Advice on Nitrate & Phosphate

[Charles Zinn]

Thanks, yes not so much worried about it coral-wise since I don’t have any yet like you said. My concern is getting a dino outbreak. Happened in my last tank because I ran it too clean and was an absolute nightmare. Trying to avoid that this time around.

Add copepods and a varied clean up crew. The more diverse the better!

 

[MVsea1]

Yes I have some nuisance algae growth but also have more macros growing. I am not worried about it because I will have 2-3 herbivorous fish to take care of it. I have a foxface so far and about 1 week in, it is making a dent in the algae already. I'll take algae growth over dino growth any day.

Agreed. I also have more macro algae growth than anything else. The tang gang I’m about to add should keep that in check. Leaning towards starting to dose NO3.

 

[thedon986]

Agreed. I also have more macro algae growth than anything else. The tang gang I’m about to add should keep that in check. Leaning towards starting to dose NO3.

You’re in the same spot I was. Amphidinium Dino’s in my last setup since the beginning and fought for 1.5 years and threw in the towel and started over with real live rock and sand. So much better. My nitrate trend is below. You can see I’ve had trouble keeping it trending up and I’ve been dosing nitrate basically since I got the rock. It’s getting easier to keep it stable but still will drop if I don’t keep up on it, even with 9 fish.

 

[MVsea1]

You’re in the same spot I was. Amphidinium Dino’s in my last setup since the beginning and fought for 1.5 years and threw in the towel and started over with real live rock and sand. So much better. My nitrate trend is below. You can see I’ve had trouble keeping it trending up and I’ve been dosing nitrate basically since I got the rock. It’s getting easier to keep it stable but still will drop if I don’t keep up on it, even with 9 fish.

What are you using to dose the nitrate? Dosing phos as well? Any algae issues? Do you have corals?

 

[thedon986]

NeoNitro and Phos. Looks like 500ml of nitrate will last me about 3 months. Yes I have corals and they are doing fine even have some SPS in there already, green slimer, purple stylo, PC Rainbow and others and they are doing better than I thought for two months in.

 

[MVsea1]

NeoNitro and Phos. Looks like 500ml of nitrate will last me about 3 months. Yes I have corals and they are doing fine even have some SPS in there already, green slimer, purple stylo, PC Rainbow and others and they are doing better than I thought for two months in.

Nice! Your rocks are looking nice and purple with coralline. I’m going for a mixed reef as well. Even though real live rock is a rarity these days..it really is an insta-tank. Yes, there are risks, but I feel it’s worth it. My first tank way back when was with live rock and had almost zero issues. It wasn’t until I started a tank with dry rock that I ran into issues. Not knocking it, but a completely different strategy and takes a lot of patience, like everything else in this hobby. We used to have trouble keeping nutrients down, but now with modern filtration ( fleece rollers, better skimmers, ceramic media, etc.) it’s the other way around. I’m happy I went with real ocean live rock for the instant diversity and hope it will pay dividends in the future.

 

[Sdot]

I’m confused. Every reef tank gets creatures from somewhere, and every introduction might bring in some dinos. So might foods. I don't see focussing on a source being a useful activity.

I agree with this sentiment. I'm simply addressing the original poster's question. While this might be anecdotal, I haven't come across anyone (online or personally) with a fish-only system complaining about dinoflagellates. Its typically associated with coral systems, in my experience.

 

[MVsea1]

**update**

Heavier feeding solved the problem. Went with that for a few days before dosing anything. Todays test was 2.4 nitrate and .20 phos…high on the phosphate but I’m sure it’s due to the extra food. Will continue to monitor but thinking I just need to find the right balance now with feeding.