Nutrient control

[hillscp]

I want to move toward a more SPS dominated tank and I am trying to devise a strategy to lower my nitrate and PO load.

My nitrates have traditionally been around 5 (salifert) and my phosphate between .03 and .05 (Hanna). Both started climbing and my nitrate got to 25 and po at around .18.

I started vinegar dosing my 125 (TV ~160) and now the nitrates are somewhere on the low side of 10 - 20 and PO around .08.

I do 15 gallon water changes weekly.

My vinegar dosing is at 90ml dumped in in the evening before the lights go out. The pH drops .15 when I do that

I do not have an algae problem but I have noticed that my green capricornis is not flourishing since I started the vinegar dosing. In fact it has large areas of RTN where it was flourishing before. My Orange cap has the same decline but not as much. Both of these were growing quickly before the nitrate/po rise. I'm not positive the vinegar is the problem though because the decline started when the nutrients started rising. My alk and Ca consumption has dropped by half (two part)

So here are my questions.

1. Has anyone on this forum seen rtn from dosing vinegar?
2. I hear people saying that their nitrate and po is zero. How is that possible? I can see dropping po with GFO but nitrate?
3. What is the average vinegar dose for a tank of my size?
4. Does anyone over here have a remote DSB? I'm thinking if you have the space it may be a better option than carbon dosing (maybe not though)
5. is that drop in pH detrimental to the SPS in the tank?

I'm really exploring options for maintaining a low nutrient (not ULN) tank. One where my nitrates are around 5 ppm and Po around .03. That seemed to be the sweet spot for good capicornis growth. I'm thinking they reflect other SPS I want to grow in general. How do successful SPS keepers achieve that?

 

[this is me]

Biopellets is proven to lower nitrate and maintain low nitrate. However, you must start very slowly and only put 1/4 of the recommended amount and have have a good reactor to keep them tumbling.

 

[Minkota]

I run biopellets and they do an awsome job at removing phosphates and nitrates. But keep in mind at some point you won’t be able to remove anymore phosphates or nitrates even though your test may show it is still in the system. This usually happens because you’ve dropped your phosphates or nitrates to zero. Without both phosphates and nitrates, the bacteria on the biopellets can’t grow so the phosphates or nitrates keep hanging around. which one depends on which is greater. My tank is currently Nitrate limited whereas I have phosphates and no Nitrates so my phosphates are stuck until I find a way to raise nitrates without raising the phosphates.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

 

[Humu Humu]

I have a DSB, and use the Red Sea Pro test kit. My NO3 is 0. Same for my PO4.
So yes, it's entirely possible. And I feed fairly heavily.

 

[reefinsomnia]

macroalgae, gfo, and vodka dosing is what i do for po4 and no3 control

 

[hillscp]

Thanks! For the carbon dosers, how do you dose? Just dump it all in? Dosing pump? Also, what is your dose as it relates to your water volume? I'm at 90ml/160 or 1.56ml/gal of vinegar, I hear it is 8 times more vinegar than vodka for equivalacy. I'm still raising the dose, going to 100ml today.

And biopellet users, I have read how to do this, of all the carbon dosing methods it seems like the least hassle. I think the BRS product looks pretty good.

Humu Humu - Is your DSB in the tank or remote? I ran a DSB for years in another tank. It worked pretty well. If I decide to go that route I'll use that old tank as a remote DSB/Refugium. It is a 32gal acrylic tank 48 x 11 x 16. 528 square inches of surface area and around 9 inches of sand. I think I could also have chaeto in there. IDK if that would be a good size for my 125 but it's better that the 5gal buckets some use

Minkota, I have read other threads where people are trying to add nitrate to their system. An envious position. I looked for sources on the internet. The most interesting one was calcium nitrate, a cheap compound apparently used by hydroponics growers as a fertilizer. 5lb cost about $14 with free "Discreet Shipping" LOL

reefinsomnia - are you in Placer county?

 

[Sander_Bos]

Why only start with 1/4 of the recommend amount of bio-pellets?
I have bio-pellets for now three weeks and the only thing i noticed is a little algae on the sand....

 

[SantaMonica]

No need to add nitrates... bacteria and macroalgae can grow great at 0.1 ppm... far below what you can measure.