Carbon Dosing Switch To A Refugium

lx_Reef

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 23, 2019
Messages
77
Reaction score
26
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Long story short I mistreated my AIO 50G tank for a little over 2 months causing nutrients to rise and algae to take over , Iv been carbon dosing Elimi-NP for about 2 1/2 months now plus the help of Vibrant to clean out my algea, I have reach near my desired levels and been stable at 5ppm No3 0.07 Po4 , and a point where little to no algae left , I would like to incorporate a HOB refugium in the next coming weeks to let my Vibrant bacteria fade away and discontinue the use of carbon dosing. (I had given a cheato reactor a try prior but my algea in my dp had outcompeted my cheato) My fear is zeroing out my nutrient while making the switch or the total opposite. Any tips or tricks on how to transition safely ?
 

Dkmoo

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 30, 2020
Messages
1,590
Reaction score
1,979
Location
Nyc
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Should be OK bc chaeto is not a direct competition of food to your corals. Yes coral needs no3/po4, but they primarily needs disolved organics and protein. Its only the zoox in coral that needs no3/po4.

Just keep monitoring ur parameters. If refugium turns out too effective you can adjust by either turning off skimmer, or limiting photo period.
 
OP
OP
L

lx_Reef

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 23, 2019
Messages
77
Reaction score
26
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Should be OK bc chaeto is not a direct competition of food to your corals. Yes coral needs no3/po4, but they primarily needs disolved organics and protein. Its only the zoox in coral that needs no3/po4.

Just keep monitoring ur parameters. If refugium turns out too effective you can adjust by either turning off skimmer, or limiting photo period.
Thanks for the reply , what effects of stopping carbon dosing have from stopping it one day to another ? My understanding it takes a little for cheato to settle and actually start to have a difference or would it be safer to ween off my carbon dosing during that time being
 

Dkmoo

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 30, 2020
Messages
1,590
Reaction score
1,979
Location
Nyc
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thanks for the reply , what effects of stopping carbon dosing have from stopping it one day to another ? My understanding it takes a little for cheato to settle and actually start to have a difference or would it be safer to ween off my carbon dosing during that time being
I've not experienced carbon dosing myself so i can't be certain. In theory, the way carbon works is by promoting bacterial growth. How that affects excess NO3/PO4 depends on the type of bacteria. For ex - the ones that gobble up disolved organics, amino acids, etc. will gobble up fish waste/ammonia/nitrite and produce No3, while the others, and photosynthetic ones, absorb no3. In most cases, since the C/N/P update ratio for most bacteria is higher for P, the limiting Phospherous factor becomes the limiting factor inhibiting algae growth (according to the redfield ratio). So if that carbon stuff you are dosing is designed to clean up algae, then i would also stop using that b/c it'll negatively affect chaeto too.

again this is just based on how i understand the mechanics/biology of this stuff, not first hand experience since i never used that product.
 

hans4811

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 30, 2019
Messages
425
Reaction score
393
Location
Jax, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
In the same boat here AF_Reef....been carbon dosing using NoPox for about a month now, as I had really high nutrients and thought this might be a reason for everytime I've tried adding a SPS frag, it would brown out within days or a week or so. Everybody said...high nutrients. My tank has been running for about a year and my Nitrates were always around 25ppm and Phos would vary, but usually around 0.15, give or take. Once I started dosing NoPox, for the first time ever, my nutrients have dropped to about the same level as yours...2.5ppm No3 0.08 Po4. Been dosing NoPox for about a month or so and would also like to ween off of the product, as I want to accomplish this with something more natural..ie the refug. and not sure what kind of an effect NoPox would have on my tank long term.

I've been also running an ATS for some time, and although it works great in that I have never had any Algae growth in my DT, it's never really effectively reduced my nutrients. Plus, I would just like to try a refug, not only for the benefits of getting copepods and such, but kinda tired of hearing the waterfall in my TV room due to the ATS.

I plan to switch sumps to a Triton style sump, (Synergy TS26) and add Miracle Mud, but like you, not sure if I should just stop NoPox dosing for a while before adding the sump or just make the switch.

Following along...
 
OP
OP
L

lx_Reef

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 23, 2019
Messages
77
Reaction score
26
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
In the same boat here AF_Reef....been carbon dosing using NoPox for about a month now, as I had really high nutrients and thought this might be a reason for everytime I've tried adding a SPS frag, it would brown out within days or a week or so. Everybody said...high nutrients. My tank has been running for about a year and my Nitrates were always around 25ppm and Phos would vary, but usually around 0.15, give or take. Once I started dosing NoPox, for the first time ever, my nutrients have dropped to about the same level as yours...2.5ppm No3 0.08 Po4. Been dosing NoPox for about a month or so and would also like to ween off of the product, as I want to accomplish this with something more natural..ie the refug. and not sure what kind of an effect NoPox would have on my tank long term.

I've been also running an ATS for some time, and although it works great in that I have never had any Algae growth in my DT, it's never really effectively reduced my nutrients. Plus, I would just like to try a refug, not only for the benefits of getting copepods and such, but kinda tired of hearing the waterfall in my TV room due to the ATS.

I plan to switch sumps to a Triton style sump, (Synergy TS26) and add Miracle Mud, but like you, not sure if I should just stop NoPox dosing for a while before adding the sump or just make the switch.

Following along...
I was able to get in contact with Tropic Marin , this should apply to all methods of carbon dosing , the way he explained to me was that once the refugium is set up we need to monitor No3 & No4 once we start to see the cheato start to consume nutrients we can slowly over weeks time ween of our dosage.In my situation since I have a Aio I was told that I can use both just to balance off my dosge and my cheato consumption , i have considered myself adding tubs of miracle mud im my back chamber but not sure how beneficial it really is.
 

hans4811

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 30, 2019
Messages
425
Reaction score
393
Location
Jax, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Good to know. Having MM in your Aio might be a bit harder than having a dedicated sump for it. The Triton method is geared toward your fuge and the people using MM in one all seem to have good opinions of it. Worth a try for me anyways and just seems like a good natural way to go about it.

My tank is only a 65g unit and I'm only dosing a small amount of NoPox as it is, 3ml, so it seems like Tropic Marin's plan sounds like a sound one. Plus, I'm really replacing one nutrient export with another, so should be less shock to the system...ATS vs Refug. Just hoping the Refug does a better job than my ATS.
 
OP
OP
L

lx_Reef

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 23, 2019
Messages
77
Reaction score
26
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Good to know. Having MM in your Aio might be a bit harder than having a dedicated sump for it. The Triton method is geared toward your fuge and the people using MM in one all seem to have good opinions of it. Worth a try for me anyways and just seems like a good natural way to go about it.

My tank is only a 65g unit and I'm only dosing a small amount of NoPox as it is, 3ml, so it seems like Tropic Marin's plan sounds like a sound one. Plus, I'm really replacing one nutrient export with another, so should be less shock to the system...ATS vs Refug. Just hoping the Refug does a better job than my ATS.
The only con I can see from a refugium is it working to well and zeroing out your nutrients but well have to give it try and go from there . thats quite a bit compared to 0.3ml of elimi np my guess its more concentrated
 

Aquatic acrobat in your aquarium: Have you ever kept an eel?

  • I currently keep an eel in my tank.

    Votes: 29 14.8%
  • I have kept an eel in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 33 16.8%
  • I have not kept an eel in my tank, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 35 17.9%
  • I have no plans to keep an eel.

    Votes: 96 49.0%
  • Other.

    Votes: 3 1.5%
Back
Top