@@MichaelKaldorfishing same here…had to learn that a little bit of algae is a good thing and if you have no algae whatsoever then it is unlikely your corals are getting what they need.

A 6 bulb ATI sunpower is an SPS growing machine - plug and play, just set it and forget it, while watching those sticks grow!

Close observation and learning to recognize when things could go south in the coming days has been absolutely critical!

I think it a must for the overall success of a tank. Looking forward to your next post.

Nice! How old is tank? Any pics posted on any of the reefing forums? I'd love to check it out.

Thank for you tuning in! Hopefully something that was shared will help out your reef!

Thanks for tuning in! I’ve gone down the nitrate dosing pathway as well, adding a couple more fish seems to work better for me and is gentler on the water parameters I think. Less swings. Dosing nitrate means you got to test a little more as well. An added bonus going down the fish route is the potential to pick up some fish that will munch on the algae as well. You get the fish poo your corals need, tank movement, and some algae removal. I am all for a healthy fish load, within reason…not saying we should over stock too much either! A nano is a tough tank because you are definitely more limited on fish options, but I would still get enough of a fish load in there to keep the corals fed :)

@@zburnreefing oh 100% agree with you I lost a 6line wrasse and a 6 spot goby when I was away for a week and because of it I have to over feed with protein rich food and feed a large bubble coral more so it doesn't suck all the nitrate out of my tank hahaha

Thank you! Appreciate the kind words and feedback!

Much thanks; appreciate you checking it out

Agree 100%. The hobby is so transient as too often people fail and then leave to never return. This recipe may not be the absolute best in recent times, but I think it is pretty fail safe and the guiding principles should hopefully allow everyone to succeed. Succeed enough to try new things as well.

@@zburnreefing on the down low, there may be some people working on a project with top level refers creating numerous recipes, based on how they reef.

Really appreciate it, thank you for checking out the video!

Thank you sir!

That sounds like a recipe for success to me!

That is a solid setup for sure! I bet you’re getting really nice growth with that bulb combo. Which 6500k bulbs are you using? They still sell the old GE bulbs?

Thanks for checking it out!

Thanks for checking it out!

Hey there, this particular tank I rarely ran carbon or gfo/phosguard. I did run those on tanks since then for algae control in place of the fuge, however, it was a tricky balancing act and corals always got pale. The fuge I think it just much more gentle and promotes stability which is why I am going back to it for my latest build.

You can run a chaeto reactor. If too expensive, you can make yourself. Or an algae scrubber would be effective too. That being said you don’t have to leverage a refugium to have success either. How big is your tank, do you have a sump, and what do you currently use for nutrient export?

I did not run kalkwasser. Just 2 part using b-ionic at first, but then switched to the cheaper alternative 2 part you mix yourself once corals got larger. I was dosing a lot towards the end though. A hybrid with kalkwasser and 2 part may be a good strategy once things grow in.

To be fair, growth is also some genetic. That ORA green birds nest and monti cap are just fast growers in general. My acros/Milliporas still grew well, but can’t quite compete. Still very happy with how well they grew, so will stick to this recipe again in the new build, which I sort of naturally went away from because I found myself having more funds so picked up other equipment and tried other strategies that ultimately led to a little less success and more frustration imo.

Hi there, yes you want to match salinity, temperature, and if you have acropora I would suggest also matching alkalinity, or getting it close. Now, if your salinity is too high or too low in your tank, when you make your new saltwater you can adjust ever so slightly to help get the tank back to 1.025-1.026, but make small changes and adjustments. You don’t want to shock your tank when doing a water change. Now, if you’re doing a 5 gallon water change on a 100 gallon tank, that is such a small water change you likely won’t impact parameters too much if the new saltwater doesn’t match perfectly. Good luck!

Early on I used b-ionic by ESV then switched to BRS two part mix (soda ash and calcium chloride). The b-ionic although already mixed and convenient, got a little too spendy for my budget once corals really started taking off.

Hey there, hard to make a diagnosis without seeing it, but for brains you’ll want lower light and low flow. It is fairly common for them to puff up at night and retract some when lights come on. If the coral is new give it time (a couple weeks) to adjust. You can also try feeding it to help. If its been in your tank for a while try moving it to lower light and flow and see how it does. Even slightly in the shade may be good to help it adjust.

@@zburnreefing Thanks, I have sub'd. I can email pictures, but alas everyone is busy, so.I have taken several positives steps for improvement, testing all parameters, my all is high 11.3 it was off the chart prior over 14 bad settle TM salt. I do have a thread on R2R. If the coral looks tired at he end of the light cycle I think I should shorten the light period, does that sound correct?

Happy to take a look….zburnsreefing@yahoo.com…how long you running full lights? You have a sense of how much PAR is it getting? Shoot me a message and tell me what lights you are running, etc.

Btw, just let that alk come down naturally and slowly.

mantenlo simple!

@Z Burn I also prefer to build and maintain my Aquariums in a more logical way, prioritizing growth. Big hug.

Would this be an SPS coral your speaking about? Pictures would be needed but my guess based on your description would be tip burn. This results in complete death of your coral tips then algae takes hold. Most common reason is high alk or a recent alk swing in the upward direction in last 2 weeks. You have to remember when this stuff happens to corals and you visibly see it, it usually means the causing event was 1-2 weeks ago. Low nutrients combined with higher alk (i.e., >9) can also cause this. Hope that helps. If Alk is stable and not too high, get another test kit to confirm. Also, make sure your water change water has an alk level close to what you run.

