- Joined
- Aug 20, 2016
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Hi @Lou Ekus and @Hans-Werner,
I have made the mistake of using too much blend of carbon dosing with Vinegar and Vodka in trying to reduce my phosphate since early February 2020. Everything started when I had flat worm infestation in my office 60 gallon reef tank. I used Flat worm exit at recommended dose and when I arrived back to work the next day, my tank crashed (many fishes died, shrimps, I think I also saw reduced levels of amphipods and copepods) likely due to the toxins from the death of the flat worms.
I saw a spike in my PO4 levels to 0.45 (Hanna ULR) and over 16ppm NO3.
I tried using a commercially available blend of Vinegar and Vodka(without mentioning brand name) to reduce my PO4 levels. My NO3 levels reduced to about 2ppm but PO4 levels were still over 0.3.
I increased my carbon dosing levels slowly from 2x, then 3x, then 4x levels over the course of 1 month period. I was happy when my PO4 levels dropped to 0.08. (I had to dose NO3 during this time period as well--this is before I found out recently that Hans does not like dosing NO3!)
This is when I started to notice maybe my corals were not really getting their needed PO4. SPS skin looked dried, LPS polyps retracted and died. (I have a Hana calibration check kit for my Hana ULR PO4 tester, and I sent out for triton lab analysis in the past) My Hana tested either half as much or double what Triton has reported in their PO4 test...
After listening to ReefDudes:
Carbon Dosing your Reef tank with Lou Ekus form Tropic Marin
I believe I have used too much carbon and overfed the bad bacteria that have affected my corals as well.
Sorry for the long story....
Currently I am at 0.15 to 0.2 PO4 and about 1-2 ppm NO3. I am only carbon dosing 1ml/day. Yet my old corals still looks unhappy. I since added new test LPS and SPS. The LPS are still about 70% polyped out, but SPS polyps looks retracted.
No GFO but using a protein skimmer. I have green and brown algae on my glass which I clean daily.
I would like to use Elimi-NP to help target the good bacteria in bringing my PO4 levels down to 0.08.
Could I use something like Zeobak, Dr. Tim's waste away, Microbacter7, etc to help promote good bacteria with Elimi-NP?
Thank you very much for your time and any advise is greatly appreciated! It has been 4 month of hell for my tank.
I have made the mistake of using too much blend of carbon dosing with Vinegar and Vodka in trying to reduce my phosphate since early February 2020. Everything started when I had flat worm infestation in my office 60 gallon reef tank. I used Flat worm exit at recommended dose and when I arrived back to work the next day, my tank crashed (many fishes died, shrimps, I think I also saw reduced levels of amphipods and copepods) likely due to the toxins from the death of the flat worms.
I saw a spike in my PO4 levels to 0.45 (Hanna ULR) and over 16ppm NO3.
I tried using a commercially available blend of Vinegar and Vodka(without mentioning brand name) to reduce my PO4 levels. My NO3 levels reduced to about 2ppm but PO4 levels were still over 0.3.
I increased my carbon dosing levels slowly from 2x, then 3x, then 4x levels over the course of 1 month period. I was happy when my PO4 levels dropped to 0.08. (I had to dose NO3 during this time period as well--this is before I found out recently that Hans does not like dosing NO3!)
This is when I started to notice maybe my corals were not really getting their needed PO4. SPS skin looked dried, LPS polyps retracted and died. (I have a Hana calibration check kit for my Hana ULR PO4 tester, and I sent out for triton lab analysis in the past) My Hana tested either half as much or double what Triton has reported in their PO4 test...
After listening to ReefDudes:
Carbon Dosing your Reef tank with Lou Ekus form Tropic Marin
I believe I have used too much carbon and overfed the bad bacteria that have affected my corals as well.
Sorry for the long story....
Currently I am at 0.15 to 0.2 PO4 and about 1-2 ppm NO3. I am only carbon dosing 1ml/day. Yet my old corals still looks unhappy. I since added new test LPS and SPS. The LPS are still about 70% polyped out, but SPS polyps looks retracted.
No GFO but using a protein skimmer. I have green and brown algae on my glass which I clean daily.
I would like to use Elimi-NP to help target the good bacteria in bringing my PO4 levels down to 0.08.
Could I use something like Zeobak, Dr. Tim's waste away, Microbacter7, etc to help promote good bacteria with Elimi-NP?
Thank you very much for your time and any advise is greatly appreciated! It has been 4 month of hell for my tank.