reefmutt
Active member
Hey Mark, I have found that redfield's ratio (that balance between n and p - and carbon you mention) although sounds good, doesn't seem to really apply in a captive reef... or at least not in mine!
I am dosing nitrate - just started.. again.. along with increased food..
One thing if have definitely come to realize over the course of the last few years, and in the long run of my numbers chasing (and tank crashing) is that corals need a stable source of food or nutrients or whatever you want to call it.. I have also come to realize that with system stability, the corals can tolerate or can adapt to either high nutrient levels in the tank or very low levels - as long as they have food- or sustenance..
The biggest mistake I made as a newbie numbers chaser was to try to reduce my numbers by starving the tank and thus the corals.
It seems the real trick (that balance) is to starve the water column of nutrients while providing the corals with the sustenance they need to thrive..
Look at the latest wave of Aquaforest tanks- they all have practically 0 n and p in their systems but the corals are beyond healthy.. some of the systems have gfo and gac running all the time along with 0 nutrients..
There are plenty of fantastic reefs here on RC with extremely low nutrients and super sps..
I think the only real way to achieve this is with the aid of bacteria. Bacteria are so damn efficient, they can strip a tank of nutrients in no time.. so can cyanobacteria unfortunately..
At the moment, the cyano in my system seems to be the bacteria that is winning!!
It really only became so prolific when I removed my all in one biopellets about two months ago. I was getting sick of the mess they were making and assumed/hoped that with the addition of a remote dsb and a large cheato fuge, it would be sufficient to handle the build up of nutrients... maybe it is, but since the pellets came off, it seems that the cyano is the beast using up the nutrients.
My reaction to this situation - in the past- would have been to reduce all the food going into the tank in hopes of striping the water column of pollution and starving the nuisance algae and cyanobacteria.. this tends to work but the corals usually go before the cyano..
If I left the cyano unchecked and kept feeding the tank the way I am, I would probably have perfect water quality and the happy corals I have right now, but the tank would be uuuuuugly- like IT IS right now, as well..
So I feel I have to shake things up, I have to reintroduce and start employing the bacteria produced by a carbon source to outcompete the cyanobacteria- as was the case when I was using the biopellets in the past...
Currently, my n is just below 1 ppm and p is about .18- it was much lower before treating with chemi clean.. I think the cyano was doing a wonderful job of controlling nutrients..... I wish i could set up a CYANO fuge- that would be awesome.. Just let the cyano grow like crazy and dump pounds of food into the tank. I bet the corals would be happy happy..
Anyways, can't do that.. Have to find a way to beat the cyano at its own game..
So, here I am.. Last weekend, I began dosing n with the intention of having two things happen: 1- an increase in nitrate and 2- a decrease in phosphate. I expect this to happen because as we all know nitrate seems to be consumed more rapidly in a reef than phosphate when algae or bacteria are used to reduce nutrients (thanks Redfield) So as I add some nitrate and keep the tank from being N limited, the p should fall..
I am continuing to feed the frozen food and my Reef Vitality/Reef Roids/Reef Pearls mix to make sure the corals continue to have this source of food while I mess with the nitrate/phosphate ratio.... Or general nutrient levels..
I am hoping that by reducing the p, I may see a natural reduction in the cyano.
I plan to introduce some vinegar to the kno3 additions once I have been dosing n for a while and I see a good rise in its levels to around 3-5 ppm.
Hopefully, the vinegar (and resulting bacterial bloom) will be more efficient than the cyano and thus beat it out of existence!
I was really hoping to have my system level itself out on its own but I don't see this happening..
I think I need to help it along...
... We'll see...
I am dosing nitrate - just started.. again.. along with increased food..
One thing if have definitely come to realize over the course of the last few years, and in the long run of my numbers chasing (and tank crashing) is that corals need a stable source of food or nutrients or whatever you want to call it.. I have also come to realize that with system stability, the corals can tolerate or can adapt to either high nutrient levels in the tank or very low levels - as long as they have food- or sustenance..
The biggest mistake I made as a newbie numbers chaser was to try to reduce my numbers by starving the tank and thus the corals.
It seems the real trick (that balance) is to starve the water column of nutrients while providing the corals with the sustenance they need to thrive..
Look at the latest wave of Aquaforest tanks- they all have practically 0 n and p in their systems but the corals are beyond healthy.. some of the systems have gfo and gac running all the time along with 0 nutrients..
There are plenty of fantastic reefs here on RC with extremely low nutrients and super sps..
I think the only real way to achieve this is with the aid of bacteria. Bacteria are so damn efficient, they can strip a tank of nutrients in no time.. so can cyanobacteria unfortunately..
At the moment, the cyano in my system seems to be the bacteria that is winning!!
It really only became so prolific when I removed my all in one biopellets about two months ago. I was getting sick of the mess they were making and assumed/hoped that with the addition of a remote dsb and a large cheato fuge, it would be sufficient to handle the build up of nutrients... maybe it is, but since the pellets came off, it seems that the cyano is the beast using up the nutrients.
My reaction to this situation - in the past- would have been to reduce all the food going into the tank in hopes of striping the water column of pollution and starving the nuisance algae and cyanobacteria.. this tends to work but the corals usually go before the cyano..
If I left the cyano unchecked and kept feeding the tank the way I am, I would probably have perfect water quality and the happy corals I have right now, but the tank would be uuuuuugly- like IT IS right now, as well..
So I feel I have to shake things up, I have to reintroduce and start employing the bacteria produced by a carbon source to outcompete the cyanobacteria- as was the case when I was using the biopellets in the past...
Currently, my n is just below 1 ppm and p is about .18- it was much lower before treating with chemi clean.. I think the cyano was doing a wonderful job of controlling nutrients..... I wish i could set up a CYANO fuge- that would be awesome.. Just let the cyano grow like crazy and dump pounds of food into the tank. I bet the corals would be happy happy..
Anyways, can't do that.. Have to find a way to beat the cyano at its own game..
So, here I am.. Last weekend, I began dosing n with the intention of having two things happen: 1- an increase in nitrate and 2- a decrease in phosphate. I expect this to happen because as we all know nitrate seems to be consumed more rapidly in a reef than phosphate when algae or bacteria are used to reduce nutrients (thanks Redfield) So as I add some nitrate and keep the tank from being N limited, the p should fall..
I am continuing to feed the frozen food and my Reef Vitality/Reef Roids/Reef Pearls mix to make sure the corals continue to have this source of food while I mess with the nitrate/phosphate ratio.... Or general nutrient levels..
I am hoping that by reducing the p, I may see a natural reduction in the cyano.
I plan to introduce some vinegar to the kno3 additions once I have been dosing n for a while and I see a good rise in its levels to around 3-5 ppm.
Hopefully, the vinegar (and resulting bacterial bloom) will be more efficient than the cyano and thus beat it out of existence!
I was really hoping to have my system level itself out on its own but I don't see this happening..
I think I need to help it along...
... We'll see...
