BB did not keep me... balanced

[JM302]

Decided to try carbon dosing. Unexpected result with Bacto balance.

My tank has been stable for a long time - no3 always between 8 and 11, po4 always between .05 and .07. (tested weekly) 170 Gallon Display - 60 Gallon sump - about 170 gallons of actual volume after displacement. Tank was upgraded about 7 months ago but absorbed a 3 year old 75 Gallon. I've been maintaining these values for a good 2+ years.

Started to dose 1ml of BB on Friday. Today was day 3 of 1ml. Decided to test today. The tank has been stripped of n03 entirely and po4 dropped from .07 to .05. I also bought Plus NP just in case this happened although I was hoping it would not.

I'm looking for someone to give me their best idea on how to react. Been reefing for 20+ years and have never carbon dosed before 3 days ago. Was just hoping for a little better PE out of my SPS..

My options as I see it are:

- Stop BB, dose 6ml of plus NP for a few days - test and try again
- Continue BB - do nothing - test in a few days (I understand my sample time is small, but the -10ppm n03 was shocking)
- Continue BB and dose Neonitro (which is already on a dosing pump and ready at my disposal)

Open to any other option as well. I would appreciate any advice on the best path forward with the ultimate goal of continuing BB long term.

 

[Cantusaurus]

Before carbon dosing you always need to test the parameters and consistently test to keep close track. Also is the doser dosing it correctly? I also wouldn't see the need to carbon dose if the nutrients are "always" around the same level.
I personally like carbon dosing. I don't do it on every tank/situation. But it can definitely be useful as long as you start slow and test frequently when starting it, and then routinely as you go.
If you get a weird value I would definitely retest it as well.
I would get the levels to where you want them first and then begin carbon dosing and test every day initially, and then start doing it weekly. If you can start the dosage even lower than 1 mL if the doser allows it.

If you test and the nitrate doesn't fluctuate too much and is around 5-10 and the phosphate is consistently around 0.04-0.08 then I feel like that is definitely ideal for most corals.

 

[JM302]

My tank is well tested. I have nearly 3 years of data with weekly tests of no3 and po4 (sometimes more as needed). I'm not carbon dosing for nutrient control which is why I wanted to use BB. I want to see if the coral in my tank benefit from the bacterial 'food' source.

I manually dosed every day so far - so I know that's accurate - I won't bother setting up a doser until I get it close to dialed in. 1ml is already half of the recommended dose per the label and the levels were where I wanted them prior to BB.

I'm not sure I can go much slower than my current pace and that's exactly my concern. In 3 days my no3 went from 10ppm to 0ppm. I'm willing to call po4 close to the same, or at least within the margin of error of the hanna. I will test on Tuesday to see how the po4 is trending. My guess is the no3 will stay at 0 unless I dose NP+ or NeoNitro.

Based on all the info I've read on BB, it should maintain my nutrient levels. This has not been my experience after 3 days with a minimal dose.

 

[apb03]

Such a moving target getting this dialed in. I had the opposite problem myself.

I think a good approach would be to stop BB, dose nitrate (PlusNP or something similar) until you get to a level that gives you some wiggle room, say, 20-30ppm, and then stop everything for a week. During the week off, test daily to baseline your Nitrate levels. If the Nitrate drops without any dosing at all, then increase the bioload until you have positive Nitrate growth.

If Nitrate stabilizes for at least a week, then re-try BB and test daily for a couple of weeks to ensure it doesn't drop. I love carbon dosing and use NoPox currently but I would feel uneasy doing it unless I had a good amount of nutrients stocked up.

As far as phos goes, I don't think it's as much of a worry. Not 100% sure about the TM carbon source but I find Carbon dosing doesn't do much for phos in general.

 

[JM302]

Such a moving target getting this dialed in. I had the opposite problem myself.

I think a good approach would be to stop BB, dose nitrate (PlusNP or something similar) until you get to a level that gives you some wiggle room, say, 20-30ppm, and then stop everything for a week. During the week off, test daily to baseline your Nitrate levels. If the Nitrate drops without any dosing at all, then increase the bioload until you have positive Nitrate growth.

If Nitrate stabilizes for at least a week, then re-try BB and test daily for a couple of weeks to ensure it doesn't drop. I love carbon dosing and use NoPox currently but I would feel uneasy doing it unless I had a good amount of nutrients stocked up.

As far as phos goes, I don't think it's as much of a worry. Not 100% sure about the TM carbon source but I find Carbon dosing doesn't do much for phos in general.

I'm trying to get positive nutrients! 22 Fish.... 8x @ 1minute run of my plank per day + nori + frozen or some freeze dried with selcon and I struggle for nutrients.

 

[apb03]

I'm trying to get positive nutrients! 22 Fish.... 8x @ 1minute run of my plank per day + nori + frozen or some freeze dried with selcon and I struggle for nutrients.

All I see is an excuse to get.more fish!

 

[Hans-Werner]

I'm looking for someone to give me their best idea on how to react. Been reefing for 20+ years and have never carbon dosed before 3 days ago. Was just hoping for a little better PE out of my SPS..

Our carbon dosing products NP-Bacto-Balance and Plus-NP do not dose much nitrate but mainly reduced nitrogen compounds. This means nitrate and nitrogen in general should not be the nutrient you look for but phosphate.

In real-world reef tanks with some fish there will hardly ever be a deficit in available nitrogen compounds. A phosphate deficit is much more likely.