Elimi-np or np bacto balance?

[darksideofthereef]

I have a nuvo 40 that's been up for a while and I'm having some issues with gha. I want to dose either tropic marin np balance or elimi- np but not sure what to use. My phos and nit are both reading 0 due to the gha.

Tia

#reefsquad #TropicMarin

 

[GillMeister]

I had zero nitrate and phosphate before and after my GHA outbreak. Slow dosing Vibrant over 2 1/2 months has totally wiped it out without dumping a ton of nutrients in my system.

 

[darksideofthereef]

I had zero nitrate and phosphate before and after my GHA outbreak. Slow dosing Vibrant over 2 1/2 months has totally wiped it out without dumping a ton of nutrients in my system.

Do you have any issues with your levels staying at 0??

 

[ReefSlice]

From my understanding the Bacto-balance has trace amounts of N&P in it to eliminate the chance of you bottoming out your nutrient levels, it's more to maintain low levels, whereas Elimi-NP is better for bringing down high nutrients. Sounds like Bacto-balance would suit your needs more. I know some people have had success with bacteria supplements in these scenarios as well, such as microbacter 7 or waste-away. I use biodigest myself.

 

[nereefpat]

Personally, I'm not convinced that hair algae has much to do with nutrient levels. It does love to grow opportunistically on bare rock and sand. You can slowly beat it with manual removal and clean up crew.

I have not used either of the products mentioned. If raising nitrate and/or phosphate, I would just dose those things instead of a product.
Vibrant, or other algaecides, would likely kill it.

Good luck.

 

[ZoWhat]

What are you testing with?

 

[design.maddie]

I have been running NP Bacto Balance for a year+ now. I don't know what I think about it honestly. It never solved my GHA problem, not that I started using for that reason. My phos and Nit are always where they state it will be at. Nitrates between 3-7 and Phos between .03-.05. I don't try to mess with the algae much as it is the only movement in a sps tank. I have noticed that the GHA has become the easiest form to read if I am over feeding. NP Bacto probably took me about 2 months to lock in on what was running the tank best. I have recently considered the idea of reducing the amount I am dosing but there aren't really any guides on how to go about that or why you would want to do that. I am about 90% finished with my current bottle and not sure if I want to continue with the product or not. If I do decide to stop, what steps do I take? If there is one thing the product will do is have you guessing what it is doing and if it is even needed other than make your test results read a certain way.

 

[darksideofthereef]

What are you testing with?

Red sea test kits

 

[ZoWhat]

You need Bacto to get po4 up to 0.05-0.1
And no3 to 5

 

[darksideofthereef]

I have been running NP Bacto Balance for a year+ now. I don't know what I think about it honestly. It never solved my GHA problem, not that I started using for that reason. My phos and Nit are always where they state it will be at. Nitrates between 3-7 and Phos between .03-.05. I don't try to mess with the algae much as it is the only movement in a sps tank. I have noticed that the GHA has become the easiest form to read if I am over feeding. NP Bacto probably took me about 2 months to lock in on what was running the tank best. I have recently considered the idea of reducing the amount I am dosing but there aren't really any guides on how to go about that or why you would want to do that. I am about 90% finished with my current bottle and not sure if I want to continue with the product or not. If I do decide to stop, what steps do I take? If there is one thing the product will do is have you guessing what it is doing and if it is even needed other than make your test results read a certain way.

Makes me wonder if I should wait and not start it and figure out something else

 

[darksideofthereef]

Personally, I'm not convinced that hair algae has much to do with nutrient levels. It does love to grow opportunistically on bare rock and sand. You can slowly beat it with manual removal and clean up crew.

I have not used either of the products mentioned. If raising nitrate and/or phosphate, I would just dose those things instead of a product.
Vibrant, or other algaecides, would likely kill it.

Good luck.

I've been manually removing what I can by hand and used peroxide to treat the zoas that are getting strangled. But it keeps coming back.

 

[ZoWhat]

It take a good 2mos to go from gha, to carbon dosing, to gha diminishing.

Patience

 

[GillMeister]

Do you have any issues with your levels staying at 0??

I don't. On the other hand I had been dosing small amounts of nitrate and phosphate and didn't see any benefits. So I stopped.

 

[darksideofthereef]

So I've been dosing np bacto balance for a month now and stoped dosing vibrant 2 weeks ago and all my algea is gone. Figured I'd give a little update.

The corals I have left look great and the skimmer is working on a whole new level