Nutrient Deficient Tank Help

Lavey29

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 29, 2021
Messages
11,287
Reaction score
11,956
Location
United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I wouldn't add more fish to such a small display I was shocked to read that.
D
5 small fish in a 40 gallon may have room to increase his bioload and add visual appeal. Depending on his scape and filtration. There are often multiple methods for addressing tank situations in this hobby and each tank is unique so this affords the hobbies to choose what works best for their situation. As you gain more experience you will understand this better and not be shocked by informative responses you see....good luck
 

dstockwell

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 28, 2022
Messages
2,596
Reaction score
12,760
Location
Georgia
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
More feeding not working for nitrates I can't get above zero, macro-algae eating them up. Waiting for Sodium Nitrate so I can dose them up. Have more Phosphate that I need, dosing should lower that.
 

thatmanMIKEson

Reefing ain't easy$
View Badges
Joined
Jan 10, 2021
Messages
4,986
Reaction score
5,020
Location
florida
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I don't really like the look of uneaten food on my rocks and sandbed rotting into nitrate. But if you're fond of detritus worms that's a good way to go.
Agree, Not only this and extra food is fine, but say you have bristle worms, hydroids or a vermited worm issue (who dosent?) Now your helping them survive and possibly thrive. If you are trying to get n03 and p04 up why would you not just add what you need, instead of adding food that will one day turn into what you need. Also food can be more expensive than diy additives, its just a different way to achieve what you want , but what side effects come from each method is really the question for me.
 

Lavey29

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 29, 2021
Messages
11,287
Reaction score
11,956
Location
United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Agree, Not only this and extra food is fine, but say you have bristle worms, hydroids or a vermited worm issue (who dosent?) Now your helping them survive and possibly thrive. If you are trying to get n03 and p04 up why would you not just add what you need, instead of adding food that will one day turn into what you need. Also food can be more expensive than diy additives, its just a different way to achieve what you want , but what side effects come from each method is really the question for me.
I agree with you. I had to double dose neophos and neonitro for multiple weeks to get measurable numbers. Over feeding can work but just depends on tank inhabitants. Some fish will pig out 4x a day while others maybe 2x so you have to employ what works best for your tank.
 
OP
OP
Jbone1228

Jbone1228

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 22, 2022
Messages
46
Reaction score
23
Location
Kansas city
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
well i dosed again and was gone for two days from the house, tested this afternoon and still 0 and 0. Someone i know told me to add a bottle of active bacteria like when you start a tank. whats your thoughts on this, im getting worries about my zoanthids. I have some rare ones that i dont wanna lose, but they have been closed for weeks and wont open.
 

thatmanMIKEson

Reefing ain't easy$
View Badges
Joined
Jan 10, 2021
Messages
4,986
Reaction score
5,020
Location
florida
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
well i dosed again and was gone for two days from the house, tested this afternoon and still 0 and 0. Someone i know told me to add a bottle of active bacteria like when you start a tank. whats your thoughts on this, im getting worries about my zoanthids. I have some rare ones that i dont wanna lose, but they have been closed for weeks and wont open.
Bacteria will lower them even more , just dose them as you need them if that's every day then add it everyday I add p04 neophos every day! And n03 neophos about once maybe twice a week to keep in range.
 

J1a

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 14, 2021
Messages
666
Reaction score
946
Location
Singapore
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I’m surprised at all the advice to dose N and P, why not just Feed more? Same end effect and happier fish and coral. Am I missing something?
Imo there is good reason to use dosing instead of relying on increased feeding. Whatever food we feed to the aquarium requires many organisms to eventually break them down into inorganic nutrients such as nitrate and phosphate.

If the aquarium do not have sufficient of these, it's easy for nuisance organism, such as cyano,to take over. If the aquarium do have sufficient organism to process the increased food, it will still cost the system in terms of oxygen consumption etc.

That's why direct dosing of inorganic nutrients is simple and elegant.

Having said that. I do believe feeding fishes and corals well is one of the most important things about reefing.
 

Max93

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 12, 2019
Messages
747
Reaction score
371
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I was having an issue with zero nutrients so I:

increased flow majorly
Removed filter socks
Removed algae turf scrubber

now I Finally have nitrates and phosphates. I have high alk so I’m letting the biomass bring the tank down slowly. Aka adding corals and actually watching them grow instead or RTN/STN
 
OP
OP
Jbone1228

Jbone1228

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 22, 2022
Messages
46
Reaction score
23
Location
Kansas city
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Imo there is good reason to use dosing instead of relying on increased feeding. Whatever food we feed to the aquarium requires many organisms to eventually break them down into inorganic nutrients such as nitrate and phosphate.

