corals don't look happy

[reefluvrr]

Tested again a few hours later and it’s back to zero…

How old are the rocks (3 months old like your tank?) and are they dry or from live rocks? Maybe they are absorbing the phosphates?

How much plus np are you adding? maybe you should completely stop carbon dosing?

 

[robottaway]

Tested again a few hours later and it’s back to zero…

Yes it was ate up by your tank. Normally not worth testing po4 right after feeding, and especially in the case of reef roids. You will see big bumps like this that then comes down over a couple hours as tank eats it up, removing from water. Not that different from putting fish food in tank and having the fish eat it up. Likely see the same if you dose, though I never have so can’t say for certain. The trick is to find where feeding/ dosing starts to slowly raise the value and when you are in a good place maintain. IMO just need to continue, and in my experience smaller doses/feedings are better. Did a 1/16 tsp reef roids in current nano tank 1-2 times a day for a couple weeks until I started to see po4 range of 0.1. Now I feed this 2-3 times a week and with a small waterchange weekly have kept it in the 0.08-0.12 range for some time. Corals now wide open, fluffy and growing.

 

[kozzy]

How old are the rocks (3 months old like your tank?) and are they dry or from live rocks? Maybe they are absorbing the phosphates?

How much plus np are you adding? maybe you should completely stop carbon dosing?

Ya all rock added when I started the tank. Carib sea life rock I believe. I add 1 ml at the start of photo period which is a slight under dose. Plus np is supposto increase n and p but at the same time giving corals what they need but clearly not cuz everything isn’t looking very good and every other parameter is fine and stable

 

[kozzy]

Yes it was ate up by your tank. Normally not worth testing po4 right after feeding, and especially in the case of reef roids. You will see big bumps like this that then comes down over a couple hours as tank eats it up, removing from water. Not that different from putting fish food in tank and having the fish eat it up. Likely see the same if you dose, though I never have so can’t say for certain. The trick is to find where feeding/ dosing starts to slowly raise the value and when you are in a good place maintain. IMO just need to continue, and in my experience smaller doses/feedings are better. Did a 1/16 tsp reef roids in current nano tank 1-2 times a day for a couple weeks until I started to see po4 range of 0.1. Now I feed this 2-3 times a week and with a small waterchange weekly have kept it in the 0.08-0.12 range for some time. Corals now wide open, fluffy and growing.

Thanks for the detailed reply, it’s good to know u had a similar situation with a good outcome. I ordered Neo nitro and Neo phos but it won’t be here for a week so I’m a little worried things aren’t gonna make it. Would you recommend dosing both or just focusing on phosphates. I know phosphates are more important that nitrates in terms of coral nutrition but also the balance is important? Just asking because if it comes down to it I’ll just drive to the store quite far away and buy it even tho I have it coming.

 

[robottaway]

Thanks for the detailed reply, it’s good to know u had a similar situation with a good outcome. I ordered Neo nitro and Neo phos but it won’t be here for a week so I’m a little worried things aren’t gonna make it. Would you recommend dosing both or just focusing on phosphates. I know phosphates are more important that nitrates in terms of coral nutrition but also the balance is important? Just asking because if it comes down to it I’ll just drive to the store quite far away and buy it even tho I have it coming.

Never have dosed those but can see the appeal of being able to dial in no3 and po4 separately. Sure dose both try and keep no3 in range 50-100x phosphates, example po3 0.1 no3 5-10. In my experience simply using roids was good enough to get the po4 up and corals back on track. Nitrates went up too but wasn’t a concern long as everything is happy. If it was me I would wait on those to get delivered and just feed the roids you already have a couple times a day until then. Like you said drops back to zero pretty quick so tank is liking what you are feeding and quickly making use of it. Less likely you will overshoot po4 range and cause an issue than things continue to starve and suffer. Worst case dial back the amount fed and do a little water change.

 

[kozzy]

Never have dosed those but can see the appeal of being able to dial in no3 and po4 separately. Sure dose both try and keep no3 in range 50-100x phosphates, example po3 0.1 no3 5-10. In my experience simply using roids was good enough to get the po4 up and corals back on track. Nitrates went up too but wasn’t a concern long as everything is happy. If it was me I would wait on those to get delivered and just feed the roids you already have a couple times a day until then. Like you said drops back to zero pretty quick so tank is liking what you are feeding and quickly making use of it. Less likely you will overshoot po4 range and cause an issue than things continue to starve and suffer. Worst case dial back the amount fed and do a little water change.

okay thanks for the advice. I am actually gonna go pick up another fish or two on friday and on top of the reef roids maybe that will solve things over the next week before the stuff comes. Id rather not have to dose stuff like that honestly. Also was gonna grab some aminos thinking mabe that'd help with overall nutrition for the corals and im sure that adds some sort of nutrients to the water as well. I am actually leaving town for three days and my brother (doesnt know anything about reefing) is gonna feed them. Typical things start going wrong just as I am about to leave for a bit butttt Im gonna put the amount of frozen food in a capsule to feed each day...do you think throwing 1/4 tsp of reef roids in each of those is fine to do or does it go bad or something once its in water

 

[robottaway]

okay thanks for the advice. I am actually gonna go pick up another fish or two on friday and on top of the reef roids maybe that will solve things over the next week before the stuff comes. Id rather not have to dose stuff like that honestly. Also was gonna grab some aminos thinking mabe that'd help with overall nutrition for the corals and im sure that adds some sort of nutrients to the water as well. I am actually leaving town for three days and my brother (doesnt know anything about reefing) is gonna feed them. Typical things start going wrong just as I am about to leave for a bit butttt Im gonna put the amount of frozen food in a capsule to feed each day...do you think throwing 1/4 tsp of reef roids in each of those is fine to do or does it go bad or something once its in water

I have often mixed reef roids in with frozen food (mysis and reef cuisine cubes) which then is fed over a few days. Never caused any issues. suggest you add fish after you return. If one goes “missing” during your absence could cause further issues as it decomposes. More fish is a good solution overall.