To dose or not to dose?

[Macc]

So I'm at zero nitrates and have a a pretty good filtration system going (at least I think I do). I believe my phosphates to be low but detectable although without a Hanna checker I'm not for sure. My question is to obtain the low levels of nitrates and phosphates that seem to be desirable do I just try to adjust the skimming schedule? refugium light schedule? feed more? OR keep everything the way I have it as I feel it's pretty stable and then just dose up to the levels that I want. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Spare time]

If you are not having problems and it has been like that for a while, the only thing I would suggest is dosing some sort of amino acid mix or what not. The fish probably wouldn't mind more food

 

[Ippyroy]

I run my fuge light 45 minutes on and 30 off. I run my skimmer 24/7. How much do you feed? You have a pretty big list of fish.

 

[Macc]

If you are not having problems and it has been like that for a while, the only thing I would suggest is dosing some sort of amino acid mix or what not. The fish probably wouldn't mind more food

I guess my concern is I'm starting to get a decent amount of algae and from what I've read on here is that if you have nitrate and phosphate at zero it can lead to dino? I'm still very new in this world so I don't honestly fully understand how everything works together i.e. if I change one thing or don't control another it can lead to X. I like how my tank is right now but I always want to be a bit proactive if I can and not reacting to a more difficult problem. Thanks for the response though and I'm not entirely sure I won't follow your advice

 

[Macc]

I run my fuge light 45 minutes on and 30 off. I run my skimmer 24/7. How much do you feed? You have a pretty big list of fish.

I run my refugium light about 15 hours out of the day and when it is off my main tank lights are on. My skimmer I run as well 24/7 because it always seems to be pulling out bad stuff or at least it looks bad. I only feed once a day and it normally consist of 1 strip of the seaweed for the herbivores, one cube of mysis frozen and two small freeze dried krill that I direct feed the eel.

 

[Uncle99]

I would not do anything until you have some data on phosphates.
I would not worry about nitrates at zero (doubt they are zero) and corals don’t need nitrate.
Focus on phosphate, use the Hanna ULR and either keep or bring phosphate into the 0.03-.1ppm range.
Carbon dosing feeds the good bacteria which consumes phosphates and then subsequently feeds those phosphates to our stoneys.

All of this keeps phosphates from feeding the stuff we don’t like in our tanks.

 

[Ippyroy]

I run my refugium light about 15 hours out of the day and when it is off my main tank lights are on. My skimmer I run as well 24/7 because it always seems to be pulling out bad stuff or at least it looks bad. I only feed once a day and it normally consist of 1 strip of the seaweed for the herbivores, one cube of mysis frozen and two small freeze dried krill that I direct feed the eel.

I'd feed more and shorten the time for the fuge light. Adding selcon and/or amino acids to the food will also help raise the nutrients.

 

[Spare time]

I guess my concern is I'm starting to get a decent amount of algae and from what I've read on here is that if you have nitrate and phosphate at zero it can lead to dino? I'm still very new in this world so I don't honestly fully understand how everything works together i.e. if I change one thing or don't control another it can lead to X. I like how my tank is right now but I always want to be a bit proactive if I can and not reacting to a more difficult problem. Thanks for the response though and I'm not entirely sure I won't follow your advice

Some algae is normal. Dinos are only a problem if your tests are reading 0 for nitrate or phosphate. Your phosphates are perfect. You can use aminos which won't raise phosphates and are readily taken up by the corals (they are different a means for the coral to get nitrogen rather than getting it from nitrate in the water).

 

[Macc]

Thanks for all the help. Also this is assuming this is considered normal algae. I look at pictures online but struggle to tell the difference at the time. This is a picture of mine.

 

[Spare time]

I can't really tell from the image sorry

 

[Macc]

I can't really tell from the image sorry

I know. Sorry. One of my next questions on here will be how do people get such good pictures

 

[Super Fly]

I know. Sorry. One of my next questions on here will be how do people get such good pictures

I use AquariumCam app for iphone.
As far as ur tank, I'd try to keep some levels of nitrate (NO3) & phosphate (PO4) to avoid Dino. Its far easier to deal with algae then Dino and besides livestock (esp corals) prefer dirtier water then ultra clean, i.e. like the ocean. NO3 & PO4 levels can be controlled by the # of hrs ur run refugium light & skimmer, i.e. shorten light duration to inc NO3 etc.
Test regularly for these 2 until u can figure out the sweet spot for your tank then maintain it there. Once its on cruise control, u can test less often. GL