JulesH
Active Member
Hi,
My current 300 litre tank has just reached its second birthday. Over the last year I have had stubbornly high phosphates 0.2 to 0.25 ppm, nitrates not more than 5ppm. I thought I would give TM's Bacto balance to see if:
1. I could reduce my PO4
2. Utilise the bacteria for coral food.
If I understood Bacto balance correctly I would not bottom out my PO4/NO3 as it doses these two elements to stop that from happening. According to the TM web site because of the age of tank I could dose 0.75 ml daily and perhaps go to 1.5 ml after a couple of weeks depending on the two tests.
However I erred on the side of safety. I have been dosing BB for about three weeks now I started with a low level of 0.25ml and worked my way up to 0.75ml. I noticed my PO4/NO3 tests results steadily decreasing. This evenings tests have shown a PO4 of 0.00 ppm and a NO3 level of 0.4 ppm. I feed quite heavily twice a day, run a skimmer and a filter roller.
Should I stop dosing BB immediately or go for a reduction over a period of time. I thought with Bacto Balance it dosed PO4 and NO3 to stop you bottoming out?
Thanks for looking.
My current 300 litre tank has just reached its second birthday. Over the last year I have had stubbornly high phosphates 0.2 to 0.25 ppm, nitrates not more than 5ppm. I thought I would give TM's Bacto balance to see if:
1. I could reduce my PO4
2. Utilise the bacteria for coral food.
If I understood Bacto balance correctly I would not bottom out my PO4/NO3 as it doses these two elements to stop that from happening. According to the TM web site because of the age of tank I could dose 0.75 ml daily and perhaps go to 1.5 ml after a couple of weeks depending on the two tests.
However I erred on the side of safety. I have been dosing BB for about three weeks now I started with a low level of 0.25ml and worked my way up to 0.75ml. I noticed my PO4/NO3 tests results steadily decreasing. This evenings tests have shown a PO4 of 0.00 ppm and a NO3 level of 0.4 ppm. I feed quite heavily twice a day, run a skimmer and a filter roller.
Should I stop dosing BB immediately or go for a reduction over a period of time. I thought with Bacto Balance it dosed PO4 and NO3 to stop you bottoming out?
Thanks for looking.
