ummmm... I'm not European.
He is, only he doesn't know it yet
Who else walks to school in the snow uphill
only Europeans!
PSXerholic's 210 Gallon Reef in "Reefcity Houston" ;-)
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He is, only he doesn't know it yet
Who else walks to school in the snow uphill
only Europeans!
clownfish chris
Active Member
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One day my tank will look like this. I am in the Houston area as well. Had the pleasure of seeing Dennis's 210 in person before he moved. Simply stunning. PSX, yours looks just as amazing. I still need to pick up a few frags from Ben's super secret frag room.
Aqua Lab Aquaria
Community Member
Could you please tell us more about your VSV-UV methodology? Very familiar with carbon dosing but trying to understand how you use this in conjunction with UV. Does UV irradiation make it easier to skim bacteria? Very curious!
OP
OP
The secret frag room is stunning, wish I would have a place like that. Definately will get some frag packs from Diesel this year. Never seen such healthy and awesome signature corals before!!!
I brought him my backup Blue Tip Aquamarine Tenuis colony, in trade to a very large signature coral frag. He felt so bad about the colony size I brought, he gave me frags in an estimated value of at least $1000, if I would have bought that online.
For me, the #1 place in Houston, to buy high end corals from with confidence.
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OP
OP
Well, VSV in combination with UV or any other sterilizing methods, honestly sound very contradicting for sure. I was very sceptical as well.
I will cover the details later on VSV for the fellow reefer, but since you seem to be very familiar with carbon dosing I will make it short.
It is in conflict! Somewhat. The original idea on that, I got from Tony from D-D The Aquarium solution.
The VSV actually is for nutrient reduction (mostly), that will avoid the GFO use.
In addition, I needed something to keep the water clear/crispy and Activated carbon is a No-no! Except for emergency cases or treatments.
So the second part of the filtration system is the UV-Sterilizer, 24 hours running, appropriately sized, to avoid too much sterilization that would affect negatively the VSV and bacteria population.
It was a risky game on sizing, but what should I say, it worked. I regulate the Pump that is feeding the UV-Sterilizer (36W for my 260Gallon "system").
The water is crystal clear, very very low colorization, as well less risk of diseases and other parasites in the water column, aaand no activated carbon.
UV is not intended and directly linked to the factor of nutrient reduction, it is more the alternative to avoid the activated carbon, which has in a normal reef tank as well less of a role for nutrient reduction.
Hope that helps a bit for the moment.
OP
OP
Awesome write-up PSX, thank you for sharing your knowledge with us! Looking forward to your detailed posts and glad to see so many awesome tanks coming out of Texas! (Native Texan here!)
Thx, will try to do my best in normal person language, lol
OP
OP
Actually there is a clam, hidden between the corals, on top of the shelf above the cave, in the center of the tank. It found a sunny spot and I wasn't able to relocate it anymore.
Since it grew so much I left it there, not long anymore and it will stick out, since I keep trimming the colonies somewhat.
bmac16
Active Member
Gorgeous reef! I may have missed it, but can you explain why you are saying activated carbon is a no-no? I'm guessing any build up, besides nutrients, are being removed via daily WC instead of AC?
MUSBFRANK
Active Member
Ok I found him, he was camouflaged pretty good, but then again I usually expect them to be on the sand. So another curious question, why clowns? What is it about them that made you want a small village of them?
OP
OP
Should have been more precise.
It's a no go for me!
I have tried many varieties of system configurations and Activated carbon always required far more dosing of trace minerals to keep the desired colorization of corals.
It soaks up the bad stuff, as well a lot of the good stuff.
That being said, don't just pull out your reactor.
Since not using carbon anymore I also considered not dosing anything that brings in undesired chemicals or fancy colored supplements which are plenty on the market. So the best way to handle the export is an automated water change system for a steady export of undesired stuff, as well it supports the import of new trace elements, that you normally can't measure or even supplement.
I experienced great colorization and improved appearance on Corals when I was running without activated carbon for a week or so, but then the water became yellowish, greenish which I do not like.
Also this colorization of the water, is dampening the light on the lower areas of the tank.
The other side of carbon is the dynamics of absorption during the time its being used. Very strong in the beginning with lowering the effectiveness until replaced.
Even with small amounts of carbon and more frequent change (4days) it did affect certain trace elements, also I did not like the fact of investing money in these things.
Running a tank that size is already expensive, so it helps to save some money, and reduces the maintenance efforts.
Many Coral farmers and hobbyists I talked to, had the same experience.
OP
OP
Minoru, loyal frag buyer, lol.
Well, I was afraid about this question being asked so early.
Intention of this thread was to answer all the recurring questions and subjects, my buyers always asking, to help them out.
I will cover the VSV method in a separate post, trying to explain the basic understanding, the relationship to other things, Do's and Dont's as well that it is not that easy as many people describe it. Kind of an easy summary, since there is a lot of opinions out there on this subject.
But.....different kind of bacteria strains require different types of Carbon sources, many more then these 3 in fact, however if you keep doing dosing 1 carbon source only, over the time you run into a (almost)monoculture. So like in nature, a variety of bacteria strains is required for a healthy environment. This is why I'm dosing weekly Biodigest to "re-seed" different bacteria strains. But much more detail will come later, since I'm trying to avoid drifting into the VSV method at this point.
OP
OP
Never had luck with clams on the sandbed over a longer period of time.
And I'm not an expert on clams. However I read somewhere that Clams in nature do live from their zooxanthellae algae if lighting is strong enough to the point that they not really eat filtered food from the water column anymore other then for filtering aminos and nutrients.
I thought that makes kind of sense and place the new clam I got from my wife a year ago when it was maybe 1-1/2" inch. Now it's around 6" and does very well at this sunny spot. Even an injury where I cut a large hole through it's skin, healed and disappeared ;-)
Clowns for Coral food !!!!
Lol, the clowns, I just bred them once for fun and had no idea that the survival rate would be that good, so I kept many of them since I like the behavior in the tank, funny to watch them sleeping in the softies, bubbling up in a ball when the light goes off etc. Also I got so focused on Corals and their colorization that my interest for fish wasn't there.
That is something I will start looking into maybe this year.
Amps Reef Life
That Fish Guy
Beautiful tank man! If I was in Houston i would come visit! Always enjoy seeing another Texas tank . Thanks for sharing!
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