Britxcdn
New Member
Hey All,
Im in a bit of a frustrating circle of events that I'm trying to balance and just looking for some advice on how others have balanced this.
The tank is about two months old. It's a 120gallon peninsula system. Overall it's doing great, battling some diatoms at the moment but nothing im not managing. My problem is Nitrates and finding a perfect balance. Here's the circle I find myself in.
Basically, im having trouble finding that balance of decent nutrient levels (around 5-10 ppm) without having a smelly tank. Im probably missing a piece of the puzzle here so that's why im asking for help. My initial Idea was to feed heavy and change of filter floss more often but this appears to be having the negative effect of starving some of my corals that like slightly dirty water.
I should also mention my other goal is to try and achieve this balance without too much chemical/band aid solutions such as simply dosing nitrates, I feel I want to resolve the root of the problem first so I understand the balance I have to achieve if that makes sense?
Im in a bit of a frustrating circle of events that I'm trying to balance and just looking for some advice on how others have balanced this.
The tank is about two months old. It's a 120gallon peninsula system. Overall it's doing great, battling some diatoms at the moment but nothing im not managing. My problem is Nitrates and finding a perfect balance. Here's the circle I find myself in.
- Nitrates drop low, to about 1ppm.
- I turn off my refugium light feeding my Chaeto for a day or two
- I feed in the morning and the evening (pellets or LRS reef frenzy)
- I try backing off on changing out filter floss so often to help promote some nutrients in the tank
- Unfortunately, leaving these too long, my wife starts to notice the smell of the tank and I have to change the filter floss.
Basically, im having trouble finding that balance of decent nutrient levels (around 5-10 ppm) without having a smelly tank. Im probably missing a piece of the puzzle here so that's why im asking for help. My initial Idea was to feed heavy and change of filter floss more often but this appears to be having the negative effect of starving some of my corals that like slightly dirty water.
I should also mention my other goal is to try and achieve this balance without too much chemical/band aid solutions such as simply dosing nitrates, I feel I want to resolve the root of the problem first so I understand the balance I have to achieve if that makes sense?
