Nutrients and the many ways you fight/control them!

[revhtree Verified Admin]

So nutrients in your tank is good and bad. If you don't have enough them some corals don't thrive and if you have too much nuisance algae thrives! Most of the time the latter is what happens and algae gets uncontrollable! The goal is to have a low, controlled amount of nutrients.

Nutrients that require exporting:

• Nitrates
  
• Phosphates
  
• Ammonia
• Nitrite
• Dissolved Organic Compounds (DOC)

So that's what we will talk about today! Nutrients and how you control them! Vote in the poll and answer the following question.

How are you controlling nutrients and what has worked best for you?

image via @CoralAddict645

 

[Hemmdog]

Carbon dosing with an oversized skimmer to pull the evil out. It’s worked wonders for me.

Chemipure elite for phosphate issues is my go to.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

So nutrients in your tank is good and bad. If you don't have enough them some corals don't thrive and if you have too much nuisance algae thrives! Most of the time the latter is what happens and algae gets uncontrollable! The goal is to have a low, controlled amount of nutrients.

Nutrients that require exporting:

• Nitrates
  
• Phosphates
  
• Ammonia
• Nitrite
• Dissolved Organic Compounds (DOC)

So that's what we will talk about today! Nutrients and how you control them! Vote in the poll and answer the following question.

How are you controlling nutrients and what has worked best for you?

image via @CoralAddict645

Two oversized skimmers, refugium, no chaeto, 30 Pacific oysters, DIY D.E.filtration, starting some ozone, heavy feeding, NPS corals.
Forgot, no water changes.

 

[smartwater101]

Water changes are a relatively poor nutrient export. It's more about getting those depleted elements back into the water rather than removing certain things. That said: multiple water changes for an emergency situation will certainly help mitigate some issues.

Things like Biopellets, GFO, and Vodka/Vinegar dosing seem like an inappropriate solution (at least long term solution) to these issues.

Proper feeding is the key, IMO, to keeping nitrate/phosphate to desired levels. If you like to overfeed, like me, a skimmer and some chaeto (with proper lighting!!) will easily take care of that.

 

[Mal11224]

I use a fuge, skimmer, socks and regular small water changes. This is the easiest method that I’ve used to not only control nutrients but to keep NO3 and PO4 constant.
Since I’m using a fuge, I do not use GFO. I feed twice a day and my parameters are pretty stable as long as I stay on schedule.
NO3 - 5
PO4 - .04

 

[Chiefmaster30]

So nutrients in your tank is good and bad. If you don't have enough them some corals don't thrive and if you have too much nuisance algae thrives! Most of the time the latter is what happens and algae gets uncontrollable! The goal is to have a low, controlled amount of nutrients.

Nutrients that require exporting:

• Nitrates
  
• Phosphates
  
• Ammonia
• Nitrite
• Dissolved Organic Compounds (DOC)

So that's what we will talk about today! Nutrients and how you control them! Vote in the poll and answer the following question.

How are you controlling nutrients and what has worked best for you?

image via @CoralAddict645

I have a decent skimmer and run phosguard in a reactor and chaeto in my fuge. Has worked good for me so far in the 4 yrs I’ve been in this hobby.

 

[Sailingeric]

I have a skimmer, lighter feeding, decent sized clean up crew and chaeto with the grow light on all the time. Everything is growing great, little to no algae, and the fish are fat and happy.

 

[MnFish1]

So nutrients in your tank is good and bad. If you don't have enough them some corals don't thrive and if you have too much nuisance algae thrives! Most of the time the latter is what happens and algae gets uncontrollable! The goal is to have a low, controlled amount of nutrients.

Nutrients that require exporting:

• Nitrates
  
• Phosphates
  
• Ammonia
• Nitrite
• Dissolved Organic Compounds (DOC)

So that's what we will talk about today! Nutrients and how you control them! Vote in the poll and answer the following question.

How are you controlling nutrients and what has worked best for you?

image via @CoralAddict645

Is 'carbon (granulated)' included in 'media in reactors'?

 

[MnFish1]

Water changes are a relatively poor nutrient export. It's more about getting those depleted elements back into the water rather than removing certain things. That said: multiple water changes for an emergency situation will certainly help mitigate some issues.

Can you explain 'what' this is based on? Doesn't it depend on what other nutrient export methods you are using. I mean if you're using a GFO reactor, a denigrator, and algae refugium, a skimmer, biopellets and GAC - water changes may be inefficient. However, If you don't want to use those things, I think water changes are the 'most efficient'. But - the blanket statement I dont think holds true.

 

[Sailingeric]

Can you explain 'what' this is based on? Doesn't it depend on what other nutrient export methods you are using. I mean if you're using a GFO reactor, a denigrator, and algae refugium, a skimmer, biopellets and GAC - water changes may be inefficient. However, If you don't want to use those things, I think water changes are the 'most efficient'. But - the blanket statement I dont think holds true.

BRS talked about this in one of their videos. It depends on how much water you are replacing. 10% change in a 100 gallon tank will only lower the nutrient load a little but the same 10 gallon change in a 20 or 30 gallon tank will have a big impact. For must of us doing a 50 gallon change on a 100 gallon tank is not practical will while a 50% on a 20 gallon is easy.

 

[Capitol Reef Corals]

I use zeovit. Which I guess is the same as carbon dosing, which I guess is the same as vodka dosing.

I think there should be an option called Carbon Dosing instead of Vodka Dosing.

