ATO Information

[Saltwater_Reefing]

Salifert test kits are great and seem super accurate i have a hanna for alk and hardly use it as i dont test and much as i used to. The ato is great to alleviate things you have to do if you want to leave your tank for a few days it good to know that your tank can kinda just go on after all reefing is a hobby not a job. I recently just picked up a dosing pump so i dont have to do that by hand i think if you can lighten your tank work load it will make it more enjoyable! I got the tunze nano ato and knock on wood its been great. Watch some videos and see one you might like!

would it be best to buy the salifert test kits or an ato

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

they give you what? sorry

Dinoflagellates,

 

[jhadaway]

on what site?

This site in the marketplace. Tunze ato’s show up on here pretty frequently. Also, labor day sales are coming.

 

[aSaltyKlown]

Do you have any experience with BrightWell aquatics amino acid and does it work?
I have reef roids but the corals don't seem to go for it that much, then I looked on amazon and saw this polyp lab booster which I don't know if it's supposed to help the reef roids work or not?

I wouldn't feed the corals in that small of a tank. Water changes and feeding the fish would be sufficient. Coral food will likely raise the nutrients and then you'll buy something to lower them.

Research it all be for buying anything, marketing does a hell of an good job at making folks need things they don't need.

Regarding test kits I use, Hanna for Alk, P04 and Nitrate, Salifert for Calc and Aquaforest for Mag. Before I got the Hanna, I used Salifert. API is fine for ammonia, just realize that a .025 reading is likely 0 and nothing to be worried about.

 

[PapaFishRocks]

In my opinion, an ATO is worth it, as you say it gets tiresome to add water every day, imagine doing it every day for years and years?

They are all roughly in the same price category, roughly about $90-$120 for the "nano" ATO's. There are several good, reliable brands you can buy in this price range. Tunze nano ATO, and auto aqua smart ATO are 2 that I've used, but there are others, there are lots of threads reviewing different nano ato's, you can find them with the search function.

If have corals, or plan to get corals, an ATO will help keep them happy. Same with the API test kit, its not accurate enough for corals, but for fish only tank it's sufficient.

100% agreed!

Tunze makes a great ATO.

 

[PapaFishRocks]

I check weekly for NO3 and PO4. I dose AFR daily, since it's dialed in I check Alk weekly and as long as it's good Calcium every 3 weeks and Magnesium maybe once a month. I only have a few small nems and mushrooms in this tank but it's Gulf live rock, it had several bivalves on the rock. I'm still getting together the corals I want in this tank.

I'm using a noopsyche K7 V3, it's way overkill but if I upgrade the tank I have a light for a larger tank. The mini would be fine too. AI prime 16 is a popular choice.

i don't have a full shot with the light but you can see part of it here.

The look on your cats face is priceless!!!

 

[jhadaway]

I am target feeding with a big straw LPS Grow-Color and maybe 5ml acro power once a week. I feed on Friday and do a 3 gal water change on Monday every week. Turkey baste everything before the water change. I do run a very small overflow filter too. This is my 5.5 pico. The pods have taken care of all the algea from day 1.

 

[ta88brian]

Just saying my tunze ato failed twice in 6 months. Had my fzone for 11/2 years