The experiment has begun.

drdude05 · 08-18-2007, 04:43 PM

Well, I just finished hooking up my PhosBan 150. I'm running it with about 20 grams of media in it. I figure this should be a good safe amount to start with based on discussions I've read here at TRT. The directions recommend 1g/gallon. This works out to 240g given my total system volume with the 180 display and sump. The max recommend amount to run per reactor is 200g. So I took 1/4 of the recommeded which worked out to be 50 grams and then it cut that to 20g.

I have sps so I really wanted to be careful.

My experiment is that I have been maintaining 0 levels of PO4 and NO3 on tests for the past 3 months. I regulary siphon excess detritus (2 times a month) with my 30 gallon water change, and have been keeping the Ca at 420 with an alk of ~ 3.2 . My skimmer pulls about 3 - 4 gallons of green tea colored skimmate per week. With all of this, I still have alot of "brownish" sps. I had a purple monti that was very purple when I got it and now it looks more brown - purple than purple. I first tried better lighting by changing out my 10k and 14k hamilton tech 250W MH for 3 10k XM 250's. The result was better growth, but no change in color.

I have 0 hair or other nusiance algae that I can see, but I do clean the front glass of green film algae every 2-3 days.

After reading more here at TRT about how your PO4 test kits can read 0 but you still can have enough PO4 in the water column to affect sps coloration that I decided to hook up a Posban reactor and see if that made any difference.

Of course my null hypothisis has always been I am completely ignorant of coral color and I just have alot of brown sps that looks green under vho's. The only thing against this is the purple monti that now looks brown, so he is the one I am watching.

drdude05 · 08-27-2007, 01:42 PM

Update. The phosban reactor has been up and running for 9 days now. No ill affect such as tissue recession, bleaching, or RTN noted. However, there has been an explosion of growth from both my purple monti cap and my green monti cap. My blue tort has developed an electric blue growth tip, which it did not have previously, and I have noticed three more purple growth tips on one of my other acro colonies.

Also, the green film algae that I normally clean every 2-3 days has slowed in growth. It took about 4 days to reach the same level of coverage as previous.

tiburon · 08-27-2007, 03:00 PM

Are you feeding your corals any live phyto? I noticed my acro frags got very dull colored when I stopped with the live phyto.. so I started it up again and they got their color back.. I was using DTs. That stuff is only good for about 25 days in the fridge once opened.. but if you keep it cold (above freezing tho) and shake it vigorously once a day that will help it last longer.

I ran that same phosban reactor for a while also.. seemed to work pretty well, but I found the rinsing of the media to be tedious.. but I know running one of those is a heck of a lot better than leaving the media in a sack in the sump though!

drdude05 · 08-30-2007, 03:21 PM

No, I have not been doing any regular phytoplankton feedings. The only feeding I do is for the fish. That consists of Forumla 1, Fourmula 2, Nori soaked with Selcon, and a fresh seafood mix I make myself with shrimp, clams, scallops from the grocery store.

I am continuing to see good growth edges as I mentioned before. Would PO4 reduction alone account for the change in coral growth?

Wiskey · 08-30-2007, 04:13 PM

Yes I beleive it would account for the increase in coral growth. Excess phophate can inhibit calsifacation.

I'm glad the experiment is going well for you!
Whiskey

leveldrummer · 08-30-2007, 05:28 PM

ive been looking into this myself, and its really nice to see some having the same simptoms, and having good results with this. i have a calcium reactor that i just need to hook up, and im thinkin of running a phosban setup to see how it does, i had some good growth and color early on, then my cal/alk levels got way off, and i lost a couple things, but everything just stopped growing, since i got my level back, some things are showing some growth tips. but id really like to get some color back, and see what a phos reactor would help.

Mike01z · 08-30-2007, 08:15 PM

hmmm interesting stuff indeed. so the new growth does have color huh,, pretty cool.

drdude05 · 08-31-2007, 12:31 PM

Quote:

hmmm interesting stuff indeed. so the new growth does have color huh,, pretty cool.

Some does. The growth rim of the purple monti cap is a light purple now, previous growth rims were white. My blue tort has developed a bright blue growth tip and looks like another is starting to develop. My green monti still has a white growth rim, just as it did before. My yellow scroll/ridge coral seems to have lightened its yellow color to a more pastel yellow.

drdude05 · 08-31-2007, 12:34 PM

My plan is to leave the reactor at its current media level of 20 grams for the next month. Then I plan to change it out and increase to 30 grams of media and see what happens, unless the color changes start to fade, then I will do it sooner. What I think is interesting is how you really can't trust PO4 readings from test kits. I have a Salifert PO4 kit that kept reading 0. Apparently, PO4 wasn't zero. If I could afford a Hanna PO4 coliremiter I would try checking levels with that instead to see what I would get.

NewFishGirl · 08-31-2007, 01:35 PM

I recently bought a Salifert PO4 kit, too, and when I tested it showed at least some phosphates (some color), but it was really hard to tell how much. Also added a mesh bag of media to the tank that is supposed to remove phosphates.

Sorry to hyjack, but what exactly is a phosphate reactor and how is it different from what I just put in the tank? I'd appreciate any help!

Dagrape · 08-31-2007, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drdude05

My plan is to leave the reactor at its current media level of 20 grams for the next month. Then I plan to change it out and increase to 30 grams of media and see what happens, unless the color changes start to fade, then I will do it sooner. What I think is interesting is how you really can't trust PO4 readings from test kits. I have a Salifert PO4 kit that kept reading 0. Apparently, PO4 wasn't zero. If I could afford a Hanna PO4 coliremiter I would try checking levels with that instead to see what I would get.

I read a thread a while back and I think it was Geoff who is using an ORP probe to measure water cleanliness. Doesn't measure PO4 directly but since that is probably one of the more dominant contaminants if the readings of the probe were high then there is a good chance PO4 levels are high.

drdude05 · 08-31-2007, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Sorry to hyjack, but what exactly is a phosphate reactor and how is it different from what I just put in the tank? I'd appreciate any help

We are referring to the Phosban 150 reactor made by the company Two Little Fishies. It is essentially an acrylic tube that fluidizes phosban (an iron based phosphate absorption media). The reactor foces water through the media for more effictive uptake of phospahate.

drdude05 · 09-06-2007, 07:03 PM

New observations as of today. The green film algae that grows on the front glass has started growing at its previous rate, the new coral growth has started to slow down again, and I noticed that my clam was closed up more than it has been.

I was thinking that I might need a dosage increase in the amount of phosban I am using, but the closed clam makes me think I might need to turn the reactor off for a while. No detrimental effects on the SPS noted.

drdude05 · 09-08-2007, 12:38 PM

Today my clam is back open.

No change in film algae growth so I I'm thinKing I will up the amount in the reactor this weekend. Likely i will use 30 grams of fresh media, and see what happens.

Mike01z · 09-08-2007, 02:46 PM

how do you have your reactor running? in a sump with a maxijet or plumbed into return?