AndyReef's Survey

AndyReef · 03/21/2007, 02:42 PM

Please copy the following text and answer the questions. Either post your answers or PM them to me if you wish. I will keep them anonymous if you do PM. I will post the results as well as my interpretation and analysis at a later date.

Please put the survey first in the message body and please REFRAIN FROM POSTING ON THIS THREAD IF YOU AREN'T ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS. That will make it much easier to give the results.

SURVEY

1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB?

1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead?

2. How long has your system been setup?

3. What is the nitrate level of your water?

4. What is the phosphate level of your water?

5a. Do you perform water changes?
5b. How many water changes do you perform per year?
5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change?

6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate?

7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level.
1 (my system has crashed)
2 (I have algae blooms at least once per 6 month period or more)
3 (I have less than one bloom per 6 month period)
4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control)
5 (algae? What algae?)

AndyReef · 03/22/2007, 04:14 PM

SURVEY

1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB?
YES

1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead?

2. How long has your system been setup?
4 years

3. What is the nitrate level of your water?
0 ppm

4. What is the phosphate level of your water?
0 ppm

5a. Do you perform water changes? YES
5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 12
5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? about 25%

6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate?
NO

7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level.

4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control)

oli5 · 03/22/2007, 04:25 PM

SURVEY

1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? Yes

1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead?

2. How long has your system been setup? 5 weeks

3. What is the nitrate level of your water? 0ppm

4. What is the phosphate level of your water? 0

5a. Do you perform water changes? yes
5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 26
5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? 8%

6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? no

7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level.
5 (algae? What algae?)

mwwhite · 03/22/2007, 04:37 PM

1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB?
YES

1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead?

2. How long has your system been setup?
5 months

3. What is the nitrate level of your water?
0 ppm

4. What is the phosphate level of your water?
0 ppm

5a. Do you perform water changes? YES
5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 26
5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? about 10%

6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate?
NO

7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level.

4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control)

Wiskey · 03/22/2007, 04:53 PM

SURVEY

1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB?
Yes, DSB

1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead?

2. How long has your system been setup?
~8 months

3. What is the nitrate level of your water?
~0

4. What is the phosphate level of your water?
~0

5a. Do you perform water changes?
Yep
5b. How many water changes do you perform per year?
~12
5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change?
~10

6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate?
No,.. skimmer and Cheto fuge only.

7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level.
4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control)

Whiskey

Ritten · 03/22/2007, 05:06 PM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by AndyReef
[B]SURVEY

1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB?
No

1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? live rock, no skimmer

2. How long has your system been setup?
5 years

3. What is the nitrate level of your water?
0 ppm

4. What is the phosphate level of your water?
0 ppm

5a. Do you perform water changes? YES
5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 51
5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? about 10%

6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate?
Yes

7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level.

Never had any algea

crackers · 03/22/2007, 05:13 PM

SURVEY

1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB?no

1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead?
live rock, ssb
2. How long has your system been setup?
2 years
3. What is the nitrate level of your water?
0ppm
4. What is the phosphate level of your water?
0ppm
5a. Do you perform water changes?yes
5b. How many water changes do you perform per year?35
5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change?
15%
6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate?yes rowa

7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level.

4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control)

mg426 · 03/22/2007, 06:10 PM

SURVEY

1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? Yes

1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead?

2. How long has your system been setup? 3.5 yrs

3. What is the nitrate level of your water? 0 salifert

4. What is the phosphate level of your water? 0 salifert

5a. Do you perform water changes? yes
5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 52
5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change?
10%
6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? RO/DI

7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level.
5 (algae? What algae?)

AqCons · 03/22/2007, 06:21 PM

SURVEY

1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB?
No
1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead?
Live Rock, SSB
2. How long has your system been setup?
4 years
3. What is the nitrate level of your water?
0
4. What is the phosphate level of your water?
0
5a. Do you perform water changes? Yes
5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 24
5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? 10%

6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? Phosphate Reactor w/Rowaphos

7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level.
just diatom on glass few times a week.

dirtyreefer · 03/22/2007, 08:02 PM

1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? NO

1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead?
SSB with liverock, cheato in sump. Skimmer for mechanical

