jhnrb-150 reef

hmmm, I never thought about feeding the corals when the lights are out. it makes sense as that is when their feeder tenticles are out. hmmmm. I am thinking of target feeding, even though I have never done it and have not thought they need target feeding, but I have not seen the explosive growth others have. Not sure what to feed it, maybe mix of cyclopeeze and reef plankton. What do you think? put that in a squeeze bottle and go to town on them once a week or so? would that work John?

-Doc
 
feeding is a sensitive area. you have to be carful here or your water quality will deteriate quickly. I am a heavy feeder, but, I have also a bunch of filtration and equipment to off set the bad effects of feeding. I use, cube krill, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, cyclopes, rotifers, kent marine three step liquid, and kent marines pyto, and photo plankton. corals are fed every other day at least and are fed at night at least 2 times a week, I also use cyclopes eez powder, squid, and have used small chunks of ocean shrimp soaked in selcon etc. so, I do not have a regiment of which food is fed only what I want to feed and change foods ofter to give all a variety. oh and I also use seaweed select. I do not target feed but it can be done. you just need to put a little in the system to get the corals to open or extend feeding tentacles then you target feed um. too much work, but, effective if you are concerned on water quality. hope something here helps. Corals only need to be fed 3 times a week if your water changes are done properly and your lighting is adequate for the corals you keep. good luck.
 
i have followed everything you mentioned. I have not target fed ever but I feed a wide variety of food, including mysis, reef plankton, emerald entree, marine cuisine, squid, etc. Also cyclopeeze in the frozen stick. I keep DKh and Calcium levels high. i feed daily and add liquid food twice a week. My water quality is good but I am just not getting the growth in my SPS that I am looking for. My LPS corals are growing well and my xenia is almost out of control. I am trying to get my Monti Caps to turn into "shelfs" like yours. Guess I need to be patient. I have had them for about 6 weeks and haven't seen any growth.

-Doc
 
Hard corals, sps, and monti caps grow a bit slower and take a bit longer to adjust to the system. Take a couple good pics and just put um away. give the hard corals at least 3 months to settle in. then compare. at least 3 months for the corals to adjust to the system and show if they are going to be happy. hope this helps. Patients is a must with sps. If you want to test your system for correct parameters, a one inch acro digitata, orange or red (looks brown in daylight is a good frag to put in at the top and see how it fares. If it grows thin the light could be increased. if the branches grow thick, the light is adequate and at the upper end. Give your corals another 3 months for a total of six months to see how the growth is going to be. faster growth will be attained when the corals are completely adjusted to your system, say 3 months minimum. good luck.
 
Tank looks great John,nice growth on the corals too.Don't try to bother telling Doc about coral growth.We have all told him sps doesn't grow as fast as softies.He has no patients at all.

I see you have lyretails,looks like one male and multiple females.How's the male's behavior.I have one male/female.Every female added is eventually killed by the male and even harassed by the female.
 
I put one male and six females, or, females and young males mix. The male gets really excited from time to time but with a harem the attention is spread out. I have not seen any destructive behavior yet but feel with the lyertails you need at a minimum 3 true females, to a male, actually the more females the better up to 8 to one male.
 
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hey now Reef, I know that SPS grow slow, but I am trying to maximize what little growth there is. I will sit tight for 6 months before complaining again.

-Doc
 
So nice so soon. Great work. With so much room to fill I can not even imagine how very nice it will look in a year, hell in even six months. It is great to see a persons experience to work, and to freely share his knowledge and even admit to his shortcuts and their dangers. I will definitely follow all your posts.
 
I have three lyretails -- one male and two females, and the male picked on the females at first, but after a week or so they settled in and haven't fought since. Adding some dispars may have helped too.
 
well here goes. 1st try at a video. guess I have to work with the camera a bit more too.
WORKING ON IT.
 
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John,I think its about time for you make an instructional video on how to build a reef tank.
Completely and totally awesome.
 
John,I think its about time for you make an instructional video on how to build a reef tank.
Completely and totally awesome.

I GUESS NOW THERE IS NO EXCUSE TO DO A VIDEO OF THE EQUIPMENT SHED IN ACTION. WILL TRY THAT THIS NEXT WEEKEND IF I CAN GET IT PRESENTABLE ENOUGH TO SHOW.
 
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