Phosphate/Nitrate balance after cycle.

[Reefin' Alaska]

Recently just finished a cycle my 525XL.

Started with dry rock, after the cycle got a pretty bad hair algae bloom but since then almost all of it is now gone. But, my phosphate/nitrate was low so I started dosing a bit to get some nutrients in the tank. Now in the last week or so phosphate has gone nuts with the die off of the hair.

I was N03 was 7.1 - Phos was .13 (Both by Hanna kits).

I used Nopox with good success in my last system, I'd like to use it again. I don't quite understand how using NoPox at this stage would affect the balance, perhaps driving my nitrate down too low, and then having an even worse imbalance cause bigger problems.

Should I hold off on the NoPox for a bit, or does carbon dosing with the correct amounts (I don't understand the chemistry, forgive me. Lol) allow that balance to occur naturally? If that makes sense.

GFO in a small reactor for a bit perhaps?

 

[Pistondog]

Get some fish, dont worry about those nutrient levels.

 

[Reefin' Alaska]

Get some fish, dont worry about those nutrient levels.

I'd love to. However, I don't live anywhere near Anchorage and shipping fish here really isn't an option in the winter - so this is what I have to work with.

 

[Spare time]

I'd love to. However, I don't live anywhere near Anchorage and shipping fish here really isn't an option in the winter - so this is what I have to work with.

So it is just going to be an empty tank? Do you plan on getting corals and other inverts before fish? I wouldn't carbon dose without a steady influx of nitrogen waste.

 

[Reefin' Alaska]

So it is just going to be an empty tank? Do you plan on getting corals and other inverts before fish? I wouldn't carbon dose without a steady influx of nitrogen waste.

No, won't be empty. Shipping fish to the Alaska bush doesn't always get here on time in the winter, and when it was -22 last night, it just isn't possible.

And it has fish, just only the 3 from the old setup.

 

[Pistondog]

Hard to help without more info.
Any current inhabitants?

edit; sorry see fish in last post.
id let things stabilize for a few months.

 

[crabgrass]

I am setting up a new one as well, and sure I will have same question in couple months.

My plan is to add some fish and keep lights off for the first 3 months after it’s setup (rocks are cycling now so it will technically be a total of 4 months). I am not planning on looking at N and P until month 3. At that point if it’s out of whack (still with lights off), I will try to *slowly* get N and P closer to desirable ranges before I turn lights on.

Then ramp lights up slowly over a month to LPS levels and go from there.

I am hoping to avoid some of the uglies and let things gradually get inline without drastic changes.

If this will work, I have no clue. But my first tank (still maintaining), I tried to force everything really quickly and I am still dealing with issues 20 months later

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Recently just finished a cycle my 525XL.

Started with dry rock, after the cycle got a pretty bad hair algae bloom but since then almost all of it is now gone. But, my phosphate/nitrate was low so I started dosing a bit to get some nutrients in the tank. Now in the last week or so phosphate has gone nuts with the die off of the hair.

I was N03 was 7.1 - Phos was .13 (Both by Hanna kits).

I used Nopox with good success in my last system, I'd like to use it again. I don't quite understand how using NoPox at this stage would affect the balance, perhaps driving my nitrate down too low, and then having an even worse imbalance cause bigger problems.

Should I hold off on the NoPox for a bit, or does carbon dosing with the correct amounts (I don't understand the chemistry, forgive me. Lol) allow that balance to occur naturally? If that makes sense.

GFO in a small reactor for a bit perhaps?

Omg! I'm sorry but please don't start carbon dosing, etc. Those numbers are fine, especially if you don't even have coral! (And for coral, they're actually too low, IMO). No carbon dosing, no GFO, just feed your fish

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I am hoping to avoid some of the uglies and let things gradually get inline without drastic changes.

If you're starting with dry rock, it won't matter how long you wait to turn the lights on, the ugly stage will happen. And you WANT it to happen! Let the tank mature naturally, in its own time, without chemical "fixes", and 6-9 months down the road you'll have a solid foundation for a stable and successful tank. Trying to skip steps or avoid algae, etc, deprives your system of being able to find its balance.

 

[Reefin' Alaska]

Omg! I'm sorry but please don't start carbon dosing, etc. Those numbers are fine, especially if you don't even have coral! (And for coral, they're actually too low, IMO). No carbon dosing, no GFO, just feed your fish

I have coral. But they are doing fine.

This is a transplant of everything that lived from my tank that failed. It's only a few corals, LPS. Acan, couple of torch, Goni.. I wasn't too worried about the corals as they seem to be perfectly okay with what's going on.

I just wanted to avoid the issues with imbalance, cyano, that kinda thing. I guess letting it be is probably the best thing for now. I really would like to get a bigger CUC, and a few fish but it's a huge risk when it's this cold. Such is life. =)

 

[MnFish1]

I have coral. But they are doing fine.

This is a transplant of everything that lived from my tank that failed. It's only a few corals, LPS. Acan, couple of torch, Goni.. I wasn't too worried about the corals as they seem to be perfectly okay with what's going on.

I just wanted to avoid the issues with imbalance, cyano, that kinda thing. I guess letting it be is probably the best thing for now. I really would like to get a bigger CUC, and a few fish but it's a huge risk when it's this cold. Such is life. =)

This is a little confusing - you have coral - you're lighting that? So why not light the rock. There is no instance in which I would recommend a 4 month cycle (I mean you can do it with rock in water - but its not a cycle)?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

This is a little confusing - you have coral - you're lighting that? So why not light the rock. There is no instance in which I would recommend a 4 month cycle (I mean you can do it with rock in water - but its not a cycle)?

Different guy.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I just wanted to avoid the issues with imbalance, cyano, that kinda thing.

There are a lot of ways to get cyano. If you bottom out phosphates you risk dinos. There's also no specific "balance", so chasing numbers trying to avoid algae is not really helpful...

 

[Tired]

Agreed- leave everything alone. If you have some phosphate and some nitrate, enough that neither bottoms out, you're probably fine. Don't start dosing and fiddling and chasing numbers when nothing is wrong.

There's people with reef tanks that have up to 1-2ppm phosphate, and no I didn't forget a decimal. 0.14 is entirely workable for most tanks.