No more stumps!!

Mark75 · Dec 20, 2015

Tested @ 9:00am, nitrates .2ppm

40 hours into nitrate dosing and I am seeing results both good and bad.

The good first;
1.) Rock is becoming darker, it has been very white bleached looking. I think it looks better, seems less artificial, almost as if my tank is maturing prematurely.
2.) Zoas and LPS are fuller with more extension, nothing dramatic but an improvement.
3.) Ponape Birds nest has came back to life! This mini colony (4"x3") has been a very pale, tan color for a month and a half. I was sure I would lose it, but it has drastically regained color and polyp extension. For the first time ever it fluoresced under actinics last night, not the entire coral but more than 3/4. This morning under daylights it is easy to see the color coming back. I am pretty excited about this!

Now the bad;
1.) What was a light brown dusting on my glass has turned into a much thicker brownish green film, nothing crazy but more than before.
2.) I had a small amount of fluffy pink algae in my sump(cotton candy?), well it has exploded! I have been running a light in my sump 24/7 for macro I am thinking of turning it off.
3.) Micro fauna is getting out of hand! Everything is crawling with pods, not sure if this is related to dosing nitrates or being fishless but I have noticed it more since dosing.
4.) Calcium has dropped 40ppm since starting NO3 dosing, need to find out why and adjust calcium addition.

I am very pleased with the results so far and plan to continue. The bubble algae seems unaffected and I am not sure why, if anything the bubble algae seems less and more clear in color. I have not noticed any difference in any SPS other than the drastic changes in the birds nest,..hopefully they just need more time. I wish you guys could see the transformation of my birds nest, I watched it happen and can't believe it!

I plan on doing my weekly water changes/maintenance today as normal and continue dosing as scheduled. I do not want to change anything other than dosing nitrates to help validate my experiment.

Jmcdaniel0 · Dec 22, 2015

Interesting. For some reason, my tanks always seem to hover right at 4 on the nitrates.

ihavecrabs · Dec 22, 2015

Mark75 said:
Tested @ 9:00am, nitrates .2ppm

40 hours into nitrate dosing and I am seeing results both good and bad.

The good first;
1.) Rock is becoming darker, it has been very white bleached looking. I think it looks better, seems less artificial, almost as if my tank is maturing prematurely.
2.) Zoas and LPS are fuller with more extension, nothing dramatic but an improvement.
3.) Ponape Birds nest has came back to life! This mini colony (4"x3") has been a very pale, tan color for a month and a half. I was sure I would lose it, but it has drastically regained color and polyp extension. For the first time ever it fluoresced under actinics last night, not the entire coral but more than 3/4. This morning under daylights it is easy to see the color coming back. I am pretty excited about this!

Now the bad;
1.) What was a light brown dusting on my glass has turned into a much thicker brownish green film, nothing crazy but more than before.
2.) I had a small amount of fluffy pink algae in my sump(cotton candy?), well it has exploded! I have been running a light in my sump 24/7 for macro I am thinking of turning it off.
3.) Micro fauna is getting out of hand! Everything is crawling with pods, not sure if this is related to dosing nitrates or being fishless but I have noticed it more since dosing.
4.) Calcium has dropped 40ppm since starting NO3 dosing, need to find out why and adjust calcium addition.

I am very pleased with the results so far and plan to continue. The bubble algae seems unaffected and I am not sure why, if anything the bubble algae seems less and more clear in color. I have not noticed any difference in any SPS other than the drastic changes in the birds nest,..hopefully they just need more time. I wish you guys could see the transformation of my birds nest, I watched it happen and can't believe it!

I plan on doing my weekly water changes/maintenance today as normal and continue dosing as scheduled. I do not want to change anything other than dosing nitrates to help validate my experiment.

I would count #3 as a win!

cincyreef · Dec 22, 2015

Any more updates?

Mark75 · Dec 22, 2015

Day 5 of experiment "Stump Dosing"

Have settled on 20ml per day added twice daily in 10ml doses, as of this afternoon Nitrates are at 1ppm. Total amount dosed is 64ml over a 4 day period.

Birds nest has completely regained color, no changes in other SPS. The thicker than normal film on the glass has returned to normal or possibly less than before dosing. My bleach white sand is getting darker as well as my rock. LPS and Zoas are still very happy and SPS showing good polyp extension.

I have know idea how/why the Ponape Birds nest colored up so quickly with no changes in any other SPS. Can any of you guys explain this?

I am continuing onward toward 2ppm.

Jmcdaniel0 · Dec 22, 2015

hmm it sure is interesting. I have no clue though.

cincyreef · Dec 30, 2015

How's the tank looking @Mark75 ?

Mark75 · Dec 30, 2015

Two other acros have shown color improvement!

PC Rainbow is getting a deeper red and has yellow/green where it is encrusting and a Hulk acro (green thick branched shallow water acro) is getting purple at the base.

