Would you do it?

[Yazannreef]

I feel like I feed too much. Fish are fat

That's my point. Feeding too much will not have immediate affect on your nitrate levels ( food and poop have to decay first before it turns into nitrates) and by the time it does your algae ( macro/ micro) will consume it right away leaving nothing for your corals to consume.

I would also control cheato / skimmer running time as it look like your export method are way more powerful that the intake.

 

[X-37B]

12 fish total

Yea thats a low amount, imo.
Good news is you can add alot more, lol.
I have 15 in my 120.
No3 runs <5 and I control po4 with gfo and keep it under .1. This has worked well for this system.
No3 was close to zero for almost a year. Once I had over 12 fish no3 started to rise.
Imo, you can run a system at close to zero no3 and po4 as long as you feed enough, i.e. heavy in heavy out.
Any po4 or no3 that reads above zero is what your export system is not removing.

 

[Tamberav]

I have a 265 gallon with a 55 gallon sump that has 300lbs of dry rock that has been established for a year. I can't grow much of anything but zoanthids. There is just no life in the rock. I have 4 tangs a clown 4 chromes and 2 royal grammas. I want to take 75lbs of the dry rock out and put in 75lbs of gulf rock. Would it hurt to put the gulf rock straight in without curing it? Would the die off hurt it being its been established for a year? Would you do it?

I would do it with KPA rock but not gulf rock although I would still probably put in in a tub with powerheads to catch the numerous crabs and mantis shrimp

 

[Johnny bass07]

I starting double feeding a couple of months ago and have seen no no3. Po4 really doesn't go up either. Coralline stopped growing as well. Should I cut off the refugium?

 

[Danroo]

I have a 265 gallon with a 55 gallon sump that has 300lbs of dry rock that has been established for a year. I can't grow much of anything but zoanthids. There is just no life in the rock. I have 4 tangs a clown 4 chromes and 2 royal grammas. I want to take 75lbs of the dry rock out and put in 75lbs of gulf rock. Would it hurt to put the gulf rock straight in without curing it? Would the die off hurt it being its been established for a year? Would you do it?

The rocks have pretty much no algae on them. I would try reducing the rocks. My rule of thumb is 1 gallon 1 pound of rock but a tank this huge could go less on rocks. I feel like your tank is over filtering too much can’t believe I’m saying this. I’ve no experience with huge tanks just my two cents.

 

[X-37B]

I starting double feeding a couple of months ago and have seen no no3. Po4 really doesn't go up either. Coralline stopped growing as well. Should I cut off the refugium?

You could reduce fuge time and add more fish.

 

[Johnny bass07]

Correct I have no algae anywhere. Except some coralline. Not had any since starting the tank

 

[Johnny bass07]

I was curious to just throw in the live rock hoping that the die off wouldn't effect it being as low nutrient as my tank is. But you guys might be right that there is some going on that live rock might not help.

 

[X-37B]

I do not think anything is going on.
Your system is very typical of a tank started with dead rock.
Most dead rock tanks take a year or better to become alive.
Your idea of adding some live rock is a good idea, imo.
Tampa bay saltwater should be shipping rock at the end of this month so another option.

 

[Pistondog]

I was curious to just throw in the live rock hoping that the die off wouldn't effect it being as low nutrient as my tank is. But you guys might be right that there is some going on that live rock might not help.

If you add to tank immediately, you can reduce die off by overnight shipping or air freight via airline.
Or if you are close to Florida, ups ground might get to you in a day.
You might get 25 lbs and try it, if it works do it twice again.

 

[Yazannreef]

I was curious to just throw in the live rock hoping that the die off wouldn't effect it being as low nutrient as my tank is. But you guys might be right that there is some going on that live rock might not help.

You can add the rocks little by little over time if you have the patience for it and monitor your parameters.

 

[Double monti 61]

Just to make you wonder what might be happening this is a picture of my system that I started with I believe to be man made live rock that was submerged and well cured when I purchased it it was in a large system of tanks that held larger and smaller pieces of rock my tank is only 15 gallons 24”x12”x12” in diameter and was started in the spring of 2018. I do not think you have to go to extremes to help your system the fish look good but you may need small life to help it along,bigger life eats smaller life.

 

[Johnny bass07]

I live close to the FL/GA border. I can have it overnighted. Do you think 50lbs would be too much to start?

 

[Johnny bass07]

Just to make you wonder what might be happening this is a picture of my system that I started with I believe to be man made live rock that was submerged and well cured when I purchased it it was in a large system of tanks that held larger and smaller pieces of rock my tank is only 15 gallons 24”x12”x12” in diameter and was started in the spring of 2018. I do not think you have to go to extremes to help your system the fish look good but you may need small life to help it along,bigger life eats smaller life.

Nice!

 

[Rtaylor]

I would do it, but have Prime ready and monitor ammonia. I would preemptively dose Prime for the first week after adding.

 

[X-37B]

I live close to the FL/GA border. I can have it overnighted. Do you think 50lbs would be too much to start?

Do it!
50lbs is a nice start.

 

[elorablue]

Correct I have no algae anywhere. Except some coralline. Not had any since starting the tank

Ya, it's weird to say but you need some algae in there! Your nutrient export is incredibly efficient.
I would take the Fuge offline or cut down the light period and only run your skimmer half a day.
I would also take 50 lbs of rock out of there and re-scape it so there are swim -throughs and better flow all around. Right now with all that rock it's like one solid block. My thought is with less rock you'll actually gain surface area . I wouldn't add any live rock at this point.
I would also dose some pods and phyto if you aren't already.
Aim for 5-10 ppm nitrate and 0.05-0.1 phosphate.
This may all seem strange but it's all easy to do and will maybe, probably, could work! .

edit: Also the bare bottom is certainly delaying the process but you're right around the time where things will start coming together.

 

[Johnny bass07]

I forgot there is one thing I can grow well and that is trochus snails. I put 10 of them after cycle now I have over a hundred small ones like this. Thousands of little babies on the rocks after lights go down.

 

[Danroo]

Ohh trochus I got those too. Really good at eating up all the algae. If you have over 100s of em that means algae is not a problem. Something else is.

 

[Johnny bass07]

Ohh trochus I got those too. Really good at eating up all the algae. If you have over 100s of em that means algae is not a problem. Something else is.

Yeah I need to start picking some of them out. They just keep multiplying.