After 2 years of running my current 180 Gallon sumpless reef, I have finally hit the milestone of 0 Nitrates, and 0 Phosphates, well kinda. I should have added that i infrequently do water changes - last one was 5 months back.
PO4: 0.101 ppm
NO3: 0.43 ppm
So, I am still quite far from my goal of ULNS, but definitely getting there (ULNS ~ PO4: 0.03 ppm, NO3: 0.2 ppm)
The usual suspects in getting my N down, in decreasing order of suspicion are:
NoPox - Per instructions from RedSea
Fully saturated Kalkwasser - to maintain a pH of 8.1 and 8.3 (likely also caused in PO4 precipitation)
Lifereef skimmer - rated for 225 gallons.
Converting my 5 gallon Biopellet reactor to a 5 gallon macroalgae reactor.
Explosion of bristleworms and Sponges that likely helped in cleaning the substrate and water, respectively.
I have been very slow with my coral introduction, after burning through $1K on LPS/SPS within my first couple of months. The current plan is to get the fish-bioload finalized, and nutients/pH stabilized in approx. ULNS range, and then add corals.
Fingers crossed
PO4: 0.101 ppm
NO3: 0.43 ppm
So, I am still quite far from my goal of ULNS, but definitely getting there (ULNS ~ PO4: 0.03 ppm, NO3: 0.2 ppm)
The usual suspects in getting my N down, in decreasing order of suspicion are:
NoPox - Per instructions from RedSea
Fully saturated Kalkwasser - to maintain a pH of 8.1 and 8.3 (likely also caused in PO4 precipitation)
Lifereef skimmer - rated for 225 gallons.
Converting my 5 gallon Biopellet reactor to a 5 gallon macroalgae reactor.
Explosion of bristleworms and Sponges that likely helped in cleaning the substrate and water, respectively.
I have been very slow with my coral introduction, after burning through $1K on LPS/SPS within my first couple of months. The current plan is to get the fish-bioload finalized, and nutients/pH stabilized in approx. ULNS range, and then add corals.
Fingers crossed
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