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Rob’s 2020-120

diana a

Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
that was $20!...and at petco? Dang nab it! My petco doesn't get nice corals. Nice buy :)
 

Hockeynut

NJRC Member
It’s been about a month since my last post on the tank and mostly it’s been pretty good. Some nuance algae but all and all not to bad.
I am having a issue, the tank is running on next to no nutrients, usually my tanks are loaded with fish which I use to provide the nutrients for my corals, but with all this corona nonsense I haven’t been able to buy any fish so my tank has been running with only 4 little fish. 4 little fish in 150 gallon system is just not enough.

I started dosing nitrate and phosphate 3 days ago and still 0 pho’s and 0 nitrate
Granted I am dosing less then recommend amount I’m still not seeing any movement.
I have also had my skimmer off for that time
I have opted to have it on now for half the day and dose at night.
All of this has been brought on by a couple corals significantly lightning up and one completely bleaching.
Any advice on dosing would be appreciated since I have never had to dose phos or nitrate.
 

horseplay

NJRC Member
Whenever there is a bleaching problem my first reaction is to turn down the light. I would start feeding reef chili or reef roids a small scoop a day. Or use a blender to blend some frozen food into fine particles. No filter sock no skimmer and keep the particles in the water column. At the same time, keep dosing until nutrient level is detectable. I would do 0.03 ppm for PO4 and 0.5 ppm for NO3 daily.
 

DangerDave

NJRC Member
I would dose the nitrates up and hold it at what ever number you want. I’ve been keeping mine at 10-20. I wouldn’t be worried about going up to fast, I had a spill and over dosed. I did a 10% gallon water change immediately (40g) and started making another 50g. While it was mixing I tested the tank. I was at 50 nitrates. I decided another 10% water change wouldn’t change it that much.

The next day everything was fully open and looked great.

as for the phosphates dosing, I don’t have any experiences to share. Lol I’m always trying to keep them down.
dave
 

Hockeynut

NJRC Member
Whenever there is a bleaching problem my first reaction is to turn down the light. I would start feeding reef chili or reef roids a small scoop a day. Or use a blender to blend some frozen food into fine particles. No filter sock no skimmer and keep the particles in the water column. At the same time, keep dosing until nutrient level is detectable. I would do 0.03 ppm for PO4 and 0.5 ppm for NO3 daily.
That’s exactly what I plan, I blended my home made frozen food till it was pure liquid and I am giving the corals some of that in the morning before the lights come on when polyps are fully extended. I already lowered the lights.
 

horseplay

NJRC Member
I have a small piece that I acquire 6 months ago. It is a very slow grower but man that blue color is much brighter than other blue stags.
 

Hockeynut

NJRC Member
So in an attempt to bring up my nitrates and phosphates I have been running my tank without a skimmer for about a month now.
Also I have been dosing both.
I also added a bunch of new fish and my fish count is now at 12, mostly smaller fish but I am getting there.

Results show slow progress surprisingly. No3 has been pretty steady between 1 and 2 and phosphate is detectable one day and not the next. It’s very confusing being I feed heavy 3 times a day.
The one thing all of this has thought me is, when you start a new tank don’t even turn your skimmer on for a couple months there is no need for it.
Here’s a couple latest picsDA07A760-A74E-4335-8834-01F6642020EA.jpeg0DF3266A-FCD3-4CED-B16A-75930C59484E.jpeg
 
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