How soon after a reefing event before corals start to move again?

[Maximitsurugi]

We all know that there are events or situations that cause stuff to seem to stop and stand still. It could be a small alk swing or light change or maybe even having your hand in the tank shifting stuff around for an extended bit.

How long did it take to see your tank pick up where it left off and take off again?

Also please tell the event that slowed/stopped growth.

 

[Reefer40b]

I think you will get a lot of mixed answers here, I think any kind of event corals are going to respond very differently even frags of the same coral. Some may stay dormant for a month or so while that same coral but a different frag may start growing the following week.

 

[Maximitsurugi]

True but we are speaking on average. Not being overly specific. Just the time frame in which you look at your tank after something it went through and you say, hey, stuff has taken off again.

Everything is individual but thats why all is the same.

Plus, mixed answers are good. Gives us a chance to learn from the experienc of others.

 

[ScottB]

I'll play. So went on vacation last January for a week. I left behind faulty feeding instructions and came home to a large frag system that was depleted on both PO4 and NO3. And of course... dinoflagellates. Hungry fish too.

Nothing was happy. ALK consumption fell from 250ml per day to 100. Took a week or more to get nutrient back up. Two/three more weeks to knock back the dinos. So three/four weeks in my consumption slowly started to come back.

The dinos also apparently depleted I and K as well (0 and 240 respectively) but I didn't catch that until an ICP around week 6-7. Not all the SPS seemed to care about that part but some (LPS & SPS) rallied immediately after I corrected for that.

So call it 7-8 weeks before all was back to normal consumption.

 

[Maximitsurugi]

I'll play. So went on vacation last January for a week. I left behind faulty feeding instructions and came home to a large frag system that was depleted on both PO4 and NO3. And of course... dinoflagellates. Hungry fish too.

Nothing was happy. ALK consumption fell from 250ml per day to 100. Took a week or more to get nutrient back up. Two/three more weeks to knock back the dinos. So three/four weeks in my consumption slowly started to come back.

The dinos also apparently depleted I and K as well (0 and 240 respectively) but I didn't catch that until an ICP around week 6-7. Not all the SPS seemed to care about that part but some (LPS & SPS) rallied immediately after I corrected for that.

So call it 7-8 weeks before all was back to normal consumption.

Very cool info. Do you still rely on a feeding regimen or maybe youve gone the diy N and P dosing route?

 

[ScottB]

Very cool info. Do you still rely on a feeding regimen or maybe youve gone the diy N and P dosing route?

I have a ton of fish now so I no longer dose, but at the time yes. Sodium nitrate and trisodium phosphate on an auto doser. Required over a liter of PO4 solution to keep a reading on the Hanna in the first week.

 

[Maximitsurugi]

I have a ton of fish now so I no longer dose, but at the time yes. Sodium nitrate and trisodium phosphate on an auto doser. Required over a liter of PO4 solution to keep a reading on the Hanna in the first week.

Are you bare bottom? Im thinking of going that route but i dropped po4 super hard with lanthanum once so much so that i read 0.00 for months no mattee how much i fed and when i dosed up to 0.05 it disappeared. Wonderingbif dealing with nutrients might be better than having to add.

 

[ScottB]

Are you bare bottom? Im thinking of going that route but i dropped po4 super hard with lanthanum once so much so that i read 0.00 for months no mattee how much i fed and when i dosed up to 0.05 it disappeared. Wonderingbif dealing with nutrients might be better than having to add.

Yes, my frag system is bare, but I have 80-100lbs of live sump rock. Plus ceramic block.

When you hit 0 on PO4, that means not only is there no phosphate in the water, but all of your rock & sand has been stripped as well. Nitrates don't bind, so dosing it is fairly linear: add enough to create N parts per million and that is the reading you will get. Not so with phosphate; the rock will bind it super quick until it finally gets saturated. I easily dosed a liter of PO4 solution before I could get a reading >0.