dosing is annoying my euphylia?

[AnnaG]

Hey, i recently bought a few corals to add to a pretty new CADE 300 litre aquarium. They are all doing great but I've decided to do dosing instead of water changes. I took my baseline readings for a few days and figured out that I lose about 0.3 dkh and 10ppm of calcium per day. So I dosed 15ml of reef foundations A and B each day and got consistent readings. However, I noticed my frogspawn was completely closed up. I have a merulina coral which is much more difficult and picky but that one is doing great. I stopped dosing for a couple of days and the frogspawn is open and fluffy again. What's going on?

 

[Lavey29]

If it's a new tank it needs weekly water changes not dosing. Needs to establish biodiversity and microfauna.

 

[zdrc]

Did you do a water change in addition to stopping the dosing?

 

[JNalley]

If it's a new tank it needs weekly water changes not dosing. Needs to establish biodiversity and microfauna.

How, in your estimation, do water changes establish biodiversity and microfauna? Water changes are for nutrient export and trace element import. Sterile saltwater doesn't have bacteria or copepods in it... So I'm curious as to your rationale?

 

[Sean Clark]

Ok let's break this down a bit further...
How old is the tank?
How long have you gone without regular water changes?
Do you have past and current parameters?
There is alot to unpack here and hopefully come to a resolution but more information is needed.

 

[Lavey29]

How, in your estimation, do water changes establish biodiversity and microfauna? Water changes are for nutrient export and trace element import. Sterile saltwater doesn't have bacteria or copepods in it... So I'm curious as to your rationale?

Water changes maintain tank balance as the tank matures and develops biodiversity and microfauna. Shecsaid it was a new tank which means unstable parameters so how do you gauge dosing with unstable parameters?

 

[AnnaG]

Ok let's break this down a bit further...
How old is the tank?
How long have you gone without regular water changes?
Do you have past and current parameters?
There is alot to unpack here and hopefully come to a resolution bur more information is needed.

I should have included this tank actually was an upgrade from a previous 80-litre tank which was over a year old and a lot of the media was moved over, however, the CADE did have a small cycle. I've had this tank now for about 3 months, with no water changes. I've only got 5 corals, no fish, and some inverts.

 

[AnnaG]

Did you do a water change in addition to stopping the dosing?

No, yet everything is looking happy.

 

[AnnaG]

Ok let's break this down a bit further...
How old is the tank?
How long have you gone without regular water changes?
Do you have past and current parameters?
There is alot to unpack here and hopefully come to a resolution bur more information is needed.

Also for parameters,
Alk- 7
Ca- 400
Mg - 1200
Nitrate - 0.25
Phosphate - 0.1

 

[Sean Clark]

No, yet everything is looking happy.

Everything except the euphylia...

 

[JNalley]

Also for parameters,
Alk- 7
Ca- 400
Mg - 1200
Nitrate - 0.25
Phosphate - 0.1

just for clarity's sake, do you mean .25 ppm or 25ppm (it's a common mistake)?

 

[AnnaG]

Everything except the euphylia...

I stopped dosing for a couple of days and the frogspawn is open and fluffy again. What's going on?

Once dosing was stopped, everything went back to normal.

 

[AnnaG]

just for clarity's sake, do you mean .25 ppm or 25ppm (it's a common mistake)?

0.25pmm

 

[Sean Clark]

just for clarity's sake, do you mean .25 ppm or 25ppm (it's a common mistake)?

I agree this is an important distinction with po4 at 0.1

 

[Sean Clark]

So you have an extreeme imbalance between nitrates and phosphates. I would approach this two fold. First reduce phosphate to at least 0.05 then start raising nitrate to a minimum of 2ppm.

 

[Lavey29]

0.25pmm

So your corals are starving

 

[AnnaG]

So you have an extreeme imbalance between nitrates and phosphates. I would approach this two fold. First reduce phosphate to at least 0.05 then start raising nitrate to a minimum of 2ppm.

So help me so I can understand this better. Why do my corals appear happy? and why was the frogspawn only irritated when I was dosing?

 

[Sean Clark]

So help me so I can understand this better. Why do my corals appear happy? and why was the frogspawn only irritated when I was dosing?

Some corals are "canaries" and show issues sooner than others. The correlation with dosing could be coincidence. I am not saying that this is the case. I am only trying to offer up possibilities.

 

[AnnaG]

Some corals are "canaries" and show issues sooner than others. The correlation with dosing could be coincidence. I am not saying that this is the case. I am only trying to offer up possibilities.

Gotchya. Bc, i really thought this was a dosing issue. Ive had the frogspawn for aa few weeks now, and the whole time it was doing really well (pictured attached). Then in the like 4 days I was dosing It was ticked off, so i stopped and now its back to normal? Ill get
the nutrients right - ill purchase some fish soon and that should help bump up nitrates.

 

[Sean Clark]

Gotchya. Bc, i really thought this was a dosing issue. Ive had the frogspawn for aa few weeks now, and the whole time it was doing really well (pictured attached). Then in the like 4 days I was dosing It was ticked off, so i stopped and now its back to normal? Ill get
the nutrients right - ill purchase some fish soon and that should help bump up nitrates.

Sounds good. What are you using for lighting? PAR would be great but wattage and intensity along with the length and width of the tank would be helpful.