Correct carbon dosing methodology?

MMcKenna1029 · Apr 13, 2022

I am looking for a little reassurance that I am approaching TM carbon dosing correctly. System is 85g. About a month ago I purchased Plus-NP, Bacto balance and elima-NP. It made sense to me to have all 3 on hand. I was previously very nutrient depleted and was doing neonitro and neophos. @Lou Ekus sold me on the TM system after watching his appearances on Reefdudes. Below is where I am at so far:

	PO4	Tool	Dose
Saturday-Mar-26	0.03	Bacto-Balance	.85ml
Wednesday-Mar-30	0	Plus-NP	3.9ml (3pumps)
Saturday-Apr-2	0.02	Plus-NP	3.9ml (3pumps)
Wednesday-Apr-6	0.04	Bacto-Balance	1ml
Saturday-Apr-9	0	Plus-NP	3.9ml (3pumps)
Wednesday-Apr-13	0	Plus-NP	3.9ml (3pumps)

My first dose on 3/26 I did not have the plus-NP yet and was coming off the neophos dosing. I test PO4 every Saturday and Wednesday and use that to determine my dosing for each day in between. (The dose listed is daily). I was excited to see the PO4 jump to .04 on 4/6 and likely prematurely switched to balance. Now even with maxing out Plus-NP I remain bottomed out.

I do have some acro that have faded out and am concerned but I would like to see this method through. Are the corals likely getting what they need from the Plus-NP even though I test out at 0? I also stopped any specific coral feeding in order to really understand the effect of the TM Marin system but I am questioning that now.... Iknow you cant speak to these products directly but am really tempted to start feeding reef roids & RS AB+. Just concerned corals aren't getting what they need. Thoughts?

Thanks,
Matt

Lou Ekus · Apr 13, 2022

MMcKenna1029 said:
I am looking for a little reassurance that I am approaching TM carbon dosing correctly. System is 85g. About a month ago I purchased Plus-NP, Bacto balance and elima-NP. It made sense to me to have all 3 on hand. I was previously very nutrient depleted and was doing neonitro and neophos. @Lou Ekus sold me on the TM system after watching his appearances on Reefdudes. Below is where I am at so far:

PO4 Tool Dose
Saturday-Mar-26
0.03
Bacto-Balance .85ml
Wednesday-Mar-30
0
Plus-NP 3.9ml (3pumps)
Saturday-Apr-2
0.02
Plus-NP 3.9ml (3pumps)
Wednesday-Apr-6
0.04
Bacto-Balance 1ml
Saturday-Apr-9
0
Plus-NP 3.9ml (3pumps)
Wednesday-Apr-13
0
Plus-NP 3.9ml (3pumps)

My first dose on 3/26 I did not have the plus-NP yet and was coming off the neophos dosing. I test PO4 every Saturday and Wednesday and use that to determine my dosing for each day in between. (The dose listed is daily). I was excited to see the PO4 jump to .04 on 4/6 and likely prematurely switched to balance. Now even with maxing out Plus-NP I remain bottomed out.

I do have some acro that have faded out and am concerned but I would like to see this method through. Are the corals likely getting what they need from the Plus-NP even though I test out at 0? I also stopped any specific coral feeding in order to really understand the effect of the TM Marin system but I am questioning that now.... Iknow you cant speak to these products directly but am really tempted to start feeding reef roids & RS AB+. Just concerned corals aren't getting what they need. Thoughts?

Thanks,
Matt

Hi Matt, I don't know if you meant for me to chime in here or not. It almost sounds like you are looking for input other than mine. That would be good to get. But here is my 2 cents...

Since your nutrient levels are so low, and your corals are not looking the way you would like, I would definitely go back to your normal coral feeding routine. The coral feeding is totally different than the carbon dosing. they address totally different things. Your corals cannot thrive on light and carbon dosing alone. They need to filter feed as well.

Also, with a tank that is running as low in nutrients as yours, I would wait until your PO4 concentration is up around 0.06 or 0.07 ppm before switching to the NP BACTO Balance. This will help maintain things if there is a little "bounce back" when you switch products.

Lastly, when looking at your testing values, look more for "trends" than actual exact numbers. What I mean by that is that, looking at your testing values, my conclusion would be that your system is low in PO4. I wouldn't place too much importance on the 3 readings that are above 0 ppm. The assumption I would make from your testing would be "this system is low in PO4 and needs some time and addition to come up". Try not adjusting on a daily basis... Trending "low" or "down" keep adding, trending "up" or "adequate" keep maintaining.

I hope this all makes sense. Maybe if someone else adds some more comments it will help even more. Let me know if you have further questions or if I can be of more help.

MMcKenna1029 · Apr 13, 2022

Lou, very happy to have you weigh in. One of the reasons I went with this system was to try to get myself to slow down and not be so manic about the numbers everyday so completely understand monitoring the trends. It is also why I posted this. It is sort of a sanity check for me. I am a perfectionist so it can be really hard for me to sit back and let things happen over time. Looking forward to some other thoughts but based on your feedback I will keep moving forward with Plus-NP and slowly add some separate coral feedings back in.

Thanks,
Matt