Reef nutrition

Back in action & upgraded - 60g journal

March '21 update:
Paused dosing NeoNitro and feeding HPD. Nitrates slowly crept past 20ppm, and the PO4 introduced by the HPD mix (likely from the ReefChile) was a pain to manage. I tried lanthium chloride, which was detected in my latest ICP. So, I stopped that and switched to passive flow GFO, which ended up being such a chore to maintain and get the right amount of depletion without a huge drop. I've found that decreasing the fuge photoperiod is more than adequate at keeping NO3 at a suitable level -- so that's that.

Regarding lighting, I've increased the T5 photoperiod (all B+) to 11hrs, which equals 10hrs of max intensity when combined with the Radion peak.

As far as blunders, I was excited to see a huge uptake in Alk consumption over the past couple of months -- more than double my previous dosing volumes. However, the visual, observable growth did not match the consumption numbers. I ended up finding what looked like white slime near my return pump and heater and freaked out. Upon cleaning, I noticed it was a hard substance rather than slime: Inorganic coral skeleton growth, folks. Realizing the removal of my home-grown coral would create a spike in my alk, I had to drop my dosing and monitor alk values closely over the past couple of days. So far so good, but my alk spiked by 1dKH over a day. Crossing fingers that I don't have any aftereffects from this.
 
... Nitrates slowly crept past 20ppm ... I've found that decreasing the fuge photoperiod is more than adequate at keeping NO3 at a suitable level

Decreasing fuge photoperiod? Does chaeto consume more NO3 in dark?

I just started running a chaeto reactor a month ago. My PO4 bottomed-out so I cut reactor flow back to 25% of max and cut photo period from 8 to 4 hours. PO4 at 0.03 now. My NO3 hasn’t budged yet; ~20 consistently. But I am seeing GHA in nooks and crannies receding.
 
Decreasing fuge photoperiod? Does chaeto consume more NO3 in dark?

I just started running a chaeto reactor a month ago. My PO4 bottomed-out so I cut reactor flow back to 25% of max and cut photo period from 8 to 4 hours. PO4 at 0.03 now. My NO3 hasn’t budged yet; ~20 consistently. But I am seeing GHA in nooks and crannies receding.
My chaeto fuge has an opposite effect on nutrients: low NO3 & and little to no effect on PO4, so I've been trying to get my nitrates up. Decreasing the photoperiod, I've found, helps maintain detectable levels of nitrates.

IME, chaeto consumes more NO3 during the light period (rather than dark). It's good you have a chaeto reactor because my passive flow fuge -- with only one light intensity setting -- can be quite challenging to tweak to desired levels.
 
April '21 Update:
Discovered the main reason my NO3 was able to creep up was because of salt splash on the fuge light. NO3 dropped quite substantially after cleaning off the light. Then like a dumbass, I decided to swap a couple T5's unnecessarily, frying a handful of corals on the top shelf. NO3 is slowly creeping back up after some major chaeto grooming plus NeoNitro dosing. Lost a few choice pieces, but overall, filling in quite nicely.

Found the pro setting on my Galaxy Fold, so here's an update vid: https://www.instagram.com/p/CNworg_AkPZ/?igshid=123vjvn967v8d
 
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April '21 Update:
Discovered the main reason my NO3 was able to creep up was because of salt splash on the fuge light. NO3 dropped quite substantially after cleaning off the light. Then like a dumbass, I decided to swap a couple T5's unnecessarily, frying a handful of corals on the top shelf. NO3 is slowly creeping back up after some major chaeto grooming plus NeoNitro dosing. Lost a few choice pieces, but overall, filling in quite nicely.

Found the pro setting on my Galaxy Fold, so here's an update vid: https://www.instagram.com/p/CNworg_AkPZ/?igshid=123vjvn967v8d
If only i choose 2 icons at once. Like the up trend, dislike the loss
 
Updated pic of the "growing" side:
20210423_194024-01.jpeg
 
Once all your sps frags take off and turn into colonies you're going to have very crowded tank! ...and that's a good thing.
Very nice tank, even better in person.
 
Rare glimpse of the front of my fruity pebbles. Was cleaning up the glass and had to move the rack ...so flipped around for a frontal :D.

I almost never see this side myself...
20210504_205940.jpg
 
Rare glimpse of the front of my fruity pebbles. Was cleaning up the glass and had to move the rack ...so flipped around for a frontal :D.

I almost never see this side myself...
View attachment 26764
Nice! I have to squint to see the rainbow colors on mine.
While i was at it... here are your other babies... through clean glass... hah.View attachment 26767View attachment 26768View attachment 26769
...hmmm...what was the middle one again?...lol

BTW, how's the Royal Flush going? Ended up getting the Death Grimace -- losing patience for a nice Flush frag to go on sale. This is my 2nd piece (see middle):
20210504_235849-01.jpeg

The first one RTN'd overnight, and this one is the DOA replacement. I'll have to admit, it's pretty lackluster for the price -- and definitely not as nice as your Royal Flush. But the first one, you can tell was showing off its death-glow, with all pink fluorescence and no zooxanthelle. Shame...hopefully, this one colors up nicely.
 
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Nice! I have to squint to see the rainbow colors on mine.

...hmmm...what was the middle one again?...lol

BTW, how's the Royal Flush going? Ended up getting the Death Grimace -- losing patience for a nice Flush frag to go on sale. This is my 2nd piece (see middle):
View attachment 26783
The first one RTN'd overnight, and this one is the DOA replacement. I'll have to admit, it's pretty lackluster for the price -- and definitely not as nice as your Royal Flush. But the first one, you can tell was showing off its death-glow, with all pink fluorescence and no zooxanthelle. Shame...hopefully, this one colors up nicely.
2nd one is the MattV psycho asylum...

The royal flush is ok. Lost some color but slowly coming back. It grew into my JF Sunday Driver...and surprisingly no fighting. So letting the two meldba bit and see what happens. Hopefully I don't wind up losing both. The JF SD is worth 2 - 3 of the royal flush. Hah...
 
I thought about the death grimace in their last sale but have been on the fence... hopefully yours will color up and you can give me your irl assessment
 
July '21 update:
Things have been quite stable -- never growing as much as I'd like but stable nonetheless. Hair algae has become a nuisance, tho', but NO3 is also between 30-40ppm. Maybe I'm also running too much warm whites on the Radion...eh, whatever...sticks don't seem to mind. That reminds me, maybe I should clean off my fuge light for salt spray.

Anyways, I got tired of the huge colonies of cloves and birdsnest in the middle of the tank -- felt like it was obstructing the view and asthetically made the tank look more shallow. So, I decided to replace with a Tonga (replica) branch. I'm really-really-really liking the open feel with the new scape. Plus, it gives me more room for.... You guessed it: MORE CORALS! Hoping to make this spot my LPS garden. Here, have a look-see:
20210715_214318-01.jpeg


FYI: I now have colony-sized chunks of fireworks cloves if anyone is interested: https://barcode.bareefers.org/bc/frag/1217
 
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