Nick’s 10g

[tsav87]

I have added a couple of bottles of Fritz-ZYME Turbostart 900 over the recent two months as I started up my system. Should I add more? I assume that there is a lot of bacteria already present in the system. However, they are clearly consuming nutrients to a detrimental point. That’s likely why my corals are losing their coloration.

The fritz bacteria should produce nitrate, not consume it.

 

[tsav87]

 

[Deiblerj]

I just went through this battle myself...in fact I am still fighting it!

I spoke to the owner of my LFS about doing nitrates to “dirty my tank” and they advised against it. They said try feeding more frequently, remove any carbon, and just give it some time.

It’s a painful process because everything gets covered and dinos and it looks like crap. But it should clear up on it’s on once you get your parameters balanced out.

How often are you feed and what filtration are you using?

 

[nickkohrn]

How often are you feed and what filtration are you using?

I’m feeding once per day, and it’s a pellet food. I also feed PolypLab Reef-Roids once per week.

Filtration is a single 8”x8”x1” MarinePure plate, which offers a tremendous amount of surface area for bacterial colonization in a 10g.

 

[Fudsey]

I have to dose nitrates once a week to get any. I feed pellets 1 time/day and frozen 1x day and I still have no nitrates. I dose NeoNitro 100ml once a week.

 

[Deiblerj]

Hmm maybe try mixing in frozen and see if that helps. You may have to dose if you can’t get it up through your feeding.

@Fudsey anything to watch out for when dosing nitrates? My LFS seemed to be against it for some reason. Didn’t bother to ask why which I wish I would have haha

 

[Fudsey]

Hmm maybe try mixing in frozen and see if that helps. You may have to dose if you can’t get it up through your feeding.

@Fudsey anything to watch out for when dosing nitrates? My LFS seemed to be against it for some reason. Didn’t bother to ask why which I wish I would have haha

I never have any issues dosing NeoNitro. I just can't keep nitrates in the tank. I was testing weekly and every Sunday they were less than 1 ppm. Just a hint of color on the NYOS test. I have phosphates that's why I dose the Neo. I run GFO to keep them in check but for some reason my tank just eats nitrates. The dose brings them up to around 5 ppm and by next week they are gone again.

 

[nickkohrn]

I picked up some rock today. I needed something to do since my tank is going through it’s first day of blackout.



I’m not sure that it’s the final design, but I like the amount of crevices and holes for life to explore.

 

[Deiblerj]

Pictures don’t seem to be loading

 

[nickkohrn]

Pictures don’t seem to be loading

Oh, that’s strange. I’ll take a look at them when I get home after work.

 

[nickkohrn]

I ended up rearranging my rocks, which I like better than the structure in the previous photos that failed to upload. I am partial to more open rock-work, but I really like the amount of holes and crevices that I have with the new structure. It's kind of difficult to provide enough open space between islands in a system that is 36" (914mm) long while allowing enough room for corals to grow. It allows for enough room to scrape the rear glass and overflow, which is important to me.

 

[Deiblerj]

Just my $.02. No matter what you like now, you’ll end up wanting to change it once you have fish and water in the tank haha, just part of the hobby. But what you have looks awesome!

Love the purple rock!

 

[nickkohrn]

I’ve really been struggling with my rock-work lately, but I think that I have a structure that I’m happy with. There are many places for hiding and placing corals. I planned on doing an LPS-only system, but I’ve really been eyeing SPS systems over the last week, so I wanted to make sure that my rock-work is conducive for growing SPS corals, if I decide to give them a try. I don’t know that I have enough vertical separation to place the SPS corals at the top and the LPS corals at the bottom, such as my brain corals and Euphyllias. Any thoughts and/or recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Fudsey]

With the amount of bottom available, I think you will have lots of room for LPS down there. And you can place Euphyllias around the bottom of the rock too

 

[nickkohrn]

I have been struggling with undetectable nitrates and phosphates for a month, and my corals have started showing signs, such as colors becoming dull and browning. I started dosing NeoNitro and NeoPhos from Brightwell Aquatics this week, and I now have a reading of ~0.01 ppm for phosphate and a little above 0.0 ppm but lower than 5.0 ppm for nitrate. I will hold off on dosing NeoPhos until I start seeing it fall again, but I will continue dosing NeoNitro to get a detectable level of ~5.0 ppm. It’s funny that hobbyists used to shoot for as low of measurements as possible just a few years ago, and now some of us struggle even getting detectable levels.

 

[Fudsey]

I am having the same issue with Nitrates and have to dose NeoNtro as well 65- 85 ml per week. Phosphates is the complete opposite and I need to run GFO to keep it low

 

[nickkohrn]

I am having the same issue with Nitrates and have to dose NeoNtro as well 65- 85 ml per week. Phosphates is the complete opposite and I need to run GFO to keep it low

Check out this one on Amazon. It is a lot cheaper. That’s what I’ll be ordering when my NeoNitro is almost gone.

https://www.amazon.com/Sodium-Nitrate-Reagent-Grade-chemically/dp/B0190TOJUS

 

[Fudsey]

Interesting, thanks

 

[nickkohrn]

I have started a new thread for my upcoming Waterbox build, which you can follow here. I will no longer be updating this thread, so follow along with my new build thread if you want to see what's in store! Thanks for all of your advice, suggestions, and help in this thread!