Chee-tomorpha
Active Member
Quick context:
I have a reefer 250, a rebuild that is at least 7 or 8 months old. There are no fish, only snails, and hermit crabs. I'm planning to add a pin-cushion urchin in the near future to help with the small amounts of free-growing chaeto and another type of algae growing. I've been able to keep most of the corals I have in there alive and encrusting - a new win for me. While troubleshooting the health of a new maxima clam last week, I began ramping up the AP700 from 30% output to a max of around 90-100%. At the same time, I learned that my nutrients were very low and have since increased them. I am finding that my corals and clam appear to be doing great and want to keep it up. I've never been able to remove access nutrients before but now I have to add them, so it's new territory for me.
I got my phosphates to 1.0 and nitrates to 10 on Wednesday. I stopped dosing since. Tonight I tested phosphates and nitrates and found that my phosphates had dropped down to 0.03 and my nitrates are sitting at 15.
I speculate my nitrates may have climbed as I attempted to feed the corals the past few days. I assume it would have stayed around 10 or below if I kept up with my normal dosing and snail/crab feeding regimen. I dose NOPOX and have no mechanical filtration. Water goes through matrix media in the sump.
I'm a bit concerned about my phosphates. Is a drop of 0.07 over three days common for phosphates? Is dosing phosphates daily typical? I have a dosing head available so I could automate it but want to make sure it's normal. I don't want to be adding it only to find it I'm feeding something undesirable.
I have a reefer 250, a rebuild that is at least 7 or 8 months old. There are no fish, only snails, and hermit crabs. I'm planning to add a pin-cushion urchin in the near future to help with the small amounts of free-growing chaeto and another type of algae growing. I've been able to keep most of the corals I have in there alive and encrusting - a new win for me. While troubleshooting the health of a new maxima clam last week, I began ramping up the AP700 from 30% output to a max of around 90-100%. At the same time, I learned that my nutrients were very low and have since increased them. I am finding that my corals and clam appear to be doing great and want to keep it up. I've never been able to remove access nutrients before but now I have to add them, so it's new territory for me.
I got my phosphates to 1.0 and nitrates to 10 on Wednesday. I stopped dosing since. Tonight I tested phosphates and nitrates and found that my phosphates had dropped down to 0.03 and my nitrates are sitting at 15.
I speculate my nitrates may have climbed as I attempted to feed the corals the past few days. I assume it would have stayed around 10 or below if I kept up with my normal dosing and snail/crab feeding regimen. I dose NOPOX and have no mechanical filtration. Water goes through matrix media in the sump.
I'm a bit concerned about my phosphates. Is a drop of 0.07 over three days common for phosphates? Is dosing phosphates daily typical? I have a dosing head available so I could automate it but want to make sure it's normal. I don't want to be adding it only to find it I'm feeding something undesirable.