 

[Oscaror]

Chaeto, skimmer, and recently a marinepure brick. No water changes except when other maintenance is done that involves removing water.

 

[Schnizzle]

Skimmer and refugium with Ulva lactuca (sea lettuce). I couldn’t keep chaeto alive. My GHA that I just mowed probably counts too. Haha

 

[MnFish1]

BRS talked about this in one of their videos. It depends on how much water you are replacing. 10% change in a 100 gallon tank will only lower the nutrient load a little but the same 10 gallon change in a 20 or 30 gallon tank will have a big impact. For must of us doing a 50 gallon change on a 100 gallon tank is not practical will while a 50% on a 20 gallon is easy.

Right - of course - but that doesn't mean that water changes are inefficient - unless there is data showing that 'carbon (GAC) removes more per week than at 10 percent water change. The good things about water changes is that they remove x percent of 'everything'. you dont need 10 reactors to remove 10 things. Water changes also boost other things by 10% (assuming you're changing 10 gallons of a 100 gallon tank). But - it works the same for all of the filtration methods - right-? If you add double the carbon - double the organics will be removed.

 

[smartwater101]

Can you explain 'what' this is based on? Doesn't it depend on what other nutrient export methods you are using. I mean if you're using a GFO reactor, a denigrator, and algae refugium, a skimmer, biopellets and GAC - water changes may be inefficient. However, If you don't want to use those things, I think water changes are the 'most efficient'. But - the blanket statement I don't think holds true.

If you think of it in terms of percentages, the water change is doing little to bring those numbers down. You remove 20% "dirty" water, and put 20% of "clean" water in. The constant dilution would still make it necessary for several water changes, in a short amount of time, just to put a substantial dent in nitrates/phosphates. Especially if you consider all the garbage in the sand, or bound up in the rocks that is contributing to the excess numbers in the first place.

To be clear: I think water changes are ESSENTIAL to good tank care, but again I think the benefits of what we're adding far outweigh what we're taking out. (What we're able to take out is just icing on the cake.) I'm also of the opinion that sand-siphoning is a necessary maintenance to-do. I don't feel its possible to keep enough clean-up-crew in captivity to keep detritus at bay. Its simply not possible to remove all that garbage, even manually, and leaving too much is just a ticking time-bomb. So this is a big reason I do water changes in the first place. (Its less about the short-term export of nitrate/phosphate and more about what will keep things stable long term.)

As for something like GFO or Vinegar dosing, that's just pure opinion. I prefer to use more "natural" methods like algae/fuge because its much easier to dial in and much easier to maintain long term. The long term stability appeals to me as well as the long term cost benefits. There is little worry about whether needs to be changed out or, worse, accidental overdoses. I prefer to reserve these methods (like phosphat-E) for short term use only. I feel like long term use of these methods keep people from adjusting their habits that are causing the high numbers in the first place. (myself included)


All that said: Ultimately, if people are able to keep things stable in the long run, there is certainly nothing "wrong" with any export method.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I do weekly water changes (about 11%), skimmer set to dry skim (mostly used to keep pH up) and a few tablespoons of carbon and gfo in reactors changed out once a month. That's all that's needed in my acro tank. The acros suck up the rest.

 

[ca1ore]

Two ‘truths’ in my system. One is that I have too many mouths so judicious feeding is not realistic. Two, at something like 700 total actual gallons, water changes as any kind of practical nutrient reduction is also not realistic. I use a large calcium reactor plus some dosing to add the things that need adding and a large skimmer, ATS and various filter media to export the things that need exporting. I do also have a chaeto refugium, though growth there has been crap for a while now. I have toyed with carbon dosing, but have not done so yet. I do modest water changes (50 gallons every two weeks), though mostly because I cannot quite bring myself to stop completely.

 

[ReefGeezer]

My main method of export is an via and old but still functional skimmer and rock. Think old school Berlin Method but started with dry rock. I have reactors for GFO & GAC also. I use them very sparingly and only as needed. I do dose a very small amount of vinegar (15 ml daily) to maintain some biodiversity. I'm not sure how much, but that aids in the export of some nutrients.

Not on the list, but equally important, I think, are the corals, sponges, tube worms, algae, Cyano and other bacteria, and etc. that live in the tank that bind or process nutrients and/or dissolved organics.

 

[MnFish1]

If you think of it in terms of percentages, the water change is doing little to bring those numbers down. You remove 20% "dirty" water, and put 20% of "clean" water in. The constant dilution would still make it necessary for several water changes, in a short amount of time, just to put a substantial dent in nitrates/phosphates. Especially if you consider all the garbage in the sand, or bound up in the rocks that is contributing to the excess numbers in the first place.

Yep I agree. but - when I do water changes - I suck up the detritus from the sand and rock (as much as possible). I also do 40 gallon water changes every 2 weeks on my 130 gallon tank - which means that all of the 'bad things' decrease by 30 percent every 2 weeks. I just didn't know where you got the statement that 'water changes are the least efficient"

 

[chefjpaul]

Yep I agree. but - when I do water changes - I suck up the detritus from the sand and rock (as much as possible).

This 100%-

I was 10 years old with a fresh water and was taught this.
A proper w/c involves getting rid of waste, a physical maintenance aspect, they can test all they desire on %, but if its just moving water around, not practical.

I do minimal w/c, as deemed necessary, (I actually enjoy them more than most), but rely heavily on macro algae and making sure their care and elements needed are sufficient to do the job for nutrient consumption.