Raising or lowering nutrients?

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As the title says what do you guys find easier to do, raise or lower your nutrients? I know a lot of people seem to struggle with one or the other and it got me wondering which is easier to do?

There are many ways to accomplish both and I know whichever you are trying to do they both have their own set of challenges.

Feel free to comment which one you have had struggles with, what you did to either raise or lower levels, what the outcome was, and any issues you had along the way. You can also explain a little about your system as far as equipment and livestock goes.

I'll go first, I have a 45g cube that's been running for 10 months now. I have 3 small fish, 4 sps frags, 2 lps frags, and a couple of soft corals. For the first 9 months or so I did 4g wc a week, ran a skimmer, and chaeto in my fuge. I fed every other day and my p04 stayed at .03 and n03 at .2, things were looking good and going well so i stopped testing for them after about 6 months. Around 8 months things seemed to stall so I tested again and got undetectable levels on both.

I started feeding daily with no change, got a little bit of algae growth in the sump but that was about it. After 2 weeks my next course of action was to turn off the skimmer, again no change in levels and no change in algae growth. I upped my feedings to pellets in the morning and more frozen at night. I also went to biweekly 4g wc. The only change was much more algae growth in the sump and a couple of spots here and there on the sand. However I have noticed the algae growth in the display is starting to slow and die back with no change in my levels. Note all my testing has been done with salifert. That is the current state of things and with going on vacation next week I am not looking to start dosing any nitrate or phosphate as I'm trying to keep things as simple as possible for my tank sitter. After vacation I may start dosing both.

 

[mcgyvr]

Yeah its not too difficult now to get a tank with a "proper" bacterial population that after time just manages nutrients all on its own. That does take some time to though get established..
And it can take a bit of work to get there if you don't just want to wait it out..

On the other hand you can buy "nutrients in a bottle" (Brightwells neophos/neonitro,etc...) and that takes very little effort to increase nutrients using those.. Depending on how well your tank is at removing/processing them though you may need to dose quite a bit to elevate levels..

Its really about the bacterial colonies in a tank.. They do most of the work.. Skimmers,etc... aren't really all that effective but do help some..

 

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There are so many different ways to accomplish it no matter what end of the spectrum your on. Whether it be as simple as a skimmer or chaeto all the way up to carbon dosing to lower it. Heavier feedings, stopping water changes, to dosing phosphate or nitrate to raise them. I just wondered if one was more difficult then the other or about the same.

I like simple and a more natural way you could say so I've been reluctant to dose any nutrients unless I have to. Plus that comes with it's own set of challenges. Just been hoping with time the steps I've taken will work out. I would just like to see some better growth.

 

[reefgeezer]

It's easier to raise them. I'd suggest you not try to be too precise though. IMO, any level that is detectable with decent test kits is good enough. You also need to avoid starving the tank in order to get nutrient levels low. Limiting organic input to keep nutrient levels low doesn't allow the like in the tank to flourish.

 

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I've always tried my best to let the tank tell me what it needs versus what a test kit says. That's why when things sorta stalled out I figured it was time to test to see what the issue was and behold not enough nutrients. As the tank progressed and matured what was enough in the beginning is no longer sufficient so now unfortunately I feel like I'm playing catch up.