Low Nutrients what to add.

[chicago]

Quick question.
What product are you guys using on low nutrient systems. I QT my frags.. and frankly this 30 gallon Qt is driving me nuts. No fish as I QT for ICK in it along with SPS pests... so the tanks ALk I had a hard time keeping up.. was tending to run at 6 or even 5.5 ... but the frags looked ok.. problem was slim algea at that low ALK level.. so I started to bump it up ... ALK is now at 8.5 9.0... but now the frags are starting to lose color and bleaching out.. We understand ...low nutrients.. low alk.. higher nutrient levels ... higher alk... is the basic rule.. so I am wishing to keep the alk around 8... I will need to add in some nitrate and phosphate.. please suggest some products that have worked for you all in similar situations.. thanks

 

[Ike]

Just adding a little bit of flake food or some water from melted flake food daily might do the trick. Dosing things like nitrate and phosphate could possibly lead to greater frustration.

 

[chicago]

i was thinking of dropping in some pellets in the back of the tank .. its a tank with built in overflows .. filtration in back..

 

[JoeD_]

How fast did you raise the ALK?

 

[bobby.w.hodges]

Add another fish, not a chemical

 

[chicago]

over period of two weeks.. yep.. i know.. i have been doing this for 30 years... I might have pushed it up to fast with The GHL doser. thats the problem with a smaller Frag QT ... no room for error....

was doing 5 ml a day.. no movenment.. then bumped up to 10 ml a day.. get back from out of town and its at 9.0 alk..

 

[chicago]

do not want to add a fish.. I cant... the purpose of this is to make sure the Frags do not carry ick into the tank.. all frags are in theQT for 76 days.. which can be a hard thing... IF I add a fish and the frags have any ICK the fish will be a host... and all bets are off...

 

[bobby.w.hodges]

Sorry to say, but ich isn't a problem if your fish are healthy. How about buy a fish from someone that did a proper qt on it. It's the simplest solution. Fish poop = nitrate, you need nitrate, you need fish.

 

[chicago]

Bobby,,, respectfully...ick..si . it is a problem and always will be if you do not QT your fish.. I have had healthy systems and have had ich.. Fish carry ick.. I have seen and had tank wipe outs ... i have been doing this for over 30 years. Healthy fish can live with ick.. but the second and issue occurs .. a stress factor ect.. the ick will no longer be in check for lack of better words... This is another issue for another day in the disease forum... I appreciate your opinion.. I do.. I have gone the way you suggest and have had fine results for years.. but one spring.. or two it went bad.. I now QT everything that is wet.. too much at stake in my DT...

 

[markalot]

I have not been doing this as long as you but IMO low Alk is the way to go, acros tend to be able to regulate how much they use when you are dosing yet Alk is still staying low. In my experience anway from running Alk at 6.5 and below for over a year. It also seems that at more natural Alk levels, and below, the acros can tolerate a much cleaner environment like that of a QT.

For food, Reef Roids or something similar with very small particles, kept suspended as long as possible. That's just a guess though. I think raising Alk in an already stressed environment has probably nuked your frags. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Szigedi]

I dose this to increase my phosphate in my reef tank when it got too clean. Flourish-Phosphorus



And I dose this to increase my nitrate. Flourish-Nitrogen

 

[bobby.w.hodges]

Bobby,,, respectfully...ick..si . it is a problem and always will be if you do not QT your fish.. I have had healthy systems and have had ich.. Fish carry ick.. I have seen and had tank wipe outs ... i have been doing this for over 30 years. Healthy fish can live with ick.. but the second and issue occurs .. a stress factor ect.. the ick will no longer be in check for lack of better words... This is another issue for another day in the disease forum... I appreciate your opinion.. I do.. I have gone the way you suggest and have had fine results for years.. but one spring.. or two it went bad.. I now QT everything that is wet.. too much at stake in my DT...

Well put, i respect your decision. I am pretty sure I've had it in the tank for years, only time it ever really showed its head was during a heater failure and temp dropped, i never ran any treatment, that's where my logic came from. You could dose kno3 if you just want to raise Nitrate.

 

[Ike]

i was thinking of dropping in some pellets in the back of the tank .. its a tank with built in overflows .. filtration in back..

After thinking about it for a bit, I think to add a small amount of water from melting frozen food, if you use that, would be a cleaner and lower in detritus method.

 

[SeaDweller]

Amazon or loudwolf sell NaNO3 and Na3PO4, that’s what I’d use.

 

[rushbattle]

I have not been doing this as long as you but IMO low Alk is the way to go, acros tend to be able to regulate how much they use when you are dosing yet Alk is still staying low. In my experience anway from running Alk at 6.5 and below for over a year. It also seems that at more natural Alk levels, and below, the acros can tolerate a much cleaner environment like that of a QT.

For food, Reef Roids or something similar with very small particles, kept suspended as long as possible. That's just a guess though. I think raising Alk in an already stressed environment has probably nuked your frags. I hope I'm wrong.

In agreement with markalot. I use golden pearls, which are the original reef roids type products. Don’t use mechanical filtration at all if you are struggling with low N and P.

 

[Coastie Reefer]

GLA Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) Aquarium Fertilizer - 1lb Bag

Green Leaf Aquariums Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) is a key macronutrient source supporting robust green growth in aquatic plants.

greenleafaquariums.com

GLA Monopotassium Phosphate (KH2PO4) Aquarium Fertilizer - 1lb Bag

Green Leaf Aquariums KH2PO4 supports root health and energy transport with concentrated phosphate and potassium supply.

greenleafaquariums.com

These works great and will last forever.

 

[chicago]

yep... years ago ..my DT was like at 10 alk... and while the coralinae algae was all over.. my pumps had a constant build up.. I am striving to keep it at 8 or below... at 6.5 or 7... i started to see some weird algae growth in the system..

 

[chicago]

ps.. thanks for the imput all..

 

[Tamberav]

I use the seachem stuff that was posted. It's very accurate if you use the formula and know your water volumn.

Since you can't do fish...maybe some cleaner shrimp just for fun to have something to feed.

 

[chicago]

yep.. time for some shrimp.. and a snail or two..