Hoping for some guidance regarding long term nutrient management method

Kungpaoshizi · Jun 6, 2016

Speaking from experience, you may get mixed results. I'm guessing it will be pretty good, but maintenance will be the key thing. In my experience from all the reactors and methods I've tried, Nopox won out. I require a low-maintenance system with lower probability for crashes. That's why I have 2 pumps, 1 small skimmer that's inside the tank, and then individual 4-roller dosers for each additive. It would be hard to guess the failure points, but I know the probabilities are less than having a sump and additional items. I tried for years to get down to just a tank and nothing else, but this is about as close as it gets.

Good to see your setup is doing well though, if nothing else it will give you more experience!

rocknut · Jun 8, 2016

Lowell Lemon said:
It is human nature to think we can affect the right change at the right time with natural systems that are 'under' our control. But really is there any natural system that is under our control? I am constantly reminded of the desire to control outcomes that are 'above my pay grade' when all my attempts fail. Parenting is one of those instructive experiances as well as creating a 'natural' environment for aquatic creatures. It would seem to be a better course to work inside both our abilities and the abilities of a small natural system for greater success. It seems the more we micro manage natural systems the more crashes we experiance and read about. I am encouraging you to stay the course for the benefit of others including myself (yes self interest is involved). You see if the your natural system establishes some level of stability then I have a better road map to follow when I establish my next system. I believe you are on the right course if the goal is stability and easier care for your system. Wishing you all the best!

This is very well said. Stability is definitely my goal - I'm not looking for a show quality tank, just want to be able to grow some corals, and have a healthy tank.
That being said, everything is still plugging away. Using my Kalk reactor with my dosing pump, my Alk level is sitting right at 9.0 dkh, and my calcium is solid at 440. Magnesium is 1350 with the addition of some ESV Magnesium every week. I am going to keep the Matrix online as this really shouldn't do anything but provide more area for denitrification in the long run, and shouldn't be any different from adding additional live rock to the tank. Figure that if it is in the reactor, shouldn't have any issues with detritus collecting and adding to my NO3 numbers.
Thanks again everyone!

rocknut · Jun 25, 2016

Wanted to give an update to anyone that is interested in the progress of the tank:

I have been trying to keep my hands out of the tank as much as possible, and have continued to change filter socks every other day, and have continued changing 15 gallons of water every Saturday (10%).

NO3 levels have continued to sit somewhere between 50-100. I did test my RO/DI water directly from the unit, from the reservoir, and from my mixing container and got undetectable NO3 down the line, but did completely clean both of my storage containers out anyway. Also changed out all my filters and DI stages (always had zero TDS but wanted to be sure).

One odd thing: I had been dosing 4 drops of KZ Sponge Power since the beginning, mostly because I have so many filter feeders in the tank, and reasoned that keeping these sponges alive was a good thing as sponges=filtering. Decided to stop dosing for a week to make sure that wasn't my issue. Not sure how much of this is coincidental, or unrelated, but my PO4 dropped from 0.07 down to 0.03 but I also had quite a bloom of diatom algae, and the first appearance of GHA. So, wondering if stopping the Sponge Power actually allowed the algae to gain a foothold and in turn "use up" the PO4 in the water causing the levels to fall? Either way, I have started to dose the Sponge Power again, dosing 3 drops each night after lights out, which is a 50% dose, if for no other reason to keep feeding the filter feeders in the tank.

Really happy with the Kalk reactor setup. I am dosing 600ml of RO/DI water from my top off reservoir through the reactor every 24 hours and my alk has solid at 9.0dkh.

Have had issues with two of the corals in the tank, not because of issues with chemistry, but will various expected hitchhiker from the live rock. Check the tank with a flashlight every night and have pulled out a fair number of Gorilla Crabs, and a Red Mithrax crab that I caught eating my Acan frag. The other SPS (Montis and a Bird's Nest) are still going strong - colored nicely and growing strong, which still makes no sense with my nutrient levels being so high.

Thanks again to everyone that has read this thread and responded. Guarantee I would have caved and been dosing 10 different carbon dosing products by now, and made a HUGE mess of things if it wasn't for everyone's advice and encouragement.