Bacto Balance

Yanir34

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Hello , I have sps dominant tank , 6month old.
volume of 850 liters.
I also have a 70 liters refugium that licate inside the sump.
it seems to be that the refugium can't compete at the nuisance alges , because I'm cleaning the entire tank every week .
The no3 and po4 test kit shows 0.02 and 0 no3.
I know that the nuisance alges are consuming them .
I'm thinking about switching to NP bacto balance, and want your opinion.
the tank is 30% populated with SPS.
The main reason for this change is that I understand that NP bacto balance is transforming the no3 and po4 to food sources for the corals ?
 
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Yanir34

Yanir34

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No randy ,it is not Dino.
it's Green hair alge , brown hair alge.
Also ,the colors of the SPS are little faded.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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No randy ,it is not Dino.
it's Green hair alge , brown hair alge.
Also ,the colors of the SPS are little faded.

FWIW, the fading may be from nitrate being low.
 
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I tried to minimize the refugium lights duration from 12 hours to 8 hours , didn't help.
only by dosing no3 and po4 (modern reef prpducts) it did helped little bit.
I wish thar the no3 and po4 will be directly be consumed by the corals , and that process is possible with NP bacto balance, isn't it ?
 

14 foot reef

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Was the tank set up with dry rock and bare bottom ?
I have great success with Bacto Balance. My PO4 stays .09 and and my nitrates stay at 10. What I believe on my system, the best ration for coral growth and color. It took almost 3 months for the dosing to settle out the numbers but being patient got me to where I needed to be.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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I tried to minimize the refugium lights duration from 12 hours to 8 hours , didn't help.
only by dosing no3 and po4 (modern reef prpducts) it did helped little bit.
I wish thar the no3 and po4 will be directly be consumed by the corals , and that process is possible with NP bacto balance, isn't it ?

It is certainly possible with inorganic nitrate and phosphate. Not sure why you think it is not.

What happens with the Tropic Marin product is speculation, IMO. There is certainly no data provided to support any claims.
 

Dan_P

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Hello , I have sps dominant tank , 6month old.
volume of 850 liters.
I also have a 70 liters refugium that licate inside the sump.
it seems to be that the refugium can't compete at the nuisance alges , because I'm cleaning the entire tank every week .
The no3 and po4 test kit shows 0.02 and 0 no3.
I know that the nuisance alges are consuming them .
I'm thinking about switching to NP bacto balance, and want your opinion.
the tank is 30% populated with SPS.
The main reason for this change is that I understand that NP bacto balance is transforming the no3 and po4 to food sources for the corals ?
Just curious. How do you know that the coral are not also consuming and benefiting from the nitrate and phosphate?
 
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Yanir34

Yanir34

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It is certainly possible with inorganic nitrate and phosphate. Not sure why you think it is not.

What happens with the Tropic Marin product is speculation, IMO. There is certainly no data provided to support any
I'm using Modern Reef no3 and po4
Was the tank set up with dry rock and bare bottom ?
I have great success with Bacto Balance. My PO4 stays .09 and and my nitrates stay at 10. What I believe on my system, the best ration for coral growth and color. It took almost 3 months for the dosing to settle out the numbers but being patient got me to where I needed to be.
it started with dry rocks and it is bare bottom
 
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Yanir34

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Just curious. How do you know that the coral are not also consuming and benefiting from the nitrate and phosphate?
I don't know it for sure but I can see that the Colors are paled ...and the nuisance alges take off
 

audioTom

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Barebottom / dryrock tanks tend to have small amounts of po4 and no3.
why the hell do you have an refugium as well? you can do that to lower higher levels of po4 and no3, but what you do is let the corals compete for nutrients to another lifeform......
If you dose BB then, what do you think will happen? Yeah, it is ANOTHER competitor for nutrients that you breed: bacteria. And you will have no clue if the corals will have the chance to eat them......
Cut off the refugium and stop starving out your corals.
 
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Yanir34

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I forgot to mention that the lightning fixture js ATI power module hybrid 8×54w and 3×75w led clusters ...I hang it 25 cm above water surface and leds are at 40% intensity
Barebottom / dryrock tanks tend to have small amounts of po4 and no3.
why the hell do you have an refugium as well? you can do that to lower higher levels of po4 and no3, but what you do is let the corals compete for nutrients to another lifeform......
If you dose BB then, what do you think will happen? Yeah, it is ANOTHER competitor for nutrients that you breed: bacteria. And you will have no clue if the corals will have the chance to eat them......
Cut off the refugium and stop starving out your corals.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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I'm using Modern Reef no3 and po4

I do not see how the kit used to measure them says anything about whether nitrate and phosphate cannot be taken up by corals. They certainly can be.

Pale colors can be for many reasons, unrelated to N and P, but your values are LOW (especially nitrate) and should be raised if you want to reduce the possibility that the corals are not getting enough. Bactobalance is also a fine thing to try.

"The no3 and po4 test kit shows 0.02 and 0 no3."
 
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Yanir34

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I do not see how the kit used to measure them says anything about whether nitrate and phosphate cannot be taken up by corals. They certainly can be.

Pale colors can be for many reasons, unrelated to N and P, but your values are LOW (especially nitrate) and should be raised if you want to reduce the possibility that the corals are not getting enough. Bactobalance is also a fine thing to try.

"The no3 and po4 test kit shows 0.02 and 0 no3."
I've done ICP test .
here's the results....
Screenshot_20230209-004010_Microsoft 365 (Office).jpg
Screenshot_20230209-004016_Microsoft 365 (Office).jpg
Screenshot_20230209-004021_Microsoft 365 (Office).jpg
 

sixty_reefer

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I've done ICP test .
here's the results....
Screenshot_20230209-004010_Microsoft 365 (Office).jpg
Screenshot_20230209-004016_Microsoft 365 (Office).jpg
Screenshot_20230209-004021_Microsoft 365 (Office).jpg
Imo it really doesn’t matter if it’s coral, algae or other photosynthetic organisms that is up taking no3 and po4 (they all do) the problem is that there isn’t enough in your system for all of them, I would suggest you raise nitrates and phosphates and only after that use BB if that’s the route you want to follow.
 
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Yanir34

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Imo it really doesn’t matter if it’s coral, algae or other photosynthetic organisms that is up taking no3 and po4 (they all do) the problem is that there isn’t enough in your system for all of them, I would suggest you raise nitrates and phosphates and only after that use BB if that’s the route you want to follow.
Thanks that is the way I'm gonna do it
 

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Was the tank set up with dry rock and bare bottom ?
I have great success with Bacto Balance. My PO4 stays .09 and and my nitrates stay at 10. What I believe on my system, the best ration for coral growth and color. It took almost 3 months for the dosing to settle out the numbers but being patient got me to where I needed to be.
 

Karliefish

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I’ve been very patiently (slowing) lowering my PO4 which is now down to .10 and my nitrates are at 14.3. I have been using Vodka dosing to accomplish this. With your experience using Bacto Balance,would now be good time to switch over to it? I want to get to the point where my ratio stays in balance at around the same PO4 & Nitrate parameters you are maintaining.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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I’ve been very patiently (slowing) lowering my PO4 which is now down to .10 and my nitrates are at 14.3. I have been using Vodka dosing to accomplish this. With your experience using Bacto Balance,would now be good time to switch over to it? I want to get to the point where my ratio stays in balance at around the same PO4 & Nitrate parameters you are maintaining.

I personally do not see a reason to mess with what you are doing. If nitrate trends down more, just back off on the vodka dose.
 

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