Green hair algae pops up in your tank. Whats the first thing you do? Tank Talk Thursday

[BSchlecht]

No, crocea only get to about 4 inches. They are the smallest of the tridacna.

I have heard rumors of them getting up to 6" but never actually talked to someone directly that can confirm it themselves. It is always a "friend of a friend"

 

[_sludgefactory]

It was only the second clam I ever owned. I bought a new maxima and the crocea died a few days later. I was trying to get three. I still only have one though.

 

[BSchlecht]

A good run for your second clam! I have had pretty mixed results myself. Usually it seems like you will know how it is going to turn out in a matter of weeks though.

 

[_sludgefactory]

The one I have now is doing well. I want to get at least two more and one is going to be a derasa.

 

[BSchlecht]

That sounds sweet. I will keep my fingers crossed for you

 

[scoobysnack77]

There are many supplements most of which deal with colour issues, but feeding supplements would be:
The bacterial 'mulm' that comes off the zeolites when you shake the reactor
Zeofood 7
Coral Vitalizer
ZeoVit AA
Sponge power
Pohl's Xtra

reason why I ask is because sometimes my nutrients drop to zero and I might need something to nourish them until my nitrate and phosphates return a few days after my water change

 

[BSchlecht]

Not to say there aren't benefits to those supplements otherwise, but I wouldn't worry about not having enough nitrate and phosphate in the water unless you are running some sort of ultra low nutrient system like ZeoVit It is true that things like phosphates are critical to biological processes, buy the amounts needed are far below the range of most test kits. Unless your running a ULNS it isn't likely that your ever going to get there Natural seawater levels of those nutrients are at below 0.01, so 0's on your tests for those things are a good thing. It is the levels higher then that you want to be more concerned about. Phosphate prevents precipitation and in amounts higher then .03ppm (still below the test range of most test kits) encourage nuisance algae growth.

 

[_sludgefactory]

I only use the supplements, not the whole system. They work though. People that come buy my frags always ask why my corals are so bright and colorful.

 

[BSchlecht]

I am a fan of sponge power myself. It is also a good one you can use even if you aren't using the rest of the system.

 

[_sludgefactory]

I do coral vitalizer, sponge power, amino acid high concentrate, stylo pocci glow, and iron concentrate.

 

[BSchlecht]

Any particular one your favorite over the others?

 

[_sludgefactory]

Coral Vitalizer is probably the best over all at increasing color and polyp extension. Sponge Power is a close second though. It really makes the tip color move further into the branches.

 

[BSchlecht]

That is an interesting observation. I will have to look for that next time I dose it.

 

[_sludgefactory]

It says that's what it does right on the bottle. From what I've seen what the bottles say, they do.

 

[BSchlecht]

Good point, I have always interpreted "longer color tips" as the tips would grow, not that the color would move from existing point further back into the coral, but that makes a lot of sense. In my experience I have always seen the whole coral improve.

 

[_sludgefactory]

I don't think I like the stylo pocci glow as much. I'm playing with reducing the dosage but it just seemed to make my stylos look washed out.

 

[BSchlecht]

I haven't used that one in a long time. It is designed to reduce the zooxanthellae population so depending on the coral I would imagine you could see some mixed results.

 

[_sludgefactory]

The iron supplement works very well. It's really brought out the green in a corals that was fairly brown before.

 

[BSchlecht]

My experience as well. Just have to be careful not to overdose that one or you might run into increased algae growth.

 

[_sludgefactory]

I've been dosing less than the recommended dosage. I'm going to increase until gets to where I want it.