As some of you know, I have a 40 breeder mixed reef. Getting mixed results with my corals: birdsnest, poci, duncans are doing great. Acros, acans, zoas, and a small button scoly.....not so much. Acans are always about halfway shrunk, zoas are sometimes open, sometimes not, never look 100% happy. Im pretty sure my problems are two part: the lighting was pretty intense (I addressed this, corals have responded well so far) and my nutrients. My NO3 and PO4 are a solid zero, and have always been so.
Now I trust Randy's articles and advice, not questioning it at all, but there's a huge gap Im seeing with advice on here and what's in the article (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php), which makes me think I'm missing something. For example, based on the article, sources of phosphate include sources such as fish poo and dried and frozen food. It also states that skimmers are responsible for removing the inorganic wastes that will raise phosphates.....
So....why is it that there are so many comments on here about how increasing your feedings and shortening skimmer times wont increase phosphates? At the same time, why is it that I can feed 3 times as much as before, and have zero testable difference in nitrates and phosphates?
I resorted to dosing nitrates and phosphates in the last week, and TBH, Im bothered by it. It just seems that there should be a better way as opposed to dosing something so specific. In my profession, I tend to look "up the river", and dosing nitrates and phosphates seems to be a bandaid that doesn't really get to the root?
I am dealing with a little bit of algae (I was using Vibrant for a short time, and stopped this), but my only exports are WCs every two weeks, live rock from KPAquatics, and a Curve 5 skimmer. Imports include feeding heavy frozen food 1-2 times a day, and pellets about once a day as well. Stocked with 4 fish (maroon clown, clown goby, dottyback, lawnmower).
What am I missing?
Now I trust Randy's articles and advice, not questioning it at all, but there's a huge gap Im seeing with advice on here and what's in the article (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php), which makes me think I'm missing something. For example, based on the article, sources of phosphate include sources such as fish poo and dried and frozen food. It also states that skimmers are responsible for removing the inorganic wastes that will raise phosphates.....
So....why is it that there are so many comments on here about how increasing your feedings and shortening skimmer times wont increase phosphates? At the same time, why is it that I can feed 3 times as much as before, and have zero testable difference in nitrates and phosphates?
I resorted to dosing nitrates and phosphates in the last week, and TBH, Im bothered by it. It just seems that there should be a better way as opposed to dosing something so specific. In my profession, I tend to look "up the river", and dosing nitrates and phosphates seems to be a bandaid that doesn't really get to the root?
I am dealing with a little bit of algae (I was using Vibrant for a short time, and stopped this), but my only exports are WCs every two weeks, live rock from KPAquatics, and a Curve 5 skimmer. Imports include feeding heavy frozen food 1-2 times a day, and pellets about once a day as well. Stocked with 4 fish (maroon clown, clown goby, dottyback, lawnmower).
What am I missing?