I am at a point in my 8 yr old, 200g SPS dominant mixed reef that I need to find an easy solution to reverse the escalating no3, but also decrease water changes.
Currently my po4 is steady between .06-.12 and my nitrate is drifting upwards of 13-17 depending how much of a water change I do weekly. I use Hanna test meters and have confirmed their accuracy with multiple ICP test results. I test about 2-3 time a week. I am nowhere near a dangerous level of nitrate but I want to have a reliable consumption technique established soon, in order to decrease my water changes. Salt mix has become way too expensive for that to be an economical solution for NO3.
I run all the typical equipment but do not have a refugium. I do have a 1.5lb bag of zeolite media in the sump. I rinse the media once a week during a water change to prevent detritus build up but don’t do anything other than that with it. Nothing else out of the ordinary besides 80mL Balling in my BRS 2 part + Part C. I started the Balling hybrid method about 2-3 weeks ago. I haven’t noticed any effect, good or bad, on my nutrients (or pollution as I like to think of it).
I have tried carbon dosing (via NoPox) a couple times and both times I lost a lot of acros and some fish started having strange infections (bacterial I am assuming). I ended up losing 2 of 3 of those fish. The third fish, that had a strange mouth infection, recovered once I quit dosing NoPox and had about 4 water changes under the belt. So, needless to say, I am not a fan of carbon dosing and more specifically NoPox. Are all carbon sources as toxic to acros as NoPox has been for me?
I have also run a sulfur denitrator in the past and over time my sulfur levels went “critically high” on icp tests and I started losing acros so I don’t want to go that route again. However, I still have the denitrator reactor and have been wondering what would happen if I ran the reactor with calcium reactor media and a tiny bit of zeolite media instead of sulfur? My thinking is an anaerobic environment is what the recirculating reactor is creating and any media should propagate nitrate consuming anaerobic bacteria? What are your thoughts on this @Randy Holmes-Farley ?
I’d also like to get some feedback from SPS keepers on how they maintain 10-15ppm nitrate without killing your more sensitive acros? My goal is to bring my water change schedule down to 15% every 3-4 weeks (since I am utilizing the balling trace element dosing) instead of the current 10-12% weekly that I do now.
Thanks everyone
Mel
Currently my po4 is steady between .06-.12 and my nitrate is drifting upwards of 13-17 depending how much of a water change I do weekly. I use Hanna test meters and have confirmed their accuracy with multiple ICP test results. I test about 2-3 time a week. I am nowhere near a dangerous level of nitrate but I want to have a reliable consumption technique established soon, in order to decrease my water changes. Salt mix has become way too expensive for that to be an economical solution for NO3.
I run all the typical equipment but do not have a refugium. I do have a 1.5lb bag of zeolite media in the sump. I rinse the media once a week during a water change to prevent detritus build up but don’t do anything other than that with it. Nothing else out of the ordinary besides 80mL Balling in my BRS 2 part + Part C. I started the Balling hybrid method about 2-3 weeks ago. I haven’t noticed any effect, good or bad, on my nutrients (or pollution as I like to think of it).
I have tried carbon dosing (via NoPox) a couple times and both times I lost a lot of acros and some fish started having strange infections (bacterial I am assuming). I ended up losing 2 of 3 of those fish. The third fish, that had a strange mouth infection, recovered once I quit dosing NoPox and had about 4 water changes under the belt. So, needless to say, I am not a fan of carbon dosing and more specifically NoPox. Are all carbon sources as toxic to acros as NoPox has been for me?
I have also run a sulfur denitrator in the past and over time my sulfur levels went “critically high” on icp tests and I started losing acros so I don’t want to go that route again. However, I still have the denitrator reactor and have been wondering what would happen if I ran the reactor with calcium reactor media and a tiny bit of zeolite media instead of sulfur? My thinking is an anaerobic environment is what the recirculating reactor is creating and any media should propagate nitrate consuming anaerobic bacteria? What are your thoughts on this @Randy Holmes-Farley ?
I’d also like to get some feedback from SPS keepers on how they maintain 10-15ppm nitrate without killing your more sensitive acros? My goal is to bring my water change schedule down to 15% every 3-4 weeks (since I am utilizing the balling trace element dosing) instead of the current 10-12% weekly that I do now.
Thanks everyone
Mel