If the aquarium do not have sufficient of these, it's easy for nuisance organism, such as cyano,to take over. If the aquarium do have sufficient organism to process the increased food, it will still cost the system in terms of oxygen consumption etc.

That's why direct dosing of inorganic nutrients is simple and elegant.

Having said that. I do believe feeding fishes and corals well is one of the most important things about reefing.
yeah this is just a whole new world for me on dosing. My tank was really thriving and corals were growing them WHAM!! haha. But this is why we have forums because someone out there has been through this.
 
OP
OP
Jbone1228

Jbone1228

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 22, 2022
Messages
46
Reaction score
23
Location
Kansas city
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I was having an issue with zero nutrients so I:

increased flow majorly
Removed filter socks
Removed algae turf scrubber

now I Finally have nitrates and phosphates. I have high alk so I’m letting the biomass bring the tank down slowly. Aka adding corals and actually watching them grow instead or RTN/STN
Yeah my skimmer has been off for a week, still have filters socks on but im dosing a lot. Some people said add another fish to the tank to.
 

thatmanMIKEson

Reefing ain't easy$
View Badges
Joined
Jan 10, 2021
Messages
4,986
Reaction score
5,020
Location
florida
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Yeah my skimmer has been off for a week, still have filters socks on but im dosing a lot. Some people said add another fish to the tank to.
Me personally you are in a good spot because you are noticing something happening and are correcting it and expanding your knowledge on it .be careful with dosing depending on the system it could get overdosed quickly too, just like its disappearing on you now, so make sure you test every few days, depending on your system and what range your trying to be in. It should/could come to a point where you can back off any dosing of N&P or maybe just a once a month correction dose of one or another, then in a unknown amount of time you could be needing to reduce these levels and require no dosing but using nutrient removal tactics, basically it all revolves knowing what state your water is in, and it's values. Testing is needed depending on the system you are trying to keep, I've also gone down the no testing road but now I'm here.
 

thatmanMIKEson

Reefing ain't easy$
View Badges
Joined
Jan 10, 2021
Messages
4,986
Reaction score
5,020
Location
florida
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Yeah my skimmer has been off for a week, still have filters socks on but im dosing a lot. Some people said add another fish to the tank to.
Try putting your skimmer on a timmer just to run at night thats what I do on one of my systems, I believe it helps drive co2 down at night, but also it's good to have agitation in the system and a skimmer is great for that even if it's for 6hrs at night, I do it for the entire lights off period.
 
OP
OP
Jbone1228

Jbone1228

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 22, 2022
Messages
46
Reaction score
23
Location
Kansas city
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Try putting your skimmer on a timmer just to run at night thats what I do on one of my systems, I believe it helps drive co2 down at night, but also it's good to have agitation in the system and a skimmer is great for that even if it's for 6hrs at night, I do it for the entire lights off period.
ok i will give that a try thanks again.
 
OP
OP
Jbone1228

Jbone1228

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 22, 2022
Messages
46
Reaction score
23
Location
Kansas city
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Try putting your skimmer on a timmer just to run at night thats what I do on one of my systems, I believe it helps drive co2 down at night, but also it's good to have agitation in the system and a skimmer is great for that even if it's for 6hrs at night, I do it for the entire lights off period.
Man i am not seeing any results with dosing at all, 0 phosphates and 0 nitrates. This is wild man i have no idea whats going on or taking so long, i havent done a water change in like 3 weeks also.
 

Kfactor

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 7, 2019
Messages
1,226
Reaction score
1,162
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
in all my tanks i have had i struggled to have no3 and po4 . my tank right now my corals were not looking to good i had zero on both no3 and po4 so i started dosing po4 and no3 to get my levels up and all my sps for my pretty much died on me . i can never find a balince in any of my tank and allways struggle . everyone all ways tells me i keep my tanks way to clean thats why i have such a hard time with corals
 

Reefing threads: Do you wear gear from reef brands?

  • I wear reef gear everywhere.

    Votes: 16 19.0%
  • I wear reef gear primarily at fish events and my LFS.

    Votes: 3 3.6%
  • I wear reef gear primarily for water changes and tank maintenance.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I wear reef gear primarily to relax where I live.

    Votes: 13 15.5%
  • I don’t wear gear from reef brands.

    Votes: 44 52.4%
  • Other.

    Votes: 8 9.5%
Back
Top