Bottoming out nutrients

[agamblinalot]

My PO4 is 0.0 and my nitrates are 1.4 according to my Hannahs. Two changes…1) I added an auto aqua AWC light and empty my return chamber twice a day. Equates to 4 gallons a week on a 15g system. 2) started feeding LRS nano reef frenzy.

Obviously I need to cool it on the water changes but I did the same amount prior to the AWC just all in one day. Why would this change cause my nutrients to bottom out?

I don’t want to dose phos or nitrate. Should I just feed more? I still have small bits of hair algae that won’t go away.

 

[KrisReef]

Made me look, Ha! The AutoAqua Smart AWC Lite, the 25% per week is fairly aggressive for automatice water changes, from what I have read others reporting?
Feed more, slow down the AWC flow if you see the corals suffering at the current parameters?

 

[Subsea]

“I don’t want to dose phos or nitrate. Should I just feed more? I still have small bits of hair algae that won’t go away.“

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

 

[CHSUB]

Feed the corals directly something like reef Roids and RS ab+, move on from worrying about inorganic nutrients values with hobby testing. WC amount is fine if done correctly.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Do you have sufficient CUC to get rid of the algae?
Have you tried to manually remove the algae?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I watch and try to listen to what my tanks wants. Your corals look great, fish look healthy, I don't see any algae but you say you see it....... I don't see any signs that your tank wants more nutrients.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I would feed more or dose N and P, rather than adjusting water changes since they are useful for other reasons. :)

 

[agamblinalot]

Do you have sufficient CUC to get rid of the algae?
Have you tried to manually remove the algae?

I have 5 Astrea, 3 trocus, 2 blue legs. No one touches it. It’s probably Bryopsis. The patch is the size of a nickel and I pinch it off once a week maybe.

 

[agamblinalot]

I would feed more or dose N and P, rather than adjusting water changes since they are useful for other reasons. :)

Potentially turn off my little bubble magus mini q?? I like the volume I’m doing for the trace elements and getting rid of sinularia toxins

 

[KrisReef]

I have 5 Astrea, 3 trocus, 2 blue legs. No one touches it. It’s probably Bryopsis. The patch is the size of a nickel and I pinch it off once a week maybe.

Well then, if you can keep up with the weekly maintenance demand you are probably ok!

 

[agamblinalot]

I watch and try to listen to what my tanks wants. Your corals look great, fish look healthy, I don't see any algae but you say you see it....... I don't see any signs that your tank wants more nutrients.

It’s in the bottom right above the zoas. It’s super small and I’m being picky. It’s the size of a nickel. I agree with you! Tank looks fine it’s just not the levels it’s usually at.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Potentially turn off my little bubble magus mini q?? I like the volume I’m doing for the trace elements and getting rid of sinularia toxins

That’s a skimmer? I do not ever recommend turning off a skimmer except during medication treatments.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Feed more. I prefer to feed the fish and let them feed the coral instead of trying to feed the coral directly (Reef Roids, etc.) But that is my personal preference, and likely biased for no good reason that I am willing to plant a flag on.

 

[agamblinalot]

Feed more. I prefer to feed the fish and let them feed the coral instead of trying to feed the coral directly (Reef Roids, etc.) But that is my personal preference, and likely biased for no good reason that I am willing to plant a flag on.

I’ll die on that hill with you. The less things I have to dump into my tank the better! And I like fat and happy livestock.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

My PO4 is 0.0 and my nitrates are 1.4 according to my Hannahs. Two changes…1) I added an auto aqua AWC light and empty my return chamber twice a day. Equates to 4 gallons a week on a 15g system. 2) started feeding LRS nano reef frenzy.

Obviously I need to cool it on the water changes but I did the same amount prior to the AWC just all in one day. Why would this change cause my nutrients to bottom out?

I don’t want to dose phos or nitrate. Should I just feed more? I still have small bits of hair algae that won’t go away.

You're going to have a lot more of an issue when dinos hit the tank. I promise ya its coming with nutrients so low.

Just add some N and P and at the least get P off of zero. It wont take much neither. As for AWC why?, its a small tank. Lay off the WC and let the system balance itself out. butt for the GHA just manually remove it. Good luck man!

 

[slingfox]

What fish do you have? You may be able to add another or two and increase feeding.

 

[agamblinalot]

My PO4 is 0.0 and my nitrates are 1.4 according to my Hannahs. Two changes…1) I added an auto aqua AWC light and empty my return chamber twice a day. Equates to 4 gallons a week on a 15g system. 2) started feeding LRS nano reef frenzy.

Obviously I need to cool it on the water changes but I did the same amount prior to the AWC just all in one day. Why would this change cause my nutrients to bottom out?

I don’t want to dose phos or nitrate. Should I just feed more? I still have small bits of hair algae that won’t go away.

You're going to have a lot more of an issue when dinos hit the tank. I promise ya its coming with nutrients so low.

Just add some N and P and at the least get P off of zero. It wont take much neither. As for AWC why?, its a small tank. Lay off the WC and let the system balance itself out. butt for the GHA just manually remove it. Good luck man!

Oh I agree! That’s why I’m trying to up them. I like the AWC because it’s more consistent with the smaller tank volume, I’m a gear head, I don’t have to heat water for an hour or more, and I don’t miss water changes haha. Still trying to find the sweet spot on stable nutrients vs amount of water changed. I’m dialing it back and increasing feeding.

 

[agamblinalot]

What fish do you have? You may be able to add another or two and increase feeding.

I have two clowns and a bangai cardinal. I would like a goby or a blenny or a hawkish just for some personality. I may add one of those and I’m increasing my feeding.

 

[slingfox]

I have two clowns and a bangai cardinal. I would like a goby or a blenny or a hawkish just for some personality. I may add one of those and I’m increasing my feeding.

Those all seem like great potential additions. There are a bunch of smaller Hawkfish which could work. I have a Falco Hawkfish which has quite the personality. He is mostly peaceful but that is because he is one of the smaller fish in my 112g display tank. I have heard Falco’s can be aggressive but that may not be an issue if you add it last. The two Clownfish can likely hold their ground regardless but not sure about the Pajama Cardinal.

You may want to get a utilitarian fish like a smaller wrasse to help with pests.

 

[CHSUB]

Bottomed out inorganic nutrients will not eliminate hair algae

dinos hit the tank. I promise ya its coming with nutrients so low.

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”.