Question about Spectracide Stump Remover dosing

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If you run carbon, will it suck it out of the tank?

no.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hey All .. so about to start this myself and have a few questions -

Few Key Points:

* 155 gallon total system
* ALK 8.0 Cal - 460
* Protein Skimmer, (WAS running gfo (not anymore) and still have some older, prob needs to be replaced ROX carbon in my sump)
* Been testing 0 ppm on Nitrates for quite some time (was going along with the common thinking many of you have had, and that an ULNS was the way to go -- until sps start to suffer)
* SPS look EXACTLY like many others have posted when showing lack of nitrates and what they do to sps. Im in the same boat!
* Been running Acropower and have noticed some coloring up on SOME SPS, BUT this looks like textbook lack of nitrates effecting my sps as they lack the tru rick color and are struggling

MY QUESTIONS:

1. Should I turn my skimmer off?

2. I used the formula on the reccomended calculator in the above thread to mix my solution (I basically mixed 2 TBLSPNS. with 250 ml RODI water) ...

I dosed 10 ml and tested 2 hours later. STILL 0 ppm. So obviously it is possible my system is using that up and is "THIRSTY" ... should I keep dosing until I can get a reading? (i am using API test kit)


THANKS A TON!! Look forward to replies!

No need to turn of skimmer.

Using it up is possible. So is inaccurate testing of nitrate.

 

[specialk]

No need to turn of skimmer.

Using it up is possible. So is inaccurate testing of nitrate.

Ok... will leave the skimmer on.

Also, I totally get the inaccurate test reading of nitrate due to the tank using it up. So should I then, just dose the reccomended amounts and test and see results and go from there?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Ok... will leave the skimmer on.

Also, I totally get the inaccurate test reading of nitrate due to the tank using it up. So should I then, just dose the reccomended amounts and test and see results and go from there?

I'd dose the equivalent of 1-2 ppm for a few days and see what happens visually.

 

[specialk]

I'd dose the equivalent of 1-2 ppm for a few days and see what happens visually.

Perfect! Thanks Randy ... thats exactly what I am doing!

 

[julio zuniga]

Today I start to dose using the Randy recipe, I hope this help me . Thanks

 

[levi83]

I am also starting today. Anyone have any great results from dosing spectracide. I raised my nitrates from .25 to 3. I'm going to work up to between 5-10. I can put my frags in my friends tank and see more growth in 2 weeks than I see in mine in 2 months. His nitrates are between 5-10. Already seeing bigger lps 6 hours after dosing.

 

[levi83]

And my blue maxima looks bigger.

 

[amazongb]

I'm scared to dose.. I dosed one time using the recipe and a chromis was dead in like 5 minutes.. probably coincidental because it didn't kill anything else..

 

[Ubans13]

Just got done dosing it because my system was fallow for 3 months works great except for the slight hair algae but nothing that can't be controlled. Kept my nitrates at 10.

 

[Eliot]

Has anyone experienced this affecting inverts? More specifically, my cleaner shrimp and fire shrimp are not looking well 12hrs prior to dosing. Raise my nitrates from 0 to 1.5 ppm.

 

[Catchemall]

Has anyone experienced this affecting inverts? More specifically, my cleaner shrimp and fire shrimp are not looking well 12hrs prior to dosing. Raise my nitrates from 0 to 1.5 ppm.

I've been dosing for months and my cleaner shrimp is fat and happy.

 

[levi83]

Same here. I've been dosing for weeks. Coral banded and cleaner are both in good shape. I keep my nitrates between 2.5 and 7.5.

 

[truepercs]

I see folks have thrown out target values... Is there an actual proven/preferred nitrate level. I backed off a little however I noticed with the higher nitrate levels my phosphate levels were nice and low. .02 They have crept up a bit, just wondering do folks dose to control phosphates or just have a traces to make sure nutrients are available. Any harm at experimenting with higher nitrate levels if phosphates are held in check at the lower desirable values? Otherwise I will just focus on general maintenance ie vacuum, water changes, etc... for lower phosphate levels.

 

[Lazys Coral House]

It seems to be different from coral to coral. For example a Garf style Bonsai likes really high nitrates and color seems to get better the higher you go. (Looks amazing at 30+ Nitrates) Other corals such as say a Pink Lemonade Acro likes it in the lower range (Sweet spot seems to be 2-5 Nitrates). I have about 150 different acros and 9 out of 10 look great between 5-15 nitrates so it just depends what you have and how much light they under. Higher nitrates typically higher light the coral can handle. Experiment in your system to see what range targets the best color with the coral you have.

 

[Salty_Box_Reef]

So I have some GHA and if I feed less, corals get pale but the gha starts to loosen and disappears in many places as well as my nitrates drop to undetectable levels. When I feed enough to detect nitrates(which is a lot. Pellets three times a day, flakes once or twice a day and a frozen cube about 5 days a week)my algae gets worse but colors get better.

