low nutrient system?

[VandyTime]

What is the best sps/fish food or additive to supplement a LNS. And does any of these have a good potassium supplement. Thanks

 

[andywe]

WHile I don;t know a "Best Food" for ULNS, I found target feeding the best method. Thatw ay I was not over feeding, and giventhe choice foods like reef Chili, reef roids, and Phytochrome worked well for me. ULNS is largely based on great skimming and finding the sweet spot with your carbon dosing/Bio Balss/Zeolite media or whatever you use to achieve the lns results.

Potassium is via the test kit and I like Brightwell Potassion, but there are many good supplements out there. Also keep an eye on your Iron and iodine levels too. I am sure others have more info to add.

 

[poolkeeper1]

What is the best sps/fish food or additive to supplement a LNS. And does any of these have a good potassium supplement. Thanks

The Best SPS food is Fish Poop, And a healthy population of Fish in your system is the best way for your Corals to be fed. You can also spot feed certain types of Coral and that's a good way to encourage growth. Brightwell's Reef Snow, Reef Chile, and other Liquid additives including Coral Amino's are a good way to broadcast feed your SPS a few times a week as long as you do not overfeed and create less than Pristine water conditions, You need to use some form of carbon dosing IE Eco-Bak, Vodka dosing and a very good skimmer to remove the excess nutrients before they turn into high Po4 levels that will detract from good color and growth. The other way to do the same as above is to run GFO but it will cost a lot more in the long run to achieve the same results as with Bio-Pellets and they are very cost effective. With the Proper Reactor they are a no maintenance and worry free way to get great results.
As far as Fish food goes, The best are ones with no or very little Phosphates in them, I vary from pellets to frozen vararities and Clycopeese at least 2-3 times a day and my Fish are Fat and Happy and My SPS has great color and growth.
There are many ways to get good results and this is just one choice that works for me so try and find what works best for you?
Bill

 

[VandyTime]

Thanks guys, I'm using biopellets (only been up a week) and I think I screwed up already! I should have gotten a reactor where I can adjust the flow out. Well just gonna have to make do with what I have. I did use a little less pellets than required tho. Will frequent water changes take care of the potassium, iron, and iodine?

 

[poolkeeper1]

Thanks guys, I'm using biopellets (only been up a week) and I think I screwed up already! I should have gotten a reactor where I can adjust the flow out. Well just gonna have to make do with what I have. I did use a little less pellets than required tho. Will frequent water changes take care of the potassium, iron, and iodine?

IMO Yes they will, The Reef Dynamic Bio-Pellet Reactor is well worth the investment in getting the most from bio-pellets. I have seen a big improvement since changing to this type reactor and I have been using Eco-Bak before it went on the retail market thanks to Jon Warner and a great product.
The ability to control the flow through the reactor seperate from tumbling the pellets allows for precise adjustments to your bioload that no other reactor can do!
Bill

 

[orthokardia]

+1 on both fish poop and water changes. Red Sea, the new stuff, is a very good salt and not too $$. It is made by evaporation just like DD, but a good deal less expensive. I have had good luck with a nextreef SMR XL NextReef | Media Reactors . Also I might be misunderstanding your comment on the out flow, but I would just use a ball valve. If you were talking about a recirculating system then I do not understand the the value of the added complexity.

 

[VandyTime]

If I put a ball valve on the out line it will slow down the pump intake and lose the tumbling. Hope i'm wrong on this!

 

[poolkeeper1]

+1 on both fish poop and water changes. Red Sea, the new stuff, is a very good salt and not too $$. It is made by evaporation just like DD, but a good deal less expensive. I have had good luck with a nextreef SMR XL NextReef | Media Reactors . Also I might be misunderstanding your comment on the out flow, but I would just use a ball valve. If you were talking about a recirculating system then I do not understand the the value of the added complexity.

It's very simple, You can control contact time and volume that goes through the Pellets without effecting the tumbling rate. If i slowed my MR1 Reactor's flow way down the Pellets will not tumble at all, With the Reef Dynamics i can slow the flow down to a trickle or run it wide open without it changing the way the pellets are tumbling at all. It's like you can adjust the amount of contact your water get to the pellets and actually monitor your Po4 and adjust the reactor to your tanks needs.
Bill

 

[poolkeeper1]

If I put a ball valve on the out line it will slow down the pump intake and lose the tumbling. Hope i'm wrong on this!

Bingo! Your Correct and this is the best breakthrough in reactor design IMO since the Pellets have become a mainstay of Reef Tanks.
Bill

 

[orthokardia]

What does changing the contact time do other than change the O2/CO2 exposure of the bacteria in the reactor? I am assuming you would not turn down so low as to be PO4 or NO3 limited in the bacterial production. I could see a slower feed might favor the creation of anaerobic bacterial strains, but i am not sure why this would be the goal.

 

[poolkeeper1]

What does changing the contact time do other than change the O2/CO2 exposure of the bacteria in the reactor? I am assuming you would not turn down so low as to be PO4 or NO3 limited in the bacterial production. I could see a slower feed might favor the creation of anaerobic bacterial strains, but i am not sure why this would be the goal.

Being able to control the contact time allows the pellets to consume more/less of the Po4 in the water column as you said becoming No3/N04 Limited is Not the goal and with all other reactors you have no way to control the actual contact time without effecting the tumble rate inside the reactor. When the Pellets do not tumble properly I have found that they Clog and stick together and become Ineffective, This has happened to me 2X in the last several months and the result was High Po4 levels even though i was running the pellets. To me this concludes that just the fact that you are running water through a reactor does not mean you are achieving the intended goal.
The Proof is in the testing of my Po4 levels and being able to dial my Po4 reduction right to my tanks needs. You can not get the same effect with standard reactors that don't allow for control of exposure to the pellets without changing the basic tumbling of the pellets to keep them free from the Biomass that starts to cover them causing them to clump together and become useless JMO
Bill
PS, Jeff @ reefdynamics.com has several videos on this very subject that he explains better than me!

 

[VandyTime]

So I could just increase the tumbling rate if I'm over doing it a bit since I can't slow down the release to the skimmer?

 

[mixer911]

What Bill is saying is true. You not only need to be able to control the tumble rate, but also the amount of flow into the pellets. Think of it as feeding your pellets with nutrients seperatly. When you are using one pump to feed flow to make them tumble, you do not have control over the amount of food going into the reactor. It is equal to the flow going in to make them tumble. decreasing tumble rate decreases pellet food, increasing tumble rate increases pellet food. The reefdynamics reactor fixes this issue and allow seperate control over both.

 

[gmoney243]

just repeated what rick and bill said sry lol