Bottoming out nutrients

[CHSUB]

OP: I went back and searched my photo gallery of my tank at around the same age as yours. Here is my tank at about 4-5months which appears to be the same.

My nutrients where 0.0 Hanna po4 and 0 Salifert no3, “bottomed out”, generally advise from the “peanut gallery” is to raise nutrients. I didn’t and continued with proper management and maintenance. Of course, there are growing pains, some algae etc but all new tanks experience this. It’s part of the hobby. With a microscope scope I could find dinoflagellate and still do today. Keep with what you’re doing as I did.



Here is the tank at ~2.5 years:

 

[Reefering1]

I, too, would simply add the other fish and feed a little more to the tank if you insist on seeing a reading from your Hannah. Tank looks clean and corals look happy- I wouldn't do much.
And keep in mind- algea is a normal part of a healthy tank. If that nickel sized patch bothers you that much maybe put some kalk paste on it, it will die.

 

[Subsea]

For understanding?

What’s going on here with these two comments. “Bottomed out” nutrients will not eliminate GHA yet dino are coming with low nutrients. So in both examples low nutrients are the environment that will increase dinos and GHA? Seems contradictory or are we adding another reason to arbitrarily raise nutrient: for example, “I’m having problem X, so I might as well just toss in some nutrients to solve X”.

@CHSUB
With respect to opportunistic gha, I did not say that low nutrients increase growth, I said

“Bottomed out inorganic nutrients will not eliminate hair algae: consumers & competitors are required.”

Consider that bottomed out inorganic
N & P will not grow macro algae in refugium but will grow opportunistic gha.

Also, with respects to Dinoflagellets, it’s a well documented fact that opportunistic Dinoflagellets thrive with low phosphate when other algaes including zooanthellia suffer.

PS: Your outstanding looking display is a testimony to good husbandry, indicating more than one way to operate an enclosed ecosystem.

Musings from the peanut gallery.

 

[agamblinalot]

OP: I went back and searched my photo gallery of my tank at around the same age as yours. Here is my tank at about 4-5months which appears to be the same.

My nutrients where 0.0 Hanna po4 and 0 Salifert no3, “bottomed out”, generally advise from the “peanut gallery” is to raise nutrients. I didn’t and continued with proper management and maintenance. Of course, there are growing pains, some algae etc but all new tanks experience this. It’s part of the hobby. With a microscope scope I could find dinoflagellate and still do today. Keep with what you’re doing as I did.



Here is the tank at ~2.5 years:

Beautiful tank! Mines coming up on the 1 year mark July 4th. Been taking it slow and not adding too much coral.

I’m not overly concerned about the nutrients where they are but I’d like to not have Dino’s. The tank really likes the small daily water changes so I’m sticking with it and just going to add one more fish and feed more until I find an equilibrium.