Nitrate and Phosphate too low, turn down/off fuge? lights.

[Shadows Reef]

I'm at 0 for both so I add Nitrate and phospahte
but I don't want to go over the recommend dose, I use Tropic Marin PLUS-NP.

so should I dim down the light of my refugeium or cut down the hours or both?

I have the AI huge light currently running at 60% for 14 hours.

Also for filtration I also have a rollermat fleece filter and nyos skimmer

 

[Deep]

I have the exact same setup in my redsea reefer 250 ; fleece filter with a Nyos Skimmer and run a separate refugium. I also dose PLUS-NP. My phospates are at 0.01 and nitrates are < 1. I am trying to feed heavy and also increase the number of fishes. Strangely my chaeto in the refugium is growing quickly and there is a layer of algae dust on the glass every couple of days. So although the residual nutrient levels are low, I dont think the tank is nutrient deprived yet. I am considering removing the skimmer cup for a few days and measuring levels, but till now I havent seen any obvious issues ( such as dinos or pale coral colours due to the low nutrient levels). Cutting down on the refugium light duration could have an impact on the PH swings, so have not tried tried that yet.

 

[Biglew11]

How fast do they drop after dosing? You can turn down the fuge light intensity and also decrease the hours fuge is on.

 

[Shadows Reef]

I have the exact same setup in my redsea reefer 250 ; fleece filter with a Nyos Skimmer and run a separate refugium. I also dose PLUS-NP. My phospates are at 0.01 and nitrates are < 1. I am trying to feed heavy and also increase the number of fishes. Strangely my chaeto in the refugium is growing quickly and there is a layer of algae dust on the glass every couple of days. So although the residual nutrient levels are low, I dont think the tank is nutrient deprived yet. I am considering removing the skimmer cup for a few days and measuring levels, but till now I havent seen any obvious issues ( such as dinos or pale coral colours due to the low nutrient levels). Cutting down on the refugium light duration could have an impact on the PH swings, so have not tried tried that yet.

Yeah I've been trying to feed heavy also I just don't have many fish I need to get more

I'm not too worried about the PH swing as I run a co2 scrubber and without the light the ph is between 8.2-8.4 which is fine for me.

But I'm pretty sure my levels are a little too low because I don't even get the algae film on my glass and no I don't use vibrant, I have it, but don't need at this point and haven't used it since I first started my tank. I also test with the hanna nitrate and phosphate checker and they read NO3 0.00 PO4 0.01almost always, yes I have the standard vials for all my hanna checkers and so they are accurate as well

Just not sure what would be better to do at this point, feed more... for the four fish I have I'm feeding plenty

I can bypass some water past my fleece filter but I like the idea of everything going through, it's reassuring to me lol

I can turn off my skimmr for more then the three hours I already turn it off for after ”lunch time”

I can dim my AI FUGE lights that light my chaeto or shorten the duration.

I can do everything above but what should I do first..... Lol

 

[Shadows Reef]

How fast do they drop after dosing? You can turn down the fuge light intensity and also decrease the hours fuge is on.

You think I should do both?
And tbh I'm not sure but I add it every morning at 8 with the lights come one and by the after boon when I test it's undectectable so petty quickly

 

[Joedubyk]

dose no3/po4. Corals seem to love it!

 

[Shadows Reef]

dose no3/po4. Corals seem to love it!

The tropic main PLUs NP doses both of those plus bacteria to help the corals uptake the no3 and po4

 

[DOJOLOACH]

Whats the best way to raise phosphate/nitrogen levels while not allowing algae to breakout? Sorry to thread jack

 

[Shadows Reef]

Whats the best way to raise phosphate/nitrogen levels while not allowing algae to breakout? Sorry to thread jack

Well as long as your within range on both levels and you have things up taking both like your corals and Marco algae that's the goal, if your growing algae your tank isn't deprived its just all goin to the algae, I would stop all together let it die and then start dosing all over again otherwise you'll never quite get that grip on it's control

 

[DOJOLOACH]

Well as long as your within range on both levels and you have things up taking both like your corals and Marco algae that's the goal, if your growing algae your tank isn't deprived its just all goin to the algae, I would stop all together let it die and then start dosing all over again otherwise you'll never quite get that grip on it's control

Range being 5-10ppm NO3 and like .03ppm phosphate? I was looking around on the tropic marin website for the ratio of the PLUSnp products to see what they recommend... no luck

 

[Shadows Reef]

Whats the best way to raise phosphate/nitrogen levels while not allowing algae to breakout? Sorry to thread jack

Sorry didn't really answer that lol there many things you can do like feed more or run you skimmer less or your fuge lights less but of your truly low then you'll want to start doing nitrates and phosphates to the tank, I do this with tropic Marins Plus-NP, it also adds a bacteria to help the corals consume the nitrates and phosphate better, according to TM the corals are not good at getting phosphates directly so the bacteria consumes the phosphates and the corals consume the bacteria and get the phosphate that way, and naturally the corals are good at consuming nitrates.

