he using it to raise ca , while dosing vinegar

 

[trevorhiller]

Is he using it to raise ca , while dosing vinegar

He didn’t really specify. He said he is adding vinegar and ammonium chloride to his calcium chloride.

 

[LOVEROCK]

Yea I’m wondering why he mixed it together , maybe he’s dosing based on his ca needs ?

 

[trevorhiller]

Yea I’m wondering why he mixed it together , maybe he’s dosing based on his ca needs ?

He previously seemed to like everything streamlined and simple-so I gather the logic is similar to that. One less thing to worry about. However, it’s quite the departure from his previous methodology. It’s why I found it interesting and worth discussing.

 

[Smite]

I asked in the comment section how he came up with his vinegar / calcium chloride ratio but haven't received a response yet. I was curious if he dosed vinegar alone to find his daily consumption to fit his needs, then basically added x amount for the time it takes him to deplete a gallon of calcium chloride in consumption. I believe he's adding 200ml vinegar to his gallon mix. I'm thinking in a 450g acro system and aged as his, thats probably a weekly deal and he can adjust as needed?

I'm interested to hear opinions on this as well and will be tagging along.

 

[trevorhiller]

I asked in the comment section how he came up with his vinegar / calcium chloride ratio but haven't received a response yet. I was curious if he dosed vinegar alone to find his daily consumption to fit his needs, then basically added x amount for the time it takes him to deplete a gallon of calcium chloride in consumption. I believe he's adding 200ml vinegar to his gallon mix. I'm thinking in a 450g acro system and aged as his, thats probably a weekly deal and he can adjust as needed?

I'm interested to hear opinions on this as well and will be tagging along.

Yes I believe in a previous stream he was dosing around 400 mL/day. That was a while ago too, so it’s probably more now. I’m sure a gallon doesn’t last very long and allows him to tweak it.

I am curious about the zeolite logic/method and what people think of that.

I was always under the impression that Zeolites were used with Zeovit ULNS/pale corals but it sounds like he’s sort of using “zeovit” but not worrying about the low nutrients. I am curious if he’s testing again to determine how much carbon source to dose. I’d love to see him do another video to answer some questions about the methodology.

 

[rtparty]

He’s using a method very similar to @SunnyX. Sunny talks about using the zeolites as a way to grow mulm and feed the corals.

I believe @Randy Holmes-Farley has talked about how zeolites can’t remove ammonia. I don’t want to misquote that so I tagged him in case.

I’ve been tempted to try zeolites for a very long time but never ventured into them. I like Abe’s approach much more than adding yet another pump and reactor that has to be cleaned and monitored. Shaking a little basket daily is super easy. I just question what happens if you don’t shake the basket for like a week?

 

[trevorhiller]

He’s using a method very similar to @SunnyX. Sunny talks about using the zeolites as a way to grow mulm and feed the corals.

I believe @Randy Holmes-Farley has talked about how zeolites can’t remove ammonia. I don’t want to misquote that so I tagged him in case.

I’ve been tempted to try zeolites for a very long time but never ventured into them. I like Abe’s approach much more than adding yet another pump and reactor that has to be cleaned and monitored. Shaking a little basket daily is super easy. I just question what happens if you don’t shake the basket for like a week?

I believe zeovit says it doesn’t have to be shaken every day. I do wonder if it could be implemented into a more traditional system as an additional source of bacteria coral food even if not done every day. Some > none???

And if you aren’t running ultra low nutrients, then the corals might not be on the razors edge of death.

I’ve looked into it before, because I dig the strict regimen/hands on daily approach, however I don’t know if I could give up UV/Ozone. That’s mainly why this peaked my interest.

 

[rtparty]

I believe zeovit says it doesn’t have to be shaken every day. I do wonder if it could be implemented into a more traditional system as an additional source of bacteria coral food even if not done every day. Some > none???

And if you aren’t running ultra low nutrients, then the corals might not be on the razors edge of death.

I’ve looked into it before, because I dig the strict regimen/hands on daily approach, however I don’t know if I could give up UV/Ozone. That’s mainly why this peaked my interest.

I wouldn’t give up my ozone. Just have ozone off for a few hours after shaking the zeolites. I only run ozone for 7 hours a day when no one is home anyway so that’s easy enough for my setup

 

[trevorhiller]

I wouldn’t give up my ozone. Just have ozone off for a few hours after shaking the zeolites. I only run ozone for 7 hours a day when no one is home anyway so that’s easy enough for my setup

I do wonder if that would work. The claim used to be that the ozone/UV would kill the bacteria that made the zeovit system work. However, I think that might be theoretical as obviously ozone and UV doesn’t make a completely sterile system.


It seems more and more people are seeing the benefits of ozone, UV, carbon dosing, etc. If they could all work together to make a “bacteria fed system,” while retaining the clarity that ozone&uv bring… that sounds optimal.

 

[Unstoppable algae!]

Would releasing the mulm reduce nutrients more than just carbon dosing or benefit corals by additional feeding ?

I dose troping Marin bacto balance & my nutrients stay stable .06 & 12 but also have wanted to run zeolites in my system for years but never have

If I add zeolites to my setup while dosing bacto balance would my corals benefit from extra bacteria suspended?

 

[trevorhiller]

Would releasing the mulm reduce nutrients more than just carbon dosing or benefit corals by additional feeding ?

I dose troping Marin bacto balance & my nutrients stay stable .06 & 12 but also have wanted to run zeolites in my system for years but never have

If I add zeolites to my setup while dosing bacto balance would my corals benefit from extra bacteria suspended?

I don't think anyone knows that answer and this very question was the gist of this thread. Only one way to find out I suppose...