I