2. How long has your system been setup? 3 years

3. What is the nitrate level of your water? ~5ppm

4. What is the phosphate level of your water? ~0ppm

5a. Do you perform water changes? YES
5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? ~26
5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? ~10%

6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? Yes, GFO

7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level.
(there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control)

Peter Eichler · 03/22/2007, 08:43 PM

I'll answer based on this system and my last system

SURVEY

1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB?
No/Yes for the last 4 years it was setup

1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead?
Live rock/Live rock

2. How long has your system been setup?
8 months/10+ years

3. What is the nitrate level of your water?
undetectable/undetectable

4. What is the phosphate level of your water?
undetectable/was always quite low but usually had a little

5a. Do you perform water changes? Yes/yes
5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 12ish/once or twice
5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? 15%/25%

6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate?
Chaeto/dripped kalkwasser

7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level.
1 (my system has crashed)
2 (I have algae blooms at least once per 6 month period or more)
3 (I have less than one bloom per 6 month period)
4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control)
5 (algae? What algae?)

Tank #1 (5) After the early algae cycles my tank has been nuisance algae free besides some bubble algae.

Tank #2 (4) Was never really anything the tangs and cleanup crew couldn't take care of.

[/B][/QUOTE]

bgcook · 03/23/2007, 08:38 AM

SURVEY

1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB?

yes

1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead?

2. How long has your system been setup?

upgrade from 55 (2 years) to 120 (now 4 months)

3. What is the nitrate level of your water?

20 (currently working on problem)

4. What is the phosphate level of your water?

<0.3

5a. Do you perform water changes? yes
5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 52
5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? 20%

6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? Blue Life Phosphate Control

7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level.

5 (algae? What algae?), just macro

AndyReef · 03/25/2007, 07:02 PM

any more?

marie · 03/25/2007, 07:43 PM

SURVEY

1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB?
No

1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead?
Live rock, ssb

2. How long has your system been setup?
1 year

3. What is the nitrate level of your water?
~5

4. What is the phosphate level of your water?
Don't bother testing
5a. Do you perform water changes?
yes
5b. How many water changes do you perform per year?
26
5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change?
15%

6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate?
No

7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level.
1 (my system has crashed)
2 (I have algae blooms at least once per 6 month period or more)
3 (I have less than one bloom per 6 month period)
4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control)
5 (algae? What algae?)

No. 4

AndyReef · 03/26/2007, 03:39 PM

I need some more people to take the survey to get some more meaningful results, please participate, it will only take a minute.

lakwriter · 03/26/2007, 04:00 PM

1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? ~NO

1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? ~Live rock, shallow sand bed, chaeto

2. How long has your system been setup? ~4.5 mos.

3. What is the nitrate level of your water? ~5 ppm

4. What is the phosphate level of your water? ~don't know, don't test for it.

5a. Do you perform water changes? ~YES
5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? ~26 (1 per week)
5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? ~15%

6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? ~NO

7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level.

4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control)

ionredline0260 · 03/26/2007, 04:39 PM

1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? NO

1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? LIVE ROCK

2. How long has your system been setup?
3 MONTHS
3. What is the nitrate level of your water?
ZERO
4. What is the phosphate level of your water?
<.5
5a. Do you perform water changes?
Some times
5b. How many water changes do you perform per year?
20-30
5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change?
15%
6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate?
cheato

7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level.
1 (my system has crashed)
2 (I have algae blooms at least once per 6 month period or more)
3 (I have less than one bloom per 6 month period)
4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control)
5 (algae? What algae?)
4

AndyReef · 03/26/2007, 05:50 PM

Thank you for all the responses, keep responding. Right now the data is a little skewed toward young tanks. The mean tank age is 31.43 (n=15) months. Please respond even if you have had problems.

romanr · 03/26/2007, 06:13 PM

1a) Not anymore!

1b) Live rock/corals/filter-feeding inverts, etc

2) 3 years total, 1 year substrate-less

3) haven't tested in a long while

4) Undetectable last time I checked

5a) Yes

5b) 10

5c) 30%

6) skimmer, granular iron-like media

7) 5

comments: I had great luck with my sand bed until my tank reached 2 years then everything went down hill (algae-wise). Tried everything but finally reluctantly relented and removed my DSB. Within a couple of weeks all started to turn around and after about a month all algae had disappeared. Running without a sand bed for a year now and I couldn't be more pleased with the way my reef looks.

