Hey all, I am trying to elevate my nutrients to a consistent level before beginning to add my corals, and am having trouble doing so! Im running a bare bottom w/ sump (approx. 130-140 gal total system volume). I have 9 fish, 8 emerald crabs, and 2 cleaner shrimp so far. I feed 3 times a day, flake, and frozen mysis every other day...every time I feed, plenty of food makes it to the bottom of the tank. Im running a RSK150 (very dry skim) and a kessil h380 on my chaeto (4hrs night). Chaeto is slowly growing, very slowly...and the fuge is also beginning to grow some brown/green hair algae. I've tried to "over feed" with no elevated nutrient readings, just bacteria blooms that take a day or so to die down. I got Brightwell neonitro and neophos today, but am a little intimidated by beginning to dose and how much. Does anyone have any experience with these products or other ways to raise nutrient levels safely?? Thanks all for any advice!
ULNS Dosing...Help!? :)
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EmdeReef
2500 Club Member
Wish I had your problems lol
You’re not overfeeding if your nutrients are that low, you can increase feeding more...
Dosing nitrates and phosphates is fine, do the bottles come with instructions? I always cut whatever manufactures recommend in half and then slowly get to their recommended dose in a week or two. For N and P you have to test and tweak based on that.
You’re not overfeeding if your nutrients are that low, you can increase feeding more...
Dosing nitrates and phosphates is fine, do the bottles come with instructions? I always cut whatever manufactures recommend in half and then slowly get to their recommended dose in a week or two. For N and P you have to test and tweak based on that.
That's what everyone says at my LFS also lol Thanks for the info! There are instructions, and I will start off using less than they recommend. For my tank size, the recommended daily dose is 147ml to raise nitrate up to 3...sounds like way too much! Ill start at 20ml and move up from there.
amazongb
Active Member
That never made sense to me, skim it out and put it back in.. isn't not skimming doing the same thing? I'm sure it wouldn't hurt either way..
I thought the same at first, but after a little more research, I decided to give it a shot to see how it worked out. So far, after a few days, my skimmer is still collecting a lot of the in organics and organics and holding them in the skim cup while allowing the water to still recirculate. My theory is that the skimmer will remove a lot of the larger particles in the system, while giving them a place to break down into nutrients that can then be reintroduced. Sometimes my skimmer also produces a wet skim that will cause my ATO to kick on which over time will affect my salinity. Allowing the water to recirculate should eliminate this.
amazongb
Active Member
Just noticed that you mentioned GHA and brown algae in your sump.. I had the same problem.. in my case, GHA was taking up a lot of the nutrients. Anyhow, I discontinued ref lighting until NO3 rose to 2.0, then I bought new chaeto and began a ref light schedule of only 2 hours per night. I'm now up to 4 hours nightly, and NO3 is at 4.0 which is my target.. I'll adjust ref lighting up if NO3 continues to rise, but only then.. I'm still not skimming (skimmer on, but cup removed). Just for reference purposes, it took only two weeks to achieve desired nutrient levels of NO3 at 4.0 and PO4 at .04. Hope this helps.