 

[Shadows Reef]

Range being 5-10ppm NO3 and like .03ppm phosphate? I was looking around on the tropic marin website for the ratio of the PLUSnp products to see what they recommend... no luck

Personally I shoot for nitrates over 1 under 5
As phosphates over .03 and under .1

 

[Shadows Reef]

This is what TM Recommends

 

[Shadows Reef]

Range being 5-10ppm NO3 and like .03ppm phosphate? I was looking around on the tropic marin website for the ratio of the PLUSnp products to see what they recommend... no luck

Lol just call Lou Ekus from TM USA he may know he’s very helpful and always willing to help 413-367-0101

 

[DOJOLOACH]

Thank you!
Looks like I should just try dosing no3 first

 

[Kyl]

IMO excessive export use (heavy refugium, etc) towards ULNS has done more to sabotage tanks in the last few years than most other things. If you're having to dose because your export is too aggressive, that should be a sign to back off on your export, not increase or start using NO3/PO4 additives.

I have had three tanks now that started with aggressive nutrient export, following the BRS method of ~4 or so years back, and every single one of them had ongoing issues for a year plus until said export was heavily dialed back or even discontinued. I even went down the road of dosing KNO3, feeding heavily, and it somewhat worked but made me realize, why am I going through all this work just to keep up with my chaeto?

So start with the skimmer, which provides export and aeration. If the skimmer can't keep up with nutrient levels, then add additional export (fuge / scrubber). The more I experience, the more a scrubber seems to be a better solution than a fuge for most tanks. It is also more efficient in terms of space, unless you need a giant scrubber then perhaps it's time to look at a fuge.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The tropic main PLUs NP doses both of those plus bacteria to help the corals uptake the no3 and po4

Are you claiming corals need bacteria to take up nitrate and phosphate?

 

[DOJOLOACH]

IMO excessive export use (heavy refugium, etc) towards ULNS has done more to sabotage tanks in the last few years than most other things. If you're having to dose because your export is too aggressive, that should be a sign to back off on your export, not increase or start using NO3/PO4 additives.

I have had three tanks now that started with aggressive nutrient export, following the BRS method of ~4 or so years back, and every single one of them had ongoing issues for a year plus until said export was heavily dialed back or even discontinued. I even went down the road of dosing KNO3, feeding heavily, and it somewhat worked but made me realize, why am I going through all this work just to keep up with my chaeto?

So start with the skimmer, which provides export and aeration. If the skimmer can't keep up with nutrient levels, then add additional export (fuge / scrubber). The more I experience, the more a scrubber seems to be a better solution than a fuge for most tanks. It is also more efficient in terms of space, unless you need a giant scrubber then perhaps it's time to look at a fuge.

Yeah I've got a filter sock, skimmer, and carbon dosing. Sounds like too much.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Personally, I can see good reasons to dose nutrients and maintain the refugium as usual (O2 at night, food for filter feeders), but certainly backing off on the fuge time or intensity is an easy plan to implement.

 

[Shadows Reef]

IMO excessive export use (heavy refugium, etc) towards ULNS has done more to sabotage tanks in the last few years than most other things. If you're having to dose because your export is too aggressive, that should be a sign to back off on your export, not increase or start using NO3/PO4 additives.

I have had three tanks now that started with aggressive nutrient export, following the BRS method of ~4 or so years back, and every single one of them had ongoing issues for a year plus until said export was heavily dialed back or even discontinued. I even went down the road of dosing KNO3, feeding heavily, and it somewhat worked but made me realize, why am I going through all this work just to keep up with my chaeto?

So start with the skimmer, which provides export and aeration. If the skimmer can't keep up with nutrient levels, then add additional export (fuge / scrubber). The more I experience, the more a scrubber seems to be a better solution than a fuge for most tanks. It is also more efficient in terms of space, unless you need a giant scrubber then perhaps it's time to look at a fuge.

Yeah I’m definitely going to keep using my co2 scrubber, you can get the calcium hydroxide media very cheap online and it works just as great. I think I will dial back my fuge from 14 hours a day down to 4 to see where that takes me, I’ll leave the intensity where it’s at and scale that back eventually if I don’t get enough results