Overskimming?

[Waboss]

Ok, so here's my thought. The main reason I run a skimmer is to remove nutrients from my system as well as help oxygenate it. So, if I'm having issues with getting my nitrates up to say 5 from a pretty solid 2 and i'm feeding pretty heavy for my current bioload, does it make sense for me to shut down my skimmer for a few hours every day?

I'm pulling about half a cup of some really nasty black sludge every week with me feeding pellets twice a day, alternating days between Red Sea Reef Energy and Reefroids/Reef Chili mix, and feeding Reef Frenzy 3 times a week. So the skimmer is definitely doing it's job.

If I shut the skimmer down, then I also shut down the additional oxygenation that it's helping with (I'm running a CO2 scrubber on the air intake too). I have about 30lbs of LR in the display and about 2 liters of siporax in the sump (on a 40 breeder with about 10 gals of water in the sump). Should I maybe pull 1 liter of siporax out of the sump? A little at a time? I'm just thinking that it might be a better choice than shutting down my skimmer since I rely on it for more than just nutrient export.

You can see pics of my current set up in my build thread HERE.

 

[mcarroll]

Removing excess filtration is definitely the right first course of action IMO.

But your also right that the skimmer isn't "excess".

Sounds like the bio-media is redundant to your live rock anyway, so just yank it.

That's the main thing to try first, but I would almost say try switching OFF all the coral foods too.

IMO almost all coral food gets wasted in most situations – essentially overfeeding. From the sound of your skimmate, that's happening in your case too. That's definitely not a way to address a nutrient imbalance. Also part of what you're dosing is a carbon source and will expedite denitrification to a degree.

Instead, simply dose some nitrates (and phosphates if they are bottomed out too....don't dose NO3 without them) to balance things out until feeding catches up.

For feeding, you should be able to do a lot better than pellets twice a day – your fish and coral will both appreciate it.

Try things like fish eggs and newly hatched brine shrimp or decapsulated brine shrimp eggs. There are also packaged "Instant Baby Bring Shrimp". Many fish AND corals appreciate them, and they are all extremely bouyant, staying adrift (therefore edible) much longer that most foods...to boot, the nutritional profile is also excelent. Dry foods are actually too nutrient dense, so use them as needed and instead maximize the use of live, fresh and whole-frozen foods as much as possible. This way nutrients trickle down to your corals in ways they can definitely use, in correct composition, and even if the fish are the only ones that eat. What's cool is that you should have a ton of room to feed the fish MORE like this given the way the tank is now. Just don't make any big changes.....small ones and lots of monitoring to see how the tank does with each one.

 

[gcarroll]

My advice to you is don't chase numbers. If you are able to feed the tank as heavily as you have stated, I see no need to chase the 5ppm nitrate number that you seek. You are off to a great start, just continue the course.

 

[Waboss]

Removing excess filtration is definitely the right first course of action IMO.

But your also right that the skimmer isn't "excess".

Sounds like the bio-media is redundant to your live rock anyway, so just yank it.

That's the main thing to try first, but I would almost say try switching OFF all the coral foods too.

IMO almost all coral food gets wasted in most situations – essentially overfeeding. From the sound of your skimmate, that's happening in your case too. That's definitely not a way to address a nutrient imbalance. Also part of what you're dosing is a carbon source and will expedite denitrification to a degree.

Instead, simply dose some nitrates (and phosphates if they are bottomed out too....don't dose NO3 without them) to balance things out until feeding catches up.

For feeding, you should be able to do a lot better than pellets twice a day – your fish and coral will both appreciate it.

Try things like fish eggs and newly hatched brine shrimp or decapsulated brine shrimp eggs. There are also packaged "Instant Baby Bring Shrimp". Many fish AND corals appreciate them, and they are all extremely bouyant, staying adrift (therefore edible) much longer that most foods...to boot, the nutritional profile is also excelent. Dry foods are actually too nutrient dense, so use them as needed and instead maximize the use of live, fresh and whole-frozen foods as much as possible. This way nutrients trickle down to your corals in ways they can definitely use, in correct composition, and even if the fish are the only ones that eat. What's cool is that you should have a ton of room to feed the fish MORE like this given the way the tank is now. Just don't make any big changes.....small ones and lots of monitoring to see how the tank does with each one.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too....about the extra media (siporax), I'm just being cautious about changing things. I don't think I'm going to shut down my skimmer though.

And you're probably right about the feeding, but for now, I'm out a lot of the day at work and if I try to hand feed/"wet" feed more than the 3 times a week I'm doing now, I'll be feeding them while they're sleeping....LOL.

 

[Waboss]

My advice to you is don't chase numbers. If you are able to feed the tank as heavily as you have stated, I see no need to chase the 5ppm nitrate number that you seek. You are off to a great start, just continue the course.

It's not so much chasing numbers, which I can see why one would think that since I didn't put the other reason in the OP (forgot and it was getting long winded anyway), I'm also getting some growth on my SPS with no tissue, so I'm thinking that's due to a lack of nutrients in the tank.

I've started dosing nitrates/phosphates slowly to bring the numbers up a little. I'm going very slowly though, so we'll see how it goes.

It's funny, years ago, when I had a much larger set up, I could never get my nutrients low enough to be "ok", now I can't seem to get them high enough......funny how things work out.

Thanks for your input!

 

[gcarroll]

If we are talking about acros, it is my experience that when many acros grow at their fastest rates, the tips can be white. it's a good thing if that's the case. If the tissue is dying (no polyp extension at the end of the branch during the night), that is a whole different issue.

 

[mcarroll]

[...]I'm out a lot of the day at work and if I try to hand feed/"wet" feed more than the 3 times a week I'm doing now, I'll be feeding them while they're sleeping....LOL.

Adjust the tank's "daytime" to correspond to the time you're around – watching a sleeping tank is cool, but not that cool.

 

[jda]

I would let it run. Driving off the CO2 is the main goal. If you want to produce less output, then skim more dry or simply add some of the skimmate back into the tank every day.

What Greg is alluding is that an absolute number (chasing) is of no consequence. Throughput is important. If you are feeding a lot, then you have N and P moving through and available to the corals, even if you cannot read them. My reef is constantly at .1N and .005-.01P and everything thrives, but I feed a lot and the throughput is good. I also skim very heavy.

 

[Pho Dac Biet]

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