Am I feeding enough?

TommyDelaney · Apr 28, 2020

Katrina71 said:
I'd increase feeding gradually over a month.

Ok thanks I’ll try to steadily bring it up tan sk for the response

Bryan68 · Apr 28, 2020

dopey said:
Refugium made a huge difference for me. Was reluctant to add it, but so, so glad I did. My previous(smaller) tank felt like I could never get the nitrates down. This tank nitrates were 3 last time I checked.

What was your NO3 and PO4 before adding your fuge? What are they now? Reason I'm asking, is I'm trying to determine if adding a fuge is the correct path for my tank.

dopey · Apr 28, 2020

Bryan68 said:
What was your NO3 and PO4 before adding your fuge? What are they now? Reason I'm asking, is I'm trying to determine if adding a fuge is the correct path for my tank.

It's hard to say. In my 37L tank I feed very sparingly to a single clownfish. -- not even daily. And always had nitrates above 20+ when testing. Even doing weekly water changes . It frustrated me so much was even testing my new saltwater to confirm 0.

My new tank, which I transferred fish and rock over to I didn't test nitrates at first. I added a refugium nearly a month ago now.

I've been feeding 2-3 cubes a day to 5 fish. I tested nitrates for the first time a couple weeks ago and it was less than 5.

Fuge is growing strong. My main battle had been a self-inflicted caulerpa battle (introduced on a frag then neglect) but that's a story in itself in my build thread.

No other changes in husbandry when moving to a larger tank -- always used rodi water, same salt and same WC schedule. It could be tank maturity perhaps..but I've associated it with the refugium. Unfortunately I don't have consistent nitrate results over time to provide any data backed conclusions.

Fwiw, if you have the space why not try a refugium?

Bryan68 · Apr 28, 2020

dopey said:
It's hard to say. In my 37L tank I feed very sparingly to a single clownfish. -- not even daily. And always had nitrates above 20+ when testing. Even doing weekly water changes . It frustrated me so much was even testing my new saltwater to confirm 0.

My new tank, which I transferred fish and rock over to I didn't test nitrates at first. I added a refugium nearly a month ago now.

I've been feeding 2-3 cubes a day to 5 fish. I tested nitrates for the first time a couple weeks ago and it was less than 5.

Fuge is growing strong. My main battle had been a self-inflicted caulerpa battle (introduced on a frag then neglect) but that's a story in itself in my build thread.

No other changes in husbandry when moving to a larger tank -- always used rodi water, same salt and same WC schedule. It could be tank maturity perhaps..but I've associated it with the refugium. Unfortunately I don't have consistent nitrate results over time to provide any data backed conclusions.

Fwiw, if you have the space why not try a refugium?

Thanks for the detailed response...Here is my dilemma, My NO3 is fairly steady at 5-10ppm, but my PO4 is steadily rising and have started running GFO. So my concern with adding a fuge is NO3 bottoming out before I get PO4 under control. Am I off base? But yes, I do have room for a fuge.

dopey · Apr 28, 2020

Bryan68 said:
Thanks for the detailed response...Here is my dilemma, My NO3 is fairly steady at 5-10ppm, but my PO4 is steadily rising and have started running GFO. So my concern with adding a fuge is NO3 bottoming out before I get PO4 under control. Am I off base? But yes, I do have room for a fuge.

I'm probably not best qualified to give good advice here unfortunately. Trying to navigate this reef thing like the rest myself

I tested allot in the start but after a while it was more if I had an issue. With this quarantine I am trying to test certain things more frequently......but I lost the caps to the Hannah test tubes -- woops! Waiting on replacements.

I tested phosphate the other week and it was .06. I'm not running any GFO (or any additives/chemicals)

I subscribe to the theory of not chasing numbers and implement things to solve a problem. Then again I'm not keeping SPS (yet) so that view may change

I added my refugium as part of my battle with caulerpa in the display. Combining manual removal, fish to eat it and a refugium to out compete it for resources.... The "low" nitrates were just an added bonus

Bryan68 · Apr 28, 2020

dopey said:
I'm probably not best qualified to give good advice here unfortunately. Trying to navigate this reef thing like the rest myself

I tested allot in the start but after a while it was more if I had an issue. With this quarantine I am trying to test certain things more frequently......but I lost the caps to the Hannah test tubes -- woops! Waiting on replacements.

I tested phosphate the other week and it was .06. I'm not running any GFO (or any additives/chemicals)

I subscribe to the theory of not chasing numbers and implement things to solve a problem. Then again I'm not keeping SPS (yet) so that view may change

I added my refugium as part of my battle with caulerpa in the display. Combining manual removal, fish to eat it and a refugium to out compete it for resources.... The "low" nitrates were just an added bonus