The bubble algae is turning very dull and withering in places but I can't confirm if this is because of the dosing or it is running out of phosphates from the rock surface.

I am still very happy with the results. I have been dosing at least 15ml per day and can not get nitrates above 1ppm, I expected nitrates to sky rocket once the tank reached a saturation point but it has stayed steady at 1ppm.

cincyreef · Dec 31, 2015

Thanks for the update. I believe I may need to start dosing some nitrates too.

Mark75 · Dec 31, 2015

@cincyreef ,..I am very reluctant to suggest dosing because there are some potential bad side effects. I would make certain you actually have zero nitrates by using different test kits and maybe even having someone else test your water. Also make sure you have very low phosphates before dosing or you could have an algae explosion.

Make sure your sps are pale or light in color, not tan or brownish. I read where someone added nitrates to a system that had browned out sps due to high phosphates and the results where not good.

Keep in mind I have a small tank with just some large frags in it as of now, I wasn't risking a large, grown out tank. If things went south I could spend a couple of hundred bucks and in two months be back where I started.

If you do decide to dose nitrates start a thread, I would like to follow and see your results.

cincyreef · Jan 1, 2016

Mark75 said:
@cincyreef ,..I am very reluctant to suggest dosing because there are some potential bad side effects. I would make certain you actually have zero nitrates by using different test kits and maybe even having someone else test your water. Also make sure you have very low phosphates before dosing or you could have an algae explosion.

Make sure your sps are pale or light in color, not tan or brownish. I read where someone added nitrates to a system that had browned out sps due to high phosphates and the results where not good.

Keep in mind I have a small tank with just some large frags in it as of now, I wasn't risking a large, grown out tank. If things went south I could spend a couple of hundred bucks and in two months be back where I started.

If you do decide to dose nitrates start a thread, I would like to follow and see your results.

Thanks for the info. If I decide to start dosing, I'll start a thread. Good luck with your tank

Pete polyp · Jan 1, 2016

Mark75 said:
@cincyreef ,..I am very reluctant to suggest dosing because there are some potential bad side effects. I would make certain you actually have zero nitrates by using different test kits and maybe even having someone else test your water. Also make sure you have very low phosphates before dosing or you could have an algae explosion.

Make sure your sps are pale or light in color, not tan or brownish. I read where someone added nitrates to a system that had browned out sps due to high phosphates and the results where not good.

Keep in mind I have a small tank with just some large frags in it as of now, I wasn't risking a large, grown out tank. If things went south I could spend a couple of hundred bucks and in two months be back where I started.

If you do decide to dose nitrates start a thread, I would like to follow and see your results.

SPOT on advice there. The phosphate thing needs to be in bold caps though. If there's available phosphate algae will go CRAZY

DLuce510 · Jan 1, 2016

There's a couple of threads on this, one with stump remover and one for Nitrogen flourish. These threads also bring up the Redfeild ratio: 16 parts NO3 to 1 part PO4 (16:1). My system has been striped of nutrients for some time and this is a welcome method to pin point control nutrients. I will say my system reached saturation rather quickly. Dosed 30ml's first two days and was back at 0 ppm's by the morning, hooked it up to the doser at 10x a day @2ml and the nitrates have stayed at 4 ppm's. Honing it down to 1.25ppm's .Same results you were describing, little algae, little cyano in the fuge, no biggie, will clear up when the macro out competes it.
No huge results right away after a week, Chalice's and Lepastrea seem to have positive results first, color and encrusting quickly. More colorful encrusting from Monti's and Acro's just staring.
Honestly don't think I would have considered this with out a fuge. If there is gonna be any blooms I know its gonna happen in there not in the display.

CastAway · Jan 16, 2016

Updates @Mark75?

Mark75 · Jan 16, 2016

I have not dosed in a week and my tank is holding steady at 2ppm. I have not noticed any further improvement in SPS color. It seemed the corals responded immediately but after a couple of weeks the nitrates had little effect.

I have stopped dosing for two reasons. My levels are holding at 2ppm and I am having an algae and digitate hydroid outbreak.

If time allows I plan on removing my rock work and soaking it in something that may slow the algae growth,...maybe a 50/50 solution saltwater and hydrochloric acid. I was going to start with a weaker solution until I realized bubble algae can't scream. No need dragging it out if I can't enjoy hearing their screams of torment!

CastAway · Jan 16, 2016

Mark75 said:
I have not dosed in a week and my tank is holding steady at 2ppm. I have not noticed any further improvement in SPS color. It seemed the corals responded immediately but after a couple of weeks the nitrates had little effect.

I have stopped dosing for two reasons. My levels are holding at 2ppm and I am having an algae and digitate hydroid outbreak. If time allows I plan on removing my rock work and soaking it in something that may slow the algae growth,...maybe a 50/50 solution saltwater and hydrochloric acid. I was going to start with a weaker solution until I realized bubble algae can't scream. No need dragging it out if I can't enjoy hearing their screams of torment!

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