Ultra low nutrients help!

[Lionfish hunter]

Hey fellow reefers!

I’m struggling with an issue here.

I have a 20 gallon coral QT: A few acro frags and a giant maxima clam. No fish.

I fed half of this tablet a day with normal water changes but phosphates never went higher than 0.01ppm and even went as low as 0.00 ppm using Red Sea which is a very accurate test kit.

I just tested nitrates and it’s 0.00 (the test kit goes as low as 0.25ppm but the results was clearly 0.00ppm.

I am so confused because every time I try feeding 1 tablet instead of half I get a bacteria bloom.

I need a solution because Dinos are rolling in strong.

@taricha @ScottB @Charlie’s Frags @jda @Randy Holmes-Farley

Here is what I was feeding. I dosed my phosphates today for the first time, but I don’t have a bottle of nitrates yet and I don’t know if I should dose nitrates or ammonia for my livestock.

I have had major problems with nitrate test kits giving me 0 when in fact I had dosed my nitrates us to 40. I actually had a nyos and api both showing 0 when they were much higher.

 

[Jrhunter0000]

I'm having the same issues. Been dosing neophos and neonitro and it seems to be working!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have had major problems with nitrate test kits giving me 0 when in fact I had dosed my nitrates us to 40. I actually had a nyos and api both showing 0 when they were much higher.

How do you know they were higher?

 

[Miami Reef]

I have had major problems with nitrate test kits giving me 0 when in fact I had dosed my nitrates us to 40. I actually had a nyos and api both showing 0 when they were much higher.

I have a hannah high range kit that I can double check.

Update: just tested with the HR and it’s 1.3ppm. 2 caveats here:

1. The resolution is +/- 2ppm. 1.3ppm could very well be 0ppm.

2. This was the day after I fed a small chunk of LRS fish frenzy.

 

[Miami Reef]

Also, those pellets are high in Carbon relative to N and P compared to fish flake.

Hi @taricha

Do you mind explaining to me how you knew these pellets/wafers were high in carbon relative to P:N?

I am interested in knowing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hi @taricha

Do you mind explaining to me how you knew these pellets/wafers were high in carbon relative to P:N?

I am interested in knowing.

Probably by taste. lol

 

[taricha]

Hi @taricha

Do you mind explaining to me how you knew these pellets/wafers were high in carbon relative to P:N?

I am interested in knowing.

Going off the label comparison. Most of my fish flakes I've used are 45%-55% protein. (I've measured their overall C content to be like 50 or 55%) The algae wafer is 33% protein. And the label ingredients for your algae wafers sound really starchy: flour, wheat germ, cassava, alfalfa etc.

On P I was wrong. I misremembered my fish flakes. 0.8% P in the algae wafers is the same amount I've used in fish flake.

 

[Miami Reef]

Going off the label comparison. Most of my fish flakes I've used are 45%-55% protein. (I've measured their overall C content to be like 50 or 55%) The algae wafer is 33% protein. And the label ingredients for your algae wafers sound really starchy: flour, wheat germ, cassava, alfalfa etc.

On P I was wrong. I misremembered my fish flakes. 0.8% P in the algae wafers is the same amount I've used in fish flake.

Thank you so much! It’s so true. I’m now realizing that every time I fed these pellets I got bacteria blooms. Even in black worm cultures! And now I understand how to tell the concentration of C to P:N

 

[J1a]

While the C:N: p ratio can be different in different type of fish food. Don't forget that even proteins and fats contain a lot of organic carbon in their molecules.

Therefore, even if you go for a high protein food, it is possible to have bacteria bloom, or cyano outbreak if the food is left uneaten. This is why it's really important to feed such that the food is completely consumed by fishes. They will metabolise the organic carbon for energy, leaving less load for the bacteria and dinos.

 

[taricha]

I’m now realizing that every time I fed these pellets I got bacteria blooms.

to @J1a point, all fish food regardless of carbs to protein ratio is going to have a bunch of organic carbon.
Those algae wafers are chunky, I would bet if you took a scale and measured the mass of what you would eyeball as an "appropriate" amount of fish flake vs what looks like a similarly appropriate amount of that algae wafer, you would end up adding more mass in the wafer than you would by doing fish flake.