AndyReef · 03/26/2007, 07:28 PM

By the way romanr, your answer to question 7 should be: 1 (my system has crashed)

mr pink floyd · 03/26/2007, 08:15 PM

1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB?
*NO

1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead?
*Lots of LR adn Cheato

2. How long has your system been setup?
*2.5 years

3. What is the nitrate level of your water?
*0
4. What is the phosphate level of your water?
*0

5a. Do you perform water changes?
*yes
5b. How many water changes do you perform per year?
*shoot for 52(1 per week, not perfect though)
5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change?
*about 17%(5 gallons in a 29)

6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate?
*Put in phosbanm reactor 2 days ago

7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level.
1 (my system has crashed)
2 (I have algae blooms at least once per 6 month period or more)
3 (I have less than one bloom per 6 month period)
4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control)
5 (algae? What algae?)

*4, had a weird bloom recently, most likely due to added phosphates from a screw dropped in and never found a few weeks ago, though usually scrape the front glass once every few days, and back duirng water changes

03/22/2007, 04:25 PM	#3
oli5 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: BC, Canada Posts: 369	SURVEY 1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? Yes 1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? 2. How long has your system been setup? 5 weeks 3. What is the nitrate level of your water? 0ppm 4. What is the phosphate level of your water? 0 5a. Do you perform water changes? yes 5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 26 5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? 8% 6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? no 7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level. 5 (algae? What algae?) __________________ I think therefor I am Current Tank Info: 75g mixed reef, 20g FW, 5g QT

03/22/2007, 04:53 PM	#5
Wiskey Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Fallbrook, CA Posts: 3,049	SURVEY 1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? Yes, DSB 1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? 2. How long has your system been setup? ~8 months 3. What is the nitrate level of your water? ~0 4. What is the phosphate level of your water? ~0 5a. Do you perform water changes? Yep 5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? ~12 5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? ~10 6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? No,.. skimmer and Cheto fuge only. 7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level. 4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control) Whiskey __________________ This video shows 15 months of coral growth in my tank in a 30 second timelapse: https://youtu.be/bF6C57aTDEo

03/22/2007, 06:10 PM	#8
mg426 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: maryland Posts: 6,923	SURVEY 1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? Yes 1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? 2. How long has your system been setup? 3.5 yrs 3. What is the nitrate level of your water? 0 salifert 4. What is the phosphate level of your water? 0 salifert 5a. Do you perform water changes? yes 5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 52 5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? 10% 6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? RO/DI 7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level. 5 (algae? What algae?) __________________ I found a way to make a small fortune running a reef tank. Start with a large fortune. Unofficial President of the SEACLONE haters club Current Tank Info: 125 mixed reef 110 lbs LR, 1x250watt XM 20K MH 2x175watt XM 20K MH on Magetics 2X96 watt actinic PC, 220 watt VHO actinic, 30 gallon refugium, closed loop system powered by Sequence Dart MSX 200 skimmer 38 gallon sump, Oceansmotions squirt

03/22/2007, 08:43 PM	#11
Peter Eichler Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Milwaukee Posts: 6,081	Re: AndyReef's Survey I'll answer based on this system and my last system SURVEY 1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? No/Yes for the last 4 years it was setup 1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? Live rock/Live rock 2. How long has your system been setup? 8 months/10+ years 3. What is the nitrate level of your water? undetectable/undetectable 4. What is the phosphate level of your water? undetectable/was always quite low but usually had a little 5a. Do you perform water changes? Yes/yes 5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 12ish/once or twice 5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? 15%/25% 6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? Chaeto/dripped kalkwasser 7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level. 1 (my system has crashed) 2 (I have algae blooms at least once per 6 month period or more) 3 (I have less than one bloom per 6 month period) 4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control) 5 (algae? What algae?) Tank #1 (5) After the early algae cycles my tank has been nuisance algae free besides some bubble algae. Tank #2 (4) Was never really anything the tangs and cleanup crew couldn't take care of. [/B][/QUOTE]

03/23/2007, 08:38 AM	#12
bgcook Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: McAllen, Texas Posts: 215	SURVEY 1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? yes 1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? 2. How long has your system been setup? upgrade from 55 (2 years) to 120 (now 4 months) 3. What is the nitrate level of your water? 20 (currently working on problem) 4. What is the phosphate level of your water? <0.3 5a. Do you perform water changes? yes 5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 52 5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? 20% 6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? Blue Life Phosphate Control 7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level. 5 (algae? What algae?), just macro __________________ greg Current Tank Info: 540gal built in reef. 25 gal ecocube.

