Nutrients vs cheato

Rmckoy

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About 2 months ago I added a ball of cheato to jelp
Control and lower nutrients .
Just finished testing phosphorus and nitrates that I haven’t tested in awhile .

nitrates are undetectable with salifert kit
Phosphorus Hanna checker test 7ppb which is 0.021 ppm phosphates

Question
What method of correction would be best
1) remove some of the cheato
2) turn rowaphos and carbon reactors off
3 feed heavier and see if nitrate numbers come up a little
 

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I would stop rowaphos. Carbon doesn't matter. The nice thing about a good refugium is you can feed heavily.

You could remove some chaeto if it is getting packed in the refugium.


You could also dial back how long the light is on (or the intensity)
 
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Rmckoy

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I would stop rowaphos. Carbon doesn't matter. The nice thing about a good refugium is you can feed heavily.

You could remove some chaeto if it is getting packed in the refugium.


You could also dial back how long the light is on (or the intensity)
Once stopping rowaphos .
it’s not recommended to restart later ?

I have 2 reactors running in line off of one pump .
First the rowaphos , next is carbon
The cheato has doubled size from a sandwich bag size possibly even more than doubled ….

I did dose 11.5ml nitrate equal to increasing 1ppm and will test later .

I’m ok with phos at 0.02 but have never had this low
 

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Once stopping rowaphos .
it’s not recommended to restart later ?

I have 2 reactors running in line off of one pump .
First the rowaphos , next is carbon
The cheato has doubled size from a sandwich bag size possibly even more than doubled ….

I did dose 11.5ml nitrate equal to increasing 1ppm and will test later .

I’m ok with phos at 0.02 but have never had this low


I find refugiums more than able to handle phosphate on their own.


I use GFO as a correctional tool, such as when I overdose phosphate.

You could always cut the chaeto down and sell some or give it to someone. A LOT of people are wanting chaeto these days. I used to have a 40 gallon grow out for chaeto as I sold it to the LFS I work part time at and others who wanted some.
 

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A couple questions first before I dive into advice mode. What size tank? How many fish? How often do you feed? Was rowaphos used to correct high PO4 or for another reason?
To start, as mentioned above, discontinue rowaphos and I would remove carbon and only use it to polish water for a few days, then remove.
 
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Rmckoy

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A couple questions first before I dive into advice mode. What size tank? How many fish? How often do you feed? Was rowaphos used to correct high PO4 or for another reason?
To start, as mentioned above, discontinue rowaphos and I would remove carbon and only use it to polish water for a few days, then remove.
It’s a 230 gal
Roughly 10-15 fish , feed once ever other day .
Purple seaweed , flakes , pellets .

yes rowaphos was initially added to reduce phosphates

My system was nitrate limited with excessively high phosphates and zero nitrates .
That was corrected prior to adding cheato .
 

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It’s a 230 gal
Roughly 10-15 fish , feed once ever other day .
Purple seaweed , flakes , pellets .

yes rowaphos was initially added to reduce phosphates

My system was nitrate limited with excessively high phosphates and zero nitrates .
That was corrected prior to adding cheato .


You should be feeding daily if not multiple times a day. Some of these fish (such as tangs or at least the ocean surgeonfish) enter a starving state within 6 hours of not having food.
 

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It’s a 230 gal
Roughly 10-15 fish , feed once ever other day .
Purple seaweed , flakes , pellets .

yes rowaphos was initially added to reduce phosphates

My system was nitrate limited with excessively high phosphates and zero nitrates .
That was corrected prior to adding cheato .
Thanks, kinda figured that was the case here. A few things you can change that will help long term and get you back on track. First, I would feed several times a day, small portions and I would suggest buying LRS or Rod’s (clean frozen food, not mysis). Feed pellets or flakes once or twice a day, small amount each time. Continue feeding nori.
If you can, safely add more fish, especially utility fish, that would really help. Also, I would add some high metabolism fish, which combined with the other fish will provide all the nitrogen you’ll need for corals and bacterial growth. Your nitrate limited because there’s not enough left over and is being consumed before it can be of benefit. You can utilize bacteria like PNS Probio to stabilize nitrogen and reduce phosphates in a more natural way. It’s an awesome project. It’s about import/export. I find too many people are starving their reefs in fear of algae, instead of “feeding” their reefs and managing algae in a more natural way. I’ve never seen a natural reef without algae, that’s just an unrealistic goal/view in home aquaria. All of these changes need to happen slowly and over time, but feeding your reef properly is the first step.
 
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Rmckoy

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Thanks, kinda figured that was the case here. A few things you can change that will help long term and get you back on track. First, I would feed several times a day, small portions and I would suggest buying LRS or Rod’s (clean frozen food, not mysis). Feed pellets or flakes once or twice a day, small amount each time. Continue feeding nori.
If you can, safely add more fish, especially utility fish, that would really help. Also, I would add some high metabolism fish, which combined with the other fish will provide all the nitrogen you’ll need for corals and bacterial growth. Your nitrate limited because there’s not enough left over and is being consumed before it can be of benefit. You can utilize bacteria like PNS Probio to stabilize nitrogen and reduce phosphates in a more natural way. It’s an awesome project. It’s about import/export. I find too many people are starving their reefs in fear of algae, instead of “feeding” their reefs and managing algae in a more natural way. I’ve never seen a natural reef without algae, that’s just an unrealistic goal/view in home aquaria. All of these changes need to happen slowly and over time, but feeding your reef properly is the first step.
Add more fish .


here is a list of what’s in there already ,
I was thinking after adding the small sailfin that was probably going to be the last .

foxface
Yellow tang
Yellow belly blue tang
Sailfin tang mata tang
Orange shoulder tang
2 clown fish
2 springeri damsels
Mel wrasse
Yellow flanked wrasse
Lawnmower blenny
Green mandarin
Cardinal fish
 

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You only have 4 to 5 potentially large fish that you barely feed, so it’s either feed more or add more, or both. Regardless, feeding more is the first step. The whole idea of keeping fish and barely feeding them in hopes of combating algae is a completely misguided way of keeping a reef. I’m not trying to be over-critical with you directly, but this is an overall observation that I’ve been noticing lately here on the forums and with new reefers that I interact with at my LFS. We seem to strip our tanks of nutrients so efficiently these days, that we have to dose N & P, which presents a whole new set of problems. With such major focus of ridding our tanks of problematic algae, we forgot how to properly balance everything. I’ve done it myself, so you’re not alone. The amount of fish each tank requires or needs, is solely based on that particular tank’s biology, so no number is specific or can be generalized.
 

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You only have 4 to 5 potentially large fish that you barely feed, so it’s either feed more or add more, or both. Regardless, feeding more is the first step. The whole idea of keeping fish and barely feeding them in hopes of combating algae is a completely misguided way of keeping a reef. I’m not trying to be over-critical with you directly, but this is an overall observation that I’ve been noticing lately here on the forums and with new reefers that I interact with at my LFS. We seem to strip our tanks of nutrients so efficiently these days, that we have to dose N & P, which presents a whole new set of problems. With such major focus of ridding our tanks of problematic algae, we forgot how to properly balance everything. I’ve done it myself, so you’re not alone. The amount of fish each tank requires or needs, is solely based on that particular tank’s biology, so no number is specific or can be generalized.


I do no water changes and have a refugium, socks, and carbon and I can easily feed 4 or 5 times a day without an issue. I dramatically overfeed my tank. I think people give refugium less credit than they deserve (and filter socks if changed frequently).

I am also dosing phosphate lol
 
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