Vinegar never really did it for me and VSV wasn't much better. I had MUCH more success with just Vodka alone. It took a while (and at one point I was up to 90ml a day!!) but now my NO3 really gets above 5ppm and usually around the 1-2 range and I dose 30ml per day - been like this now for over a year. This is also with heavy feeding.
I do however have PO4 in the 0.06-0.1 range despite using copious amounts of GFO. I think there has to be a balance somewhere, finding it is the tricky part.
Balance, indeed, Rich. It is the trick. It's amazing to me that something as simple as a carbon source can make or break the reduction process depending on what type is used. It's kind of a paradox. The success or failure of nutrient reduction from using one carbon source over another speaks to me of the complexity or our reefs and how different each one is.
You're in a similar situation to how I was when my cheato and dsb were working. Low n but had to use a lot of gfo to keep p below .12
If/when I finally get n down, I may try lanthanum chlorine for p control..
Your tank is looking great so I see any adjustments as fine tuning. Your corals pass the eye test!
My matrix was not effective until I ran a filter sock and hand stirred the matrix to be free of detritus. Until then my nitrates stayed high if not higher than normal. But I believe I saw filter socks in your system. Other then that, I use the AF bacteria and carbon source. Without using those both together, neither was effective.
Your unknown coral growth nub from encrustation is a very good looking piece. It looks like a soft purple , closer to pink/purple. Regardless, it looks like a nice unique color to have on your palette.
Always looking forward to more pics.
Kevin
Hey Kev, I do use filter socks. Replace every 10-14 days.. I don't know if I have too little or too much flow in the sump containing all of my media. That's a problem because to really evaluate it, it takes literally months..
A carbon source may be what my systems needs.. I'll give my new cheato more time, however. I do see that it is expanding in size..
I have many corals that look really good colour wise but several more that either have brown patches or don't look as good as they could.. as mark has pointed out on a different nutrient discussion thread, some corals seem to adapt better than others to elevated nutrient levels.
Matt, looking back a couple of pages that is a great transition with that Tenius! You must be doing a few things right
Thanks Tim. Yes I was very happy to see that very rapid improvement. I'm hoping that those two pieces are about to start growing.
I have some po4. My nitrates are around 25 and my p04 is sitting at. 06 right now. I am seeing barely any growth with cheato and its really brittle. I need to try a little Boron....maybe.
With .06 p you certainly aren't p limited. Maybe Boron.. maybe.. or iron.. or Zinc or manganese.. potassium... who the h e double hockey sticks really knows!!
Your cheato is doing exactly what mine did when I finally removed it last year. I'm hoping that the Bioptim will give it what it needs.
I bottomed out PO4 in my 40 gallon quickly after adding vinegar to my topoff in order to super saturate Kalk. Things started to look bad after a week and nitrates jumped to 10. Lost a few heads of some trumpets and my torch coral is really upset.
I ended up dosing Seachem Phosphorus, 2 drops daily, to turn things around. It can happen fast so keep an eye on it. My topoff over that tank, with lid, is very little so we might be talking 2ml vinegar a day tops.
Again, it's crazy how in one group of posts, one reefer can say they bottomed out nutrient with barely any vinegar while another said he needed tons to make nutrient shift.. granted we are talking about different water volumes but it just shows how different each system is.
Good advice nonetheless always keep a close eye when fiddling with dosing..