03/21/2007, 02:42 PM	#1
AndyReef Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Tampa Posts: 199	AndyReef's Survey Please copy the following text and answer the questions. Either post your answers or PM them to me if you wish. I will keep them anonymous if you do PM. I will post the results as well as my interpretation and analysis at a later date. Please put the survey first in the message body and please REFRAIN FROM POSTING ON THIS THREAD IF YOU AREN'T ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS. That will make it much easier to give the results. SURVEY 1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? 1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? 2. How long has your system been setup? 3. What is the nitrate level of your water? 4. What is the phosphate level of your water? 5a. Do you perform water changes? 5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? 6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? 7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level. 1 (my system has crashed) 2 (I have algae blooms at least once per 6 month period or more) 3 (I have less than one bloom per 6 month period) 4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control) 5 (algae? What algae?)

03/22/2007, 04:14 PM	#2
AndyReef Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Tampa Posts: 199	SURVEY 1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? YES 1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? 2. How long has your system been setup? 4 years 3. What is the nitrate level of your water? 0 ppm 4. What is the phosphate level of your water? 0 ppm 5a. Do you perform water changes? YES 5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 12 5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? about 25% 6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? NO 7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level. 4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control)

03/22/2007, 04:37 PM	#4
mwwhite Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Land O Lakes, FL Posts: 690	1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? YES 1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? 2. How long has your system been setup? 5 months 3. What is the nitrate level of your water? 0 ppm 4. What is the phosphate level of your water? 0 ppm 5a. Do you perform water changes? YES 5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 26 5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? about 10% 6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? NO 7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level. 4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control)

03/22/2007, 05:06 PM	#6
Ritten Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 2,164	[QUOTE]Originally posted by AndyReef [B]SURVEY 1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? No 1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? live rock, no skimmer 2. How long has your system been setup? 5 years 3. What is the nitrate level of your water? 0 ppm 4. What is the phosphate level of your water? 0 ppm 5a. Do you perform water changes? YES 5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 51 5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? about 10% 6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? Yes 7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level. Never had any algea

03/22/2007, 05:13 PM	#7
crackers Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: va Posts: 21	SURVEY 1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB?no 1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? live rock, ssb 2. How long has your system been setup? 2 years 3. What is the nitrate level of your water? 0ppm 4. What is the phosphate level of your water? 0ppm 5a. Do you perform water changes?yes 5b. How many water changes do you perform per year?35 5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? 15% 6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate?yes rowa 7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level. 4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control)

03/22/2007, 06:21 PM	#9
AqCons Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 192	SURVEY 1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? No 1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? Live Rock, SSB 2. How long has your system been setup? 4 years 3. What is the nitrate level of your water? 0 4. What is the phosphate level of your water? 0 5a. Do you perform water changes? Yes 5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 24 5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? 10% 6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? Phosphate Reactor w/Rowaphos 7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level. just diatom on glass few times a week.

03/22/2007, 08:02 PM	#10
dirtyreefer Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Vancouver Canada Posts: 2,221	1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? NO 1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? SSB with liverock, cheato in sump. Skimmer for mechanical 2. How long has your system been setup? 3 years 3. What is the nitrate level of your water? ~5ppm 4. What is the phosphate level of your water? ~0ppm 5a. Do you perform water changes? YES 5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? ~26 5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? ~10% 6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? Yes, GFO 7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level. (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control)

03/25/2007, 07:02 PM	#13
AndyReef Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Tampa Posts: 199	any more?

03/25/2007, 07:43 PM	#14
marie Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: powell river/Can Posts: 638	SURVEY 1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? No 1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? Live rock, ssb 2. How long has your system been setup? 1 year 3. What is the nitrate level of your water? ~5 4. What is the phosphate level of your water? Don't bother testing 5a. Do you perform water changes? yes 5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 26 5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? 15% 6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? No 7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level. 1 (my system has crashed) 2 (I have algae blooms at least once per 6 month period or more) 3 (I have less than one bloom per 6 month period) 4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control) 5 (algae? What algae?) No. 4 __________________ Support bacteria. They're the only culture some people have! ~Marie~ Current Tank Info: 175g bowfront, 55g softie tanks

03/26/2007, 03:39 PM	#15
AndyReef Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Tampa Posts: 199	I need some more people to take the survey to get some more meaningful results, please participate, it will only take a minute.

