Skimming/Nutrient Question (1 Viewer)

[Tankster101]

I can't seem to get my nutrients up from zero, or close to zero anyways. Recently I quite using gfo and only use carbon a couple days a week while only running my skimmer during the day. I also started feeding a lot more. I have 5 med to lg fish, 1 lg RBTA and a lot of snails. I do 10% wc every weekend. My question is, should I completely quit skimming and using carbon for awhile or would it be safer to prolong the wc's? Or both? I have a lot of SPS frags so replenishing elements was my reason for once a week wc's. Any and all suggestions welcome.

 

[Diesel]

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[Tankster101]

Everything seems stable. Alk is always between 9.0 and 9.2, Potassium 420,. Fish are fat and healthy. Sps seem to be encrusting at a decent rate, I think, it's my first sps tank so take that for what its worth. A couple Milli's I have are starting to branch and take off. Everything is just very pale in color and my Stags seem to be struggling a little more than everything else. They came from a LED lit tank and I have T5 so that may have something to do with why they are slow to take off. I have a med size colony of purple stylo that has kept it's color and looks great but it's the only one.

 

[Diesel]

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[Tankster101]

Ok, I'll try to be patient and stick with the schedule I'm on. I got the coral food mix you were talking about(Reef Chili and Selcon) and feed every other night. I dose 25ml Acropower per week. In your experience, did your frags keep color during the encrusting process or did they color up after they were encrusted and starting to branch?

 

[Diesel]

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[flipside]

If you are using a Hanna electronic thingy, check the instructions well. If you don't give it the amount of time needed to get it's reading, you will always see 0's.

I may have been that person, Diesel. LOL! I think it was you that had me scratching my head. I was testing wrong after all.

 

[Diesel]

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[flipside]

True man... Very true. I definitely learned something that day. Lol

 

[Tankster101]

I will definitely get a second opinion on P04, and re-read the instructions. I have the Red Sea Pro and Salifert Nitrate test kit and both test 0. Is that normal? I tested a friends water and got readings of .5. Re-started Tank with new dry rock and sand almost a year ago. Been feeding pretty heavy for about 6 months now.

 

[Diesel]

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[Tankster101]

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I tested his water for nitrates and got approx. .5 on the Red Sea Pro and Salifert kits. When I test my water I get 0. When my Hanna reagents come in I am going to test his water to see if I get a reading also.

 

[RR-MAN]

I will definitely get a second opinion on P04, and re-read the instructions. I have the Red Sea Pro and Salifert Nitrate test kit and both test 0. Is that normal? I tested a friends water and got readings of .5. Re-started Tank with new dry rock and sand almost a year ago. Been feeding pretty heavy for about 6 months now.

Also if you are out of range it will read zero that's why these test kits are not that accurate but that's all we got for now.

 

[msderganc]

The best indicator for nutrients in the water is generally nuisance algae - how often are you cleaning the glass? The algae will usually take up the Phosphate and Nitrate before you can measure it.

Also - I wouldn't take the skimmer off permanently, but maybe just build it into a feed cycle to turn off the skimmer for an hour or so to really let your corals get the benefit of the food. You may also want to consider slowing down or shutting off your powerheads and spot feeding those corals that are less colorful.

Lastly - what are your alk/calc/mag readings? How much light is on the tank? How much flow do you have? I ask because lower nutrient systems generally do better at chemistry approximating NSW (~7-8dKh, 390-410 ppm Ca, ~1250-1300 Mg). ULNS will see burning of SPS tips at higher alk levels (and could be responsible for washed out looking coral). Also, lights, nutrients and flow are related. Simply, higher flow allows for higher PAR for most SPS. I can't find the full study, but here's an extract from 2012: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct..._NStV4Cji_Bhs_WfQ&sig2=4PTZOn7beH4YtcEQTOrkLA

EDIT: One other note about Phosphate - try the Hanna ULR Phosphorous Checker. It will give you readings of free phosphorous in the water, not just orthophosphates. You can convert to phosphates by multiplying by 3.066 and dividing by 1000. Its rated accuracy is better than the Phosphate Checker.

 

[Tankster101]

Just tested my friends water for P04 and got .07 and he has a little hair algae in his display and a lot of Chaeto in his sump. Mine is still testing .00 and it is not blinking. If it's out of range it will blink correct? I stupidly put a goni from my old setup that had a little hair algae on it in my tank and now I am seeing some patches in crevices of my rock that the cuc can't get to. I also have a small wad of Chaeto that doubles in size whey couple months. Maybe the algae is absorbing every bit of detectible nutrients??? My lights are on 10 hours total and 6 hours full daylight. I have 1 wp 40 on wave mode that produces a lot of flow. My return is about 500 gph. Alk 9.2, Cal 430, Mg 1300, K 420, nitrate 0, phosphate 0, Temp 78. I ran Nsw lvl when I was dosing only kalk with the same results. I am not seeing any burning tips.

 

[Tankster101]

Before I cut back on skimming and GFO etc I was seeing algae haze at about 5 days. Now I am seeing at 2 days and am starting to see a little color coming back. Guess I will just have to be patient, keep doing what I'm doing, and hope the algae doesn't get out of control again.

 

[Diesel]

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[Tankster101]

Ok thanks, on to the waiting game. I quit running gfo completely about 2 months ago. Good to know the algae can't use organic phosphate.