I'd assume this is a phosphate issue? Would it be
a good idea to feed less and dose nitrates?

I have a 120g with just a skimmer and rock for export. Rocks are from a very old tank and I have a ton of sponges. I was running about 1/3 the recommended amount of gfo and carbon which helped with algae but colors looked horrible. Pulled both and have had no ill affects.

 

[oohnoo]

Bringing this back up please as I would like to start dozing and could use some guidelines.
Some history. My tank is a IM 30L of which I started on May 5, 2017 by moving the contents (rock and corals) of my existing 15gal mini-reef to the new tank of which I added a new 2" sand bed and an additional 11lbs WS 2.1 Rock. Tank never went into a cycle and actually everything was doing great. Only loss I had were the PomPom's which I was supprised at but from reading up it seems they like a dirty tank (nutrients) of which the new tank didn't have. I started dozing BRG 2-part and for the most part only been adding dKH as it's the only thing being consumed right now. Testing was done almost daily to see what's being consumed.

It's a mix of SPS, LPS, Zooanthids and Palys and I'm amazed at the growth I'm seeing. I even had some SPS from my old tank that bleached out and was looking hopeless. When moved to the new tank it still wasn't doing so good which got me stated into dozing, so I fragged some branches of it and I'm now seeing some great growth with some encrusting down on the frag. One of the things which I know I shouldn't have done is I bought too many coral during those auctions here on R2R. But for the most part with a couple exceptions they're all doing great and I'm seeing good growth. But for some reason the brain coral frags I got seem to be loosing color but are growing. Not sure if it was too much light which I cut back on but they still haven't colored up.
But now I'm seeing algae growing on the sandbed and glass and I want to get under control before it gets out of control. Mainly on the sand bed but also on the frag plugs which is getting better since I moved them off the frag racks and onto the sandbed or up on the rocks. But even on the Sea Whip and a small Blueberry Gorgonian themselves which I'm surprised the Blueberry is still alive due to other issues (tough guy). I do have a small clean up crew, Blue legged crabs which are doing a great job actually and some snails. I brushed off what I could on the frags and sucked up what I could from the sand bed. I also have small refigium in one of the rear chambers.
So enough ramblings. I also want to point out this tank is in my office here at work. Always putzing with it, clean algae off glass and change Poly Filters weekly. I do 5 gal water changes every 10-14 days. Not running any carbon or any other type of media.
I purchased the Spectracide Stump Remover Granules and ready to rock. From what I've been reading I need to lower the Phosphates and increase the Nitrates which once increased will lower the other.

Equipment:
Innovative Marine 30L w/stock pump/ (2) inTank media Baskets / Refigium on one side / Ceramic-Rings in the other
(2) Hydra 26's w/Director
AquaMaxx HOB-1
(2) Jebao Wave Makers w/ Single Controller
IM Aqua Gadget MiniMax / Not running/Empty
Neptune Apex
Jebao-4 Dozer / Dosing BRS 2-Part
ATO - Best invention since toilet paper! Well a good second at best.

Water perimeters are as follows:
Salt: Red Sea Coral Pro
Temp: 78.6
Ph: 8.27
Salinity: 1.025
dKH / Alkalinity: 8.45dKH / Hanna
Ca / Calcium: 449ppm / Hanna
Mg - Magnesium: 1350ppm / Hanna
Nitrates: 0.25 / Red Sea
Phosphates: 1.0 / Hanna

Fish: Ocellaris Clownfish (hosted to , Purple Dottyback, Yellow Prawn Goby, Cardinafish
Cleaner Shrimp, Peppermint Shrimp
Clean-up Crew: (4) Drarf Blue-legged Crab, (3) Electric Blue Hermit Crab. (3) Astraea Turbo Snails

Feeding: Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Fish: Freeze dried Brine Shrimp and a variety of frozen foods
Corals: Coral Frenzy, Reef Roids, Oyster Feast.

 

[Catchemall]

I wouldn't be dosing nitrate if your reading some and have algae. I'd just go about lowering phosphate while keeping an eye on nitrate. Odds are your nitrate and phosphate are more than that reading because the algae will be consuming it and giving you a false reading

 

[oohnoo]

OK. I do have some Seachem PhosGuard I can throw in the MiniMax. Directions say to use 85mil per 50gal so I figure my tank has about 20 gallons of water so 40mils should be good.

I wouldn't be dosing nitrate if your reading some and have algae. I'd just go about lowering phosphate while keeping an eye on nitrate. Odds are your nitrate and phosphate are more than that reading because the algae will be consuming it and giving you a false reading

 

[oohnoo]

Reading up some more on Nutrients. Going to first try setting my Skimmer on a 12 hours schedule instead of 24/7