Why cant u keep sps?

Charlie’s Frags · Jan 30, 2020

sgrosenb said:
I have about 10 fish (tang, few anthias, few chromis, cardinal, goby, hawkfish). I feed them a large pinch PE pellets in the morning and then 1-2 cubes of PE frozen mysis shrimp in the afternoon.

I think you need more fish. I have more fish and feed more in my 50 gallon.

justingraham · Jan 30, 2020

Chaswood79 said:
I think you need more fish. I have more fish and feed more in my 50 gallon.

He needs to feed more

sgrosenb · Jan 30, 2020

justingraham said:
He needs to feed more

Are you saying I need to feed more so my fish are happy, or so that my nutrients are higher? I feel like my NO3 and PO4 are both pretty in-line?

SeaDweller · Jan 30, 2020

sgrosenb said:
Are you saying I need to feed more so my fish are happy, or so that my nutrients are higher? I feel like my NO3 and PO4 are both pretty in-line?

Both

Charlie’s Frags · Jan 30, 2020

sgrosenb said:
Are you saying I need to feed more so my fish are happy, or so that my nutrients are higher? I feel like my NO3 and PO4 are both pretty in-line?

You need a little no3/po4 (building blocks) to keep sps alive but to get them thriving they need to be absorbing ammonia/ammonium from fish poop and urea. If you had an identical tank with identical corals but 25 fish and feeding 3-5 cubes a day but both had the same no3/po4, the tank with more fish and more feedings will have more success. I have 15 fish and feed 1 full sheet of nori, 3 cubes of mysis, phytoplankton and zoo plankton everyday in a 50 gallon cube. The OP of this thread feeds 8 times a day. That’s the difference in the OPs success and others failure. Heavy in and heavy out. Not some magic bacteria in a bottle.

sgrosenb · Jan 30, 2020

Chaswood79 said:
You need a little no3/po4 (building blocks) to keep sps alive but to get them thriving they need to be absorbing ammonia/ammonium from fish poop and urea. If you had an identical tank with identical corals but 25 fish and feeding 3-5 cubes a day but both had the same no3/po4, the tank with more fish and more feedings will have more success. I have 15 fish and feed 1 full sheet of nori, 3 cubes of mysis, phytoplankton and zoo plankton everyday in a 50 gallon cube. The OP of this thread feeds 8 times a day. That’s the difference in the OPs success and others failure. Heavy in and heavy out. Not some magic bacteria in a bottle.

That's great feedback - thanks @Chaswood79 for the info. If I feed that much, I suspect my nitrates will still be in check, but my PO4 will balloon way up. If that happens, my first thought would be to add GFO. Any thoughts on that?

Charlie’s Frags · Jan 30, 2020

sgrosenb said:
That's great feedback - thanks @Chaswood79 for the info. If I feed that much, I suspect my nitrates will still be in check, but my PO4 will balloon way up. If that happens, my first thought would be to add GFO. Any thoughts on that?

Gfo is good as long as you have a heavy bio load(fish food and coral foods). I prefer lanthium chloride bc to me it’s much easier to control and implement. When my po4 creeps up to 0.20 I start dosing 1 ml/night for a week and then test again and adjust accordingly. Gfo is a pain in the a55 to me because I don’t have much room for a reactor and changing the media has always been a giant mess.

sgrosenb · Jan 30, 2020

Chaswood79 said:
Gfo is good as long as you have a heavy bio load(fish food and coral foods). I prefer lanthium chloride bc to me it’s much easier to control and implement. When my po4 creeps up to 0.20 I start dosing 1 ml/night for a week and then test again and adjust accordingly. Gfo is a pain in the a55 to me because I don’t have much room for a reactor and changing the media has always been a giant mess.

Gotchya - I use Phosphat-E now, but I dont have filter socks so I worry sometimes about it (maybe I shouldnt?) I dose it into the skimmer intake.

Charlie’s Frags · Jan 30, 2020

I have nylon mesh filter socks and still just dose it into a high flow area. Your skimmer will pull it out. I dont think socks matter that much. Just make sure you don’t over dose it and bring the po4 down too fast.

justingraham · Jan 30, 2020

I use no gfo I let the tank balance itself out but I enjoy my corals colors under white light and not the zeovit look to me you can do way more damage with gfo then good

mfollen · Jan 30, 2020

Carbon dosing (with a good source) helps keep phosphates and nitrates down while allowing your coral to absorb the phosphate better when consuming the bacteria.

justingraham · Jan 31, 2020

Correct but if my phosphate is always I don’t know what’s a high number for phosphate .1??? I don’t check anymore
Then there is always phosphate in the tank for the corals to consume
And same thing if my nitrate is 30
I have no unwanted algae in my tank just my sump
I skim a gallon of crud out every week
And feed 7 times daily
And I love the growth and color of my corals
So why should I add another variable of carbon dosing to that? More time wasted and more money wasted with something if you overdose will guarantee way more problems then letting it go.
Also how do most people carbon dose usually it’s not on a doser doing it hourly they dump it in every night so you don’t have the consistency in the parameters
A sulfur denitrifier that’s the way to do it like a calcium reactor for nitrate and phosphate but with that it’s another piece of equipment to go bad

SeaDweller · Jan 31, 2020

justingraham said:
Correct but if my phosphate is always I don’t know what’s a high number for phosphate .1??? I don’t check anymore
Then there is always phosphate in the tank for the corals to consume
And same thing if my nitrate is 30
I have no unwanted algae in my tank just my sump
I skim a gallon of crud out every week
And feed 7 times daily
And I love the growth and color of my corals
So why should I add another variable of carbon dosing to that? More time wasted and more money wasted with something if you overdose will guarantee way more problems then letting it go.
Also how do most people carbon dose usually it’s not on a doser doing it hourly they dump it in every night so you don’t have the consistency in the parameters
A sulfur denitrifier that’s the way to do it like a calcium reactor for nitrate and phosphate but with that it’s another piece of equipment to go bad

That's my set up. feed a ton to a ton of fish, sulfur denitrator, but I'm running Rowaphos. No issues for me.

Daddy-o · Jan 31, 2020

My carbon doser. I fill it twice a day (7am and 7pm) and it takes 8-10 hours to drip out.

Reefer40b · Jan 31, 2020

justingraham said:
I use no gfo I let the tank balance itself out but I enjoy my corals colors under white light and not the zeovit look to me you can do way more damage with gfo then good

I can agree to that, when i was first start out I have killed too many things with GFO, the tank will balance itself as long as you have some way of export! I prefer natural methods like algae, skimming, water change