Originally Posted by
spanko
http:///forum/post/3157162
Sounds like you put a lot of faith in the ATS and perhaps it has not performed as expected, whether you expected too much or the process cannot live up to it's advertised level. So with the Harlequin coupled with the nutrient that is being left in the system by the ATS to me it is time to take a good long look at what you want to achieve with your tank. Do you want a system that is free of algae, supports life in such coral that require almost pristine water. Or do you want to develop a system that while not dirty dose have some algae, can support the soft coral that do require some level of nutrient in the water to be absorbed by the coral.
I am personally running a system that has no discernible nitrate and phosphate. I love the clarity of the water, the total absence of algae and the brightness of the coral. I feed heavily, skim heavily, and change out the filter floss daily. Change the Chemipure Elite and Purigen every 6 months. Change my 150 watt HQI bulb every six months. Dose vodka and amino acids daily. Dose Prodibio nano system weekly. Use Nutrisea natural seawater for water changes and distilled water for top offs through an ATO.
I don't think my tank looks natural due to the absence of any algae but it the look I am going forI am planning on trying some of the calciferous alge like Halemida etc. in the future to get some of the more natural look in there.
To be blunt though, your tank just has the look of neglect to it with the growth of the algae and the margins where the sand meet the water along the glass being dirty.
Guess we need to see where it is you want to go with your pc. of the reef so that there can be some interaction amoungst reefers here.
Oh I agree with the neglect, what everyone is seeing is a tank that was just getting started and then got put on the backburner for a 8 month long remodel.
What look do I want, hard to say. I am not sure how to describe it. I like not running a skimmer. The carbon source dosing......IDK. I would need to learn a lot about it before going that way. I don't want to be a slave to the tank. I am not sure if that is the case with carbon dosing. I just want a nice tank. I am not sure if I want a full lagoon type look. A piece or two of macro in the display might be nice. I don't want it to start everywhere, where I am chasing down starts of it where I don't want it. As far as corals go, I will only add maybe 1 or 2 more. I think I am done with that for this tank. I want them to grow out to a good size. I may add one more choice piece of LR to my tank to help with the depth instead of the slopped look it has now.
Faith in the ATS, yea maybe. I didn't really expect it to do anything for me. I was very interested in it. I couldn't believe that it was this great thing. I went to my local libary and checked out Dynamic Aquaria. I got the first and the third edition of it. It seamed like it could work. So I did what anyone should do IMO,(when interested in something) research it and try it out. That is pretty much where I am at with it. I have thought about removing it, but I never have. I wanted to give it time. Remember, "nothing good ever happens fast". I have also thought about re-checking it out or another book on it (ATS)for a refresher and maybe see if I am doing something wrong or could do to make it better.
Right now I want to clean it up. When that is done, I will look at the options. Maybe I am looking at that wrong??
