Chronically low P, take skimmer offline?

[Sebae]

Hello all,

My frag system was deficient in phosphorus for months (Hanna ULR checker reading 0). I could not stop SPS from undergoing necrosis until I raised it. I have had no necrosis events since raising it. I have to regularly dose phosphorus (Brightwell NeoPhos) every 2-3 days or it drops back to 0. I also dose nitrate (Stump remover) but that is less frequent. So it would seem my bioload is pretty low or my skimmer is actually too much for the system (Reef Octopus 152-S skimmer on a system of roughly 80-90 gallons).

I know Randy Holmes-Farley has stated the biggest problem he encountered skimmerless was too high of a pH. Assuming I could keep pH in check, would there be any obvious problems taking the skimmer off assuming nutrients don't get too high?

Given my low bioload, instead of running the skimmer and dosing NO3, PO4, and amino acids, couldn't I just go skimmerless and not have to dose as frequently or at all?

I would greatly appreciate any thoughts on this topic.

Sincerely,

Sebae

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

In a frag tank with little to no feeding, I'd expect to have to provide nutrients, and dosing (e.g., sodium nitrate, sodium phosphate) is a good way to tightly control it.

Altering skimming is not likely to be so effective in control, and has its own drawbacks (O2 and pH impact calcification rates, for example).

 

[jda]

Keeping a few shrimp a frag system and feeding them on a schedule with a auto-feeder works great. Ehiem autofeeder, NLS pellets and peppermint shrimp are my favorites. Without anything else in the tank, the shrimp will wander around from frag to frag and eat stuff off of them if they can find it. The shrimp will also carry babies - they don't ever live, but it is cool to see it like in Freshwater Shrimp. Also, snails eating film algae and then pooping will contribute a bit too... but you need some P to get some film algae, so I get that this cycle is hard to get started.

The only downside to the shrimp is that you have to remove them if you ever have to do interceptor.