Hi Sahin,
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and link those threads. Currently, my colors are decent, not great, but certainly not brown "“ but seem to be slowly improving. I had a few issues end of last year that caused the tank to take a step back (left town for a week over Christmas and had the skimmer overflow "“ including a weeks worth of skimmate "“ into the tank). This spiked my nutrient levels, which caused the corals to stop growing, and use less Alk, which caused my Alk to suddenly spike, etc. So, beginning first of the year, I started doing a 10 gallon water change on my 150 gallon tank, twice each week "“ every Saturday and every Wednesday. Also added a self cleaning head on my skimmer, and skimmate locker to prevent overflows into the tank from happening again. Between keeping my levels stable "“ my Alk hasn't fluctuated higher than 7.5 or lower than 7.0 in almost three months, and the water changes, I have seen a big increase in growth, and color seems to be coming around.
Honestly, nutrient levels and their removal is probably the single most confusing subject in reef keeping for me right now. I know that you have been around the hobby for a long time, so you have seen the fads come and go over the years, like I have. Because I have moved a lot over the past ten years, I have never had a tank up and running longer than about 18 months, the downside being I have never gotten a tank to a "œmature" level, but on the positive side, I have tried lots of things "“ some successful, some disastrous. Anyway, I copied the "œBomber" technique when starboard tanks where the big thing, about ten years ago, and set up a bare bottom tank with ridiculous flow, and a hugely oversized beckett skimmer, along with "œcooked" rocks. Obviously this worked for lots of people at the time, but no matter how big my skimmer got, and how much flow I added, I never got things to work as they should. Also did a Zeovit tank, and looking back I think I stacked the deck against myself from day one by adding some really nasty live rock from a local store I was trying to remain loyal to. I failed at the Zeo tank, but really liked the theory behind it, at least my overly simplified understanding of it: reduce nutrients down to zero, and then add them back in a controlled way. Trying to build on what I have learned, I set out to build my newest tank (and the first tank I have put together in a house I own, and can hopefully remain up and running for the long haul) using what I have learned. Instead of using Zeovit, I have tried out biopellets to reduce nutrients, and have been dosing Zeo Coral Vitalizer and Pohl's Xtra to try to keep the corals from starving.
Sorry for the long post, and coming back to my original thought: nutrients and their targeted level (or not shooting for any level at all) is seriously confusing. It's amazing how all over the board you see nutrient levels, and successful reefs. But, in my opinion, it seems to me that understanding how to properly "œread" your tank, keeping Alk, Ca, Mg, and Salinity as rock steady as possible, is probably much more important that what your PO4 and NO3 levels are. After reading the Big E thread you linked, plus countless others, I think these guys could run a successful tank using a high powered flashlight, and powerheads from the 90's (obviously an exaggeration) because they really understand how to make the tank work regardless of nutrients, based on what the tank is telling them. I also think that most of these long time, successful reefers could probably make an amazing tank with .3 PO4, or .03 PO4, because they get the "œbig picture" and know how to work with what they have.
Personally, I think this statement that you made hits the nail on the head: "œThe best advice I can suggest is; have enough rocks for filtration, have good lights, keep parameters stable and let the tank and corals mature." I also have found another statement you made in another thread a while back very helpful regarding "œhigh import, high export", and have really taken that to heart. I originally just wanted to get your thoughts on clearing PO4 out of rocks, but some of the other links you provided really got me thinking. I'm hopeful that I can starve the remaining PO4 out of my live rock using GFO, and then follow in your footsteps, and remove it all together. In the meantime, keep up on water changes, make sure parameters are steady, and be patient.
Again, sorry for the long post, I don't usually offer much in the way of opinion, but I think the links you provided really ask some interesting questions that are helpful to think about and discuss. Thanks again.
Rocky
