NP-Bacto_Balance

[Lou Ekus]

@Lou Ekus does running UV negate the carbon dosing with TM products? Is the UV just going to sterilize the bacteria making it hard for them to colonize enough? Or am I misunderstanding how this works?

UV does not "negate" the carbon dosing. Most of the bacteria you are promoting with carbon dosing is locted in and on the substrate and corals. However, just as an asside, I am not a fan of running UV 23/7 in reef systems. Why try to sterilize the very water your corals need to get thier nutrition from? UV is great for a solution to a tempory bacterial bloom. But not as a 24/7 pplication for reefs. (IMO)

 

[dubmaneh]

If you would like to keep your PO4 at .13ppm, then I would suggest just increasing the NP BACTO Balance a little and see where the levels go. If you want to drop the PO4 down under .13ppm, then I would use the ELIMI NP.

ELIMI NP reduced my PO4, and BACTO BALANCE has since kept my PO4 steady around 0.04ppm. NO3 has also come down to 2.5ppm from around 25ppm. During the past couple months I started dosing K- and A+ elements at 75% of the recommended starting dosage. Corals are looking great.

However, the Chaeto in my refugium has stopped growing and I'm fighting a Green Hair Algae outbreak (growing in the display and on the Chaeto). Would I be correct in assuming that with the lowered nutrients the GHA has the advantage over the Chaeto?

What course of action would you suggest? Do I just maintain low PO4 around 0.04and eventually starve it out?

 

[Lou Ekus]

ELIMI NP reduced my PO4, and BACTO BALANCE has since kept my PO4 steady around 0.04ppm. NO3 has also come down to 2.5ppm from around 25ppm. During the past couple months I started dosing K- and A+ elements at 75% of the recommended starting dosage. Corals are looking great.

However, the Chaeto in my refugium has stopped growing and I'm fighting a Green Hair Algae outbreak (growing in the display and on the Chaeto). Would I be correct in assuming that with the lowered nutrients the GHA has the advantage over the Chaeto?

What course of action would you suggest? Do I just maintain low PO4 around 0.04and eventually starve it out?

Unfortuntely, this is onen of those things that will need a little, experimentation or trial and error to correct. You might be on the right track with keeping the PO4 low and trying to "starve out" the GHA. However, GHA is extremely effective in photosynthesis and growing with using light as it's energy source. sometimes letting the PO4 go up a little, closer to the 0.1 ppm range, will also help in a situation like this. Also, the GHA that is ctively growing in your refugium, may be fueling the GHA growth in your display as well.
I would try cutting the lighting cycle back some in the refugium, while keeping your PO4 where it currently is. Then, if that doesn't show positive effect in a week or so, I would try letting your PO$ creep up a little. You might find that will do the trick.
Please do let me know how you make out. If you really end up feeling like you are just "beating your head against the wall", give me a call in the offivce and we can try to disect this in more detail. There are often other factors that can come into play that e are not even scratching on here.

 

[ctopherl]

Roller mats work great. Sometimes even a little too great. What I mean by that is that a roller mat with the NP BACTO Balance is fine, just keep an eye on your nutrient levels. In some cases the roller mats are SO efficient in removing particulates, that they do a better job than is needed in relation to nutrient content. In those cases the system becomes almost "too clean" and, no matter how hard your try, you can't seem to get the nutrient levels up to where you would like them. Don't get me wrong, I am not against rollers. In fact, I think they are great. This is just something I have seen more than a hand full of times, and it's worth mentioning as a situation to be aware of a watching for.

Following up on this, is a skimmer required to skim out the bacteria? Or is leaving them in the system for corals to uptake reasonable? Risk of bacterial blooms is slim to none because I have a UV running (primarily for parasite control)

The reef mat isn’t working “too well” I still need GFO to keep the phosphates down currently. I am trying to avoid a skimmer simply because I want less equipment to maintain

By the way-loving your videos with Ryan from BRS, thanks for taking the time to do those