The Italian or the Blue Coral Method

[loismustdie]

yeah, fred, but as far as I'm concerned, the response doesn't mean anything. Coral respond to phyto when you pour it in a tank, but they don't eat it and all you get is higher PO4. I'm just going to take it slow and see how it goes.
Tony, right now, I'm more concerned with the fact that my coral is fighting than I am with nutrients.

 

[loismustdie]

My water tested the same this morning. As expected with a 3 ml dose.
I didn't take the cup off of my skimmer last night.
As for results, my polyp extension is better. My turakis (I have 3 different types) really never show and PE and they have quite a bit this morning, especially on the tips. My purple monster I would say has about twice the normal PE, which isn't much.
Again, these responses mean nothing.
The growth tips on my coral are getting bigger, which I was expecting to happen at about this time anyway, so I'm not going to say it's because of the food. My corals grow in spurts. They will grow fast for 2 months and then almost stop for 2 weeks. I knew that 2 weeks was coming to an end with in a few days. This is now a bit of a problem with all the fighting going on. I have to make room between them.

 

[meschaefer]

How did I become the crash test dummy for this? Matt, since you started this thread, I'm going to your house and taking all your **** if my tank crashes.

Does that mean if it goes right, I get to come raid your tank?:scratch:

 

[loismustdie]

come on over.
My tank looks the way it normally does and as I said before, my water tested the same as it did last night.
It is going to tough to judge growth and tie it into the food since my tank is now going through a growth spurt anyway.

 

[crox99]

Chris

any difference on the SPS colors?

 

[loismustdie]

did you read the thread? I just did the first dose last night.

 

[crox99]

I did read it!!!! Just checking to see if you got any results. I know is still early but you never know.....:bablefish

 

[Tonyscoots84]

:duh: :sigh:

there are no magic pills out there....

 

[meschaefer]

come on over.
My tank looks the way it normally does and as I said before, my water tested the same as it did last night.
It is going to tough to judge growth and tie it into the food since my tank is now going through a growth spurt anyway.

I would like to come take a look at how you have your system set up, as I plan out my 180 gallon upgrade.

what would be interesting to see is if your growth spurt conitnues without the inevitable slow down.

 

[loismustdie]

I just got off of a 24 and I had a noticeable growth spurt. This is not uncommon though. I don't know if the inevitable delay will happen, but I would be willing to bet it will even with the food. 1 dose (1 very small dose with my skimmer still running at that) is way too early to tell.
Whenever you got time Matt.

 

[loismustdie]

Another monkey wrench in the works... Something just happened in my tank. I was sitting here typing when I noticed my fish going nuts. I went over to my tank and pods were spraying out of my sand bed from 1 spot. Literally spraying out. It looked like a fountain of pods. Very small. My fish are going after them and my PE is as good as it was when I did the pappone.
Has this been going on in my tank and I never noticed? I think the pods are too big for SPS to eat, but I don't know. This is crazy. I tried to take a pic, but it looks like micro bubbles.

 

[loismustdie]

I couldn't get pics of the pods. They just looked like blurry micro bubbles. Sorry.
Usually I dose my AA's after lights out. Since doing pappone, I dose AA 30 minutes before my last halide goes off. I have 2 lorapies. One rainbow and 1 rose tip. Both of them have the same reaction to the AA's. They get covered in these strings. I hope you can see them. There is about 1 string per 2 branches. They are about 1 inch long. Some more, some less.


For the record, I've followed the RC thread as well as some others. As with all websites, there is a tendency to hype things up and it seems they taper off into a downward spiral. Remember what I say frequently... people are far to quick to boast success, but reluctant to post failure (how long did it take me to say the loismustskim skimmer leaked and needed air injection?).
Most threads that I have read go from "this is the best ever!" down to STN/algae issues within a couple of pages.
I do not know any of these people, so I really cannot judge. I will say that I do feel that most who go into the downward spiral using this method possibly dose too much or simply don't have a stable enough tank with good enough water quality to begin with. They may also lack the best testing equipment, knowledge and the pride to ask someone who does know.
I'm strongly urging those who are thinking about trying this to remember that the pappone is no good and will only hurt your tank if your water quality suffers using it. Currently, I can only think of 5 members on this site who can get away with this. I'm probably not one of them, but I have the means to change a lot of GPD.
I can show you a guy who knows nothing but has all the hot gear and has a crap tank to show for it.
I can also show you a guy who doesn't have much gear but knows a lot and has an amazing tank to show for it.
Neither one of them use fuges:biglaugh:
I'm serious. If you don't know what you're doing, don't mess with this. Or at least look for guidance.
Remember: SPS are hard.

 

[meschaefer]

Another monkey wrench in the works... Something just happened in my tank. I was sitting here typing when I noticed my fish going nuts. I went over to my tank and pods were spraying out of my sand bed from 1 spot. Literally spraying out. It looked like a fountain of pods. Very small. My fish are going after them and my PE is as good as it was when I did the pappone.
Has this been going on in my tank and I never noticed? I think the pods are too big for SPS to eat, but I don't know. This is crazy. I tried to take a pic, but it looks like micro bubbles.