@@zburnreefing absolutely right my alkalinity is high

How old is your tank? Sometimes my tanks have struggled to grow chaeto until they are more seasoned, such as at least a year old. You could try to dose some chaeto gro to see if that helps, maybe you’re lacking in iron, but IMO, I’d just take it offline for 3-6 months, let nutrients build and then try again, but at a reduced light intensity and duration…often you’ll find chaeto will do well for a week or two then burn out…little less light and less duration would help it thrive and allow you to focus on sustaining the chaeto…

@@zburnreefing sweeeeet! Its a fluval 32 my dad handed off to me, i had to move it, i was also moving all the rock and inhabitants over from my previous system which was already having some issues. Its only been running for 4 months but ive had no algae issues at all. Aiptasia only -_-

Great question and a detail I left out. I did dose phyto feast is this tank once a week. I had a red sponge in this tank so that triggered a direct need for phyto. It may have played a role in the growth and overall health of the rest of the corals.

@@zburnreefing thank you. Subscribe

This was a very nutrient dense tank. I ran an entry level skimmer and a decent size fuge full of chaeto. I was also very faithful with weekly 10% water changes. Tank was heavily stocked. I battled hair algae on occasion until the corals grew larger. The corals then became the nutrient exporter. I am a firm believer that when you have a little bit of algae, that is a sign your corals are getting what they need to grow well. It’s hard not to try gfo, carbon dosing, no feeding, etc, when algae appears. At times when I ran gfo in attempt to get rocks clean of algae growth slowed and colors of coral were more pastel. It’s a definite balancing act. I learned to live with a little bit of algae in favor of the growth. Tangs and snails definitely helped me manage it as well.

Some reef roids mixed up in some water with a baster seems to result in a decent feeding response based on polpy extension observation shortly after. However, not here to say that is why that particular tank was successful. It was simply part of my routine - a small part at best. I imagine a few other things I did may lose people as well. Thanks for checking it out for what its worth.

Hey DaB, I think I get where you’re coming from. Appreciate your honesty and expressing your frustration. My apologies if this video came across as BS. I put a lot of time and energy into it and feel it is genuine, but you make some good points and some areas for improvement I need to think about. First, I could have done a better job at the beginning of the video of mentioning who the intended audience this video is for. You’re right, this video is not a comprehensive introduction to reefing for beginners. Many, many, missing pieces, but you gave some good ideas on perhaps for future content I could work on! It was a video I was excited about because I felt this particular tank I showcased was quite successful, growth-wise, and I want to relive the experience in my new build, so producing the video allowed me to think back as to what was unique about this tank vs. more recent tanks I’ve had that haven’t been as successful. I mention this in the video…For example, I went away from refugiums and started getting into carbon dosing, steady use of GFO, among other things, that I think hurt my coral growth rate. But again, much of this is anecdotal and too much to discuss via comments! Regardless, I would like to try to answer your questions: 1. I used a mix of instant ocean (75%) and oceanic salt (25%) for this particular tank. A little unique right? Instant Ocean has an alkalinity that paired well to what I wanted to maintain longterm in the tank. So that helped with stability during water changes, but IO is a little low in calcium IMO, so I mixed in oceanic and that gave me the balance I was looking for (i.e., alk of 9 and calcium of around 460). 2. I made my own water using a 5-stage RODI unit, with a target TDS of 0 ppm. Filters and resin changed out once TDS started to register and the RO membrane was changed every 6 months. I am pretty strict with source water. 3. I dosed basic 2-part (soda ash and calcium chloride), fed fish/fish poo, reefroids once a week, mysis was target fed to LPS corals, and weekly use of phytofeast (just dosed what the bottle recommended for nearly 100 gallons water volume). How much I dosed of 2-part was dependent on coral size and growth rate (i.e., consumption). Need to be careful with over dosing 2 part as you'll get precipitation and in some cases can turn your sand bed into a block of cement. Don't ask me how I know! It also can slowly increase salinity. I didn’t dose magnesium as weekly water changes kept it stable and elevated enough. Though less frequent water changes would require dosing. 4. Target parameters: Alk 9, Calcium 460, Mag 1350. Who knows what phosphate or nitrates were in this tank; I never tested them. I have to be honest; it is what it is. I think this is another reason why my corals did so well. Once I got a hanna phosphate checker and was examining nitrates in later tanks, I started chasing numbers and it hurt coral coloration and growth IMO. That macroalgae was key I think…it pulls out nutrients and does so in a gentle fashion vs. other means (carbon dose, GFO, etc). that can promote instability if not careful. 5. I don’t have an extensive chart that tracked water parameters over the course of the year. That information would definitely support a more robust experiment and increase the strength of my findings/observations! So take the video for what its worth and to some, I get it, seems like BS. The goal of the video was just to share my experience. I noted that there are multiple ways to enjoy this hobby so take what was shared and only attempt to integrate if something resonated with you. I believe 100% you can have the same experience using different techniques. In terms of your comment about a “new” guy, I agree, most everything would be lost in the first month if all they did was watch this video and start stocking their tank. I have never lost anything in the first month because I wouldn’t recommend having any coral in the tank until a more established biome becomes apparent. That usually takes me to about month 2 or 3. I need to see pods frequenting the glass in the night and a few other things before I try a tester coral! Hard to have this kind of patience as a beginner though (I certainly didn't have it early on). Thanks again for checking out the video!

Thank you! I’m glad something I shared paired up with your experience or resonated with you in some way.

Btw, I’m a big fan. Love your channel!