03/26/2007, 04:00 PM	#16
lakwriter Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Pittsburgh Posts: 562	1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? ~NO 1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? ~Live rock, shallow sand bed, chaeto 2. How long has your system been setup? ~4.5 mos. 3. What is the nitrate level of your water? ~5 ppm 4. What is the phosphate level of your water? ~don't know, don't test for it. 5a. Do you perform water changes? ~YES 5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? ~26 (1 per week) 5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? ~15% 6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? ~NO 7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level. 4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control) __________________ And this, too, shall pass... 29 g FOWLR 37# LR, 35# LS 2 green chromis 2 ocellaris clowns a very social peppermint shrimp and various snails and hermits

03/26/2007, 04:39 PM	#17
ionredline0260 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Box Around the Corner Posts: 747	1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? NO 1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? LIVE ROCK 2. How long has your system been setup? 3 MONTHS 3. What is the nitrate level of your water? ZERO 4. What is the phosphate level of your water? <.5 5a. Do you perform water changes? Some times 5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? 20-30 5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? 15% 6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? cheato 7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level. 1 (my system has crashed) 2 (I have algae blooms at least once per 6 month period or more) 3 (I have less than one bloom per 6 month period) 4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control) 5 (algae? What algae?) 4

03/26/2007, 05:50 PM	#18
AndyReef Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Tampa Posts: 199	Thank you for all the responses, keep responding. Right now the data is a little skewed toward young tanks. The mean tank age is 31.43 (n=15) months. Please respond even if you have had problems.

03/26/2007, 06:13 PM	#19
romanr Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Ocala, Florida Posts: 1,568	1a) Not anymore! 1b) Live rock/corals/filter-feeding inverts, etc 2) 3 years total, 1 year substrate-less 3) haven't tested in a long while 4) Undetectable last time I checked 5a) Yes 5b) 10 5c) 30% 6) skimmer, granular iron-like media 7) 5 comments: I had great luck with my sand bed until my tank reached 2 years then everything went down hill (algae-wise). Tried everything but finally reluctantly relented and removed my DSB. Within a couple of weeks all started to turn around and after about a month all algae had disappeared. Running without a sand bed for a year now and I couldn't be more pleased with the way my reef looks. __________________ Raul Roman Marion Ocala Reef Enthusiasts (MORE) member Check us out on FB and RC. Current Tank Info: 150 DD cube mixed reef, 30G sump, Eshopps S-150 cone skimmer, 400W Radium MH, 156W Wavepoint T5, Internet accessible ACIII controller , Vortech MP10 w/ Icecap battery backup, Mini-Arctica chiller, Katalyst fueled reactor fed to Octopus BH800S skimmer

03/26/2007, 07:28 PM	#20
AndyReef Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Tampa Posts: 199	By the way romanr, your answer to question 7 should be: 1 (my system has crashed)

03/26/2007, 08:15 PM	#21
mr pink floyd Moved On Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: west hartford, CT Posts: 3,480	1a. Answer YES or NO to this question: Does your reef have a DSB? NO 1b. If you answered NO to question 1a, what type of biological filtration do you use instead? Lots of LR adn Cheato 2. How long has your system been setup? 2.5 years 3. What is the nitrate level of your water? 0 4. What is the phosphate level of your water? 0 5a. Do you perform water changes? yes 5b. How many water changes do you perform per year? shoot for 52(1 per week, not perfect though) 5c. What percentage of water do you change with each change? about 17%(5 gallons in a 29) 6. Do you use any method to reduce phosphate? Put in phosbanm reactor 2 days ago 7. Subjectively rate your problem algae level. 1 (my system has crashed) 2 (I have algae blooms at least once per 6 month period or more) 3 (I have less than one bloom per 6 month period) 4 (there is just a little algae in the tank, but it never gets out of control) 5 (algae? What algae?) 4, had a weird bloom recently, most likely due to added phosphates from a screw dropped in and never found a few weeks ago, though usually scrape the front glass once every few days, and back duirng water changes