Do you think it could have been some type of worm spawing?

 

[loismustdie]

No. Definitely free swimming crustaceans. It looked like it did when my harlequin shrimp spawned. They were much smaller though. Smaller than the harlequin offspring.

 

[meschaefer]

.......For the record, I've followed the RC thread as well as some others. As with all websites, there is a tendency to hype things up and it seems they taper off into a downward spiral. Remember what I say frequently... people are far to quick to boast success, but reluctant to post failure (how long did it take me to say the loismustskim skimmer leaked and needed air injection?).
Most threads that I have read go from "this is the best ever!" down to STN/algae issues within a couple of pages.

I do not know any of these people, so I really cannot judge. I will say that I do feel that most who go into the downward spiral using this method possibly dose too much or simply don't have a stable enough tank with good enough water quality to begin with. They may also lack the best testing equipment, knowledge and the pride to ask someone who does know......

I'm strongly urging those who are thinking about trying this to remember that the pappone is no good and will only hurt your tank if your water quality suffers using it. .....

I'm serious. If you don't know what you're doing, don't mess with this. Or at least look for guidance.
Remember: SPS are hard.

This is why I started this thread over a month ago, and havn't touched it yet.

I read through the RC threads and saw what was touted as great success, but no one came forward and mentioned any problems that they had. There are alot of good methods, that are good in theory but with a big downside if you don't do it properly.

 

[loismustdie]

My tank is having regular spawnings each day. Twice, they were some type of pod ( I didn't see where they were coming from the second time) and last night, it seemed to be just eggs. I couldn't make them out to be anything other than tiny circles. My fish were eating them up though. I couldn't find the source.
I've only fed pappone twice. My PO4 is still 0.02 on Hanna. I haven't used my Phol's Coral Vitalizer since doing this. Growth is crazy. It was long before I tried pappone though.
Any differences noticed in my tank are too difficult for me to tie into the food. I guess I'll keep dosing. If my water quality goes bad, I'll stop. Not too sure what to make of the spawns though. I don't know if my corals are eating it, but after having a bubble coral spawn in one of my old tanks and wiping out the entire system, I kind of feel a greater sense of urgency to get the remaining LPS out of my tank.
FWIW, my moonlight cycle is just shy of full moon. I run a 29 day cycle.

 

[meschaefer]

My tank is having regular spawnings each day. Twice, they were some type of pod ( I didn't see where they were coming from the second time) and last night, it seemed to be just eggs. I couldn't make them out to be anything other than tiny circles. My fish were eating them up though. I couldn't find the source.
I've only fed pappone twice. My PO4 is still 0.02 on Hanna. I haven't used my Phol's Coral Vitalizer since doing this. Growth is crazy. It was long before I tried pappone though.
Any differences noticed in my tank are too difficult for me to tie into the food. I guess I'll keep dosing. If my water quality goes bad, I'll stop. Not too sure what to make of the spawns though. I don't know if my corals are eating it, but after having a bubble coral spawn in one of my old tanks and wiping out the entire system, I kind of feel a greater sense of urgency to get the remaining LPS out of my tank.
FWIW, my moonlight cycle is just shy of full moon. I run a 29 day cycle.

I would be surprised if you had seen any benefits this quickly, as we all know nothing good happens fast. I am more interested in seeng if you notice a difference a couple of months out. Since you already had good growth, how would you rate your color. I know that it is somewhat subjective, but the also claim good success in getting corals to color up with this method.

Coloring up is one of the reasons that I was interested in this method. Since upgrading my skimmer, running carbon and phosban as well as being a hell of alot more aware of what I am adding to my tank, I have seen the brown hue some of my corals had taken on start to dissapear. I have also notice that some corals that I thought had strong coloring, start to become slightly washed out. My A. Nanna colonies are good example of this ( i will try to get pictures this evening). I think that the pendulum has swung the other way, and now I don't have enough nutrients in my tank.

 

[loismustdie]

No... there's a difference. I just don't think it's the food. I haven't used it long enough nor have I dosed enough. I just think as my system ages, as with any other that is properly maintained, it gets better. I'm thinking if I can do this without food, I'll revert back to Shaun's theory... why bother trying to fix a good thing?
I really don't want to mix that crap again. Also, I went through all this $$$ getting dosers so I don't have to get up and do it. Now I found something else to add to my tank. I may dose very conservatively (even less than I do now) until I run out.
Consider me out on the project.

 

[meschaefer]

No... there's a difference. I just don't think it's the food. I haven't used it long enough nor have I dosed enough. I just think as my system ages, as with any other that is properly maintained, it gets better. I'm thinking if I can do this without food, I'll revert back to Shaun's theory... why bother trying to fix a good thing?
I really don't want to mix that crap again. Also, I went through all this $$$ getting dosers so I don't have to get up and do it. Now I found something else to add to my tank. I may dose very conservatively (even less than I do now) until I run out.
Consider me out on the project.

You where the only one who was really in to begin with.

 

[ari5736]

Any updates on dosing regimen of L-aspartic and glycerol?