Should I stop carbon dosing?

taki123

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Hi guys,

I have a Redsea reefer 425Xl tank and was dosing 3ml of Carbon (Redsea Nopox) daily when my nitrates were 58ppm. I noticed last week that suddenly my nitrates had dropped to 0.2ppm which is really low.

My phosphates are not affected by nopox and seem to be high at around 0.17. I’ve added some Rowaphos to help reduce phosphate.

In regards to the nitrate being too low not sure what my next steps should be.

1. Do I just reduce my carbon dosing slowly until my nitrates go up again?
2. Do I slowly rescue then completely stop carbon dosing?
3. Do I keep carbon dosing in a lower amount but also dose nitrates to increase them?

PS: I dose cal, Alk, mag, trace elements and amino acids daily

Any help would be much appreciated!
 

HankstankXXL750

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I would slowly decrease dosing. Probably shouldn’t stop completely until you determine you don’t need it anymore, as it is tough to restart. Dose nitrates, or feed more to maintain some nitrates while achieving this.
 

ReefGeezer

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Unless you were not testing often, I would first verify that there was really a sudden drop. That is not the way I've seen carbon dosing work. If it has truly dropped to what is basically 0, I would dose some nitrate to raise the level a little and cut the carbon dose in half. That would be your maintenance dose. You can adjust that dose based on testing.
 
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taki123

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Ok thanks guys!

Maybe I should have tested more frequently.

I will half my dose and add some nitrates.
 

radfly

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58 to .2 between tests indicates your are lazy on testing or dosing too much carbon.

Dose 1/4 of carbon product and test every three days. Dose carbon when needed, not on a daily schedule.

Carbon sustainability in the tank is. It derivative of standard consumption... test before dose.
 

ナイトコア猫

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I would slowly decrease dosing. Probably shouldn’t stop completely until you determine you don’t need it anymore, as it is tough to restart. Dose nitrates, or feed more to maintain some nitrates while achieving this.

I agree with this—KZ and other systems are not intended to be used in the style of 1 dose to cover the gap, but rather over time—with the additional suggestion to change your food. The goal should be you constantly have to dose, but not adjusted for the load. If the load is 100, we do not dose -99. Instead, we want to determine what amount balances out the 100, then add a bit more so it decreases over time.

I recommend considering KZ methodology as framework, regardless of what you are dosing. The key part is post #8. Note how adjustments for the KZ carbon product ZEOStart are made (you can ignore discussions on salt, temperature, ZEObac, ZEOvit, if they don't apply). If you add enormous amounts of carbon all at once, eliminating all nitrate or phosphate will not be your problem: the problem will be both the shock (instability) as well as the massive amount of CO2 built up from the bacteria, which can asphyxiate your pets, fish, corals, and inverts:


Specific Post:


Phosphates in fact drop with nitrates with carbon dosing, but biased to nitrate. Because the challenge now is residual phosphate, changing some foods to something with more nitrate and lower phosphate will help. Later, you may find this ratio too much, and adjust diets as necessary. If phosphate is completely eliminated, carbon dosings will no longer have effect.

If you are feeding dry pellets, I suggest adding a lot more freeze dried goods like:


(This is not the only thing you should feed, nor only option; it is only an example). You can also feed frozen products, but I don't use them as much except to feed giant coral polyps. Eventually, when your limiting reagent is phosphate, I would recommend adding more phosphate-heavy foods. With me, I put a bunch of foods into a Avast Plank:


It would be helpful if you fed a comparable amount each day, such as an auto feeder, but it's fine by hand as well. I change the amount when the food is too much or too insufficient.

Using some kalk dosing will reduce phosphate, and is quite effective.
 
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