It seems easy enough to keep Ca, Alk and Mag levels stable using a variety of methods that have been discussed quite a bit. What seems much harder, to me, is keeping stable nutrient levels as there seems to be so many variables involved. How much do your nutrient levels swing over time? What methods are people having success with in reducing and keeping "stable" nutrient levels in their tanks? what maintenance is required in running your method? I am most interested in hearing from people that have had success in keeping their nutrients at a detectable level - not ULNS or 0. Thanks.
Nutrient Stability
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29bonsaireef
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Don't use carbon. Don't dose chemicals to eliminate NO3/PO4 or algae. Get a good amount of fish and FEED them. Dose some aminos if you have to once or twice weekly. Keep it natural, if you do this maintaining Phos and Nitrates is pretty easy. IMO, it's when people take the non-natural routes that they have problems keeping them detectable.
My tank keeps my nitrate at about .1. This is plenty. I have 2-3 inches of established sand a lots of live rock for denitrification. There is nothing that I can do about this... even if I added sodium nitrate, the bacteria would multiply and I would be back down to .1 in no time. I guess that .1 is what is needed to feed the equilibrium.
My tank keeps my phosphate at .01 using a fuge with chaeto, dragons[breath,tongue], water changes and heavy skimming. I could make this go up by removing a bunch of the weeds, or skim less, but I see no reason to.
Throughput is what is important, not levels on a test kit. I might suggest that you take a few minutes and watch the BRS Video on their ZeoVit tank... they said this as well as anybody and something like "there are more nitrate and phosphate going through this tank that most, yet the levels stay very low. This is a very nutrient rich tank."
I have not seen a tank yet that can get N or P too low using natural methods. If you carbon dose, use GFO or LC, etc. then this can drive them to true zero. Natural methods seem to always leave enough to drive the equilibrium forward.
Just a nit, but nitrate and phosphate are not nutrients for coral, they are building blocks. Real nutrients come from the sugars created by the zoos. It is Ok to worry about true nutrients which is why the best quality light is a good idea.
My tank keeps my phosphate at .01 using a fuge with chaeto, dragons[breath,tongue], water changes and heavy skimming. I could make this go up by removing a bunch of the weeds, or skim less, but I see no reason to.
Throughput is what is important, not levels on a test kit. I might suggest that you take a few minutes and watch the BRS Video on their ZeoVit tank... they said this as well as anybody and something like "there are more nitrate and phosphate going through this tank that most, yet the levels stay very low. This is a very nutrient rich tank."
I have not seen a tank yet that can get N or P too low using natural methods. If you carbon dose, use GFO or LC, etc. then this can drive them to true zero. Natural methods seem to always leave enough to drive the equilibrium forward.
Just a nit, but nitrate and phosphate are not nutrients for coral, they are building blocks. Real nutrients come from the sugars created by the zoos. It is Ok to worry about true nutrients which is why the best quality light is a good idea.
My nitrates seem to stick at 8ppm. My phosphate will max out at 0.08ppm. They’ll drop if I ease up on feeding. I run a skimmer and nothing else. I’ve got a BB tank and plenty of live rock that I bought fully cycled and colored up.
Interesting that a tank using natural methods can’t get nitrate and phosphate too low. I never thought about that. So a large fuge with lots of Chaeto will keep these low...but not too low. I prefer natural methods so will go this route.
I have watched the BRS video and understand the Zeovit method, but figure why go that route if I have the space for a large refugium.
I do not recommend ZeoVit unless you are really needing to solve a few specific problems... the video recommendation was more to garner an understanding that residual levels that show up on test kits are not a true indication of what is available in the tank.
Cheato can bring nutrients too low and I’ve experienced my corals being outcompeted for nutrients especially with that dang h380 Kessil it’s so powerful it’s like a flash bang went off in the room. Pale colors, anemic looking sticks, The color grandma gets when she hasn’t taken her iron pill for months. Recently Ryan from BRS states that happened with the 160. It’s all a balance too much of a good thing (cheato) can also be bad. Try to limit fluctuations in nutrient import and export and this should stabilize nutrients on their own.
This is what I am trying to figure out. What do people feel is the easiest method to “balance” nutrients? Is a natural method easier (refugium) or organic carbon dosing? Note that I understand there is no best method.
Biznizface
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That’s the million dollar question imo.
Soon as I get algae I get the reactor going with rowa then you end up with no po4.
How do you get just enough!
DesertReefT4r
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I agree toom much macro algae in a fuge can be too good at removing nutrients. Removing most of the macro and keeping the amount low by harvesting frequently is a good fix. Another option is to have a smaller fuge section. A large fuge is nice but not needed to have the desired effect. I have a pretty small fuge section in my sump and so far since starting it up my no3 dropped to 0 ppm on API and has stayed there.
