UPDATED: Any Help is appreciated

[kien]

Originally Posted by lorenz0

I still think all you bio-pellet guys are being thick skulled. All looking for answers elsewhere when its right in front of you.
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You know honestly, I would LOVE it if I could point the finger at the bio pellets because then I would have my smoking gun. I would agree that they may be the cause for some peoples issues, however, they were not the cause of mine. We all know that this hobby isn't an exact science and we all draw our own conclusions based on our own experiences and what we see in front of us. I have been running bio pellets since late December of last year which is probably longer than most people here. In my opinion that's quite a lot of bio pellet usage prior to my SPS event. I did briefly consider taking them off line during my event but decided not to because of the fact that they had been running for so long without issue. Granted that was a bit of a gamble. Sure enough, the remaining SPS and new SPS recovered and thrived without me even touching the bio pellets. Through the whole event they helped to keep my Nitrates and Phosphates low. I know because the pellets are the only NP reducing agents currently at work on my tank. I don't run a 'fuge or dose any zeo or VSV. Now that things have made a recovery I have doubled my bio pellet usage to 3 liters in fact, whereas previously I was only running 1.5L.

Personally, I find the use of bio pellets far from complicated. I realize that a lot of people are having troubles with them and to be honest, I have no idea why. Again, all those damn variables I suppose. Me, I have them churning in two reactors daisy chained with a 300gph pump that allows them to tumble gently. That's about it. I don't fidgit with it, i don't stress about how many or how few pellets are in there. To me it is simpler than running carbon! Carbon I just randomly change every month or so without even knowing if it is used up or not. At least with the pellets I can see it being used up.

[globaldesigns]

Update on SPS:

Well I can honestly say that things look better on the SPS homefront. Some of the SPS I think is far too gone, so they may not recover. But that is only a few, the rest of my SPS is showing signs of growth. Nice white tips and decent polyp extension. So I think things are looking up there.

Other things like my candycanes, brains and other softies are reinflating and looking very happy.

I do think that maybe I have the coral and SPS issues under control now. I changed by removing all dosing and doing a larger weekly water change. Seems to be doing well for me, and I am not dosing anything extra now for supplements. Also cut back on the ZEO additives.

Only issue now, as stated in another thread, is my zoa eating Hippo Tang! But if I need to lose the zoas but can keep the rest alive, then I can live with that.

thanks for all the past advice everyone, it was appreciated.

[kien]

Good to hear! Darn those Hungry Hungry Hippos!!

[globaldesigns]

Originally Posted by kien

Good to hear! Darn those Hungry Hungry Hippos!!

I did chuckle at that quote! It is discouraging about the zoas, as with all the other things going on, they flourished, now that it seems things are showing signs of improvement, then now them. My hippo Tang is beautiful, and I doubt she will eat the SPS, so I guess I will live without zoas. I would sell them, but they are on my LR and I can't get them out. Oh well!

I think the big things was water changes, since doubling up the water change every week, I now see good signs. And my parameters are spot on, without adding anything extra. So a lesson here is water changes are important, the more the better. I should also say, maybe the second skimmer is helping also, as that is the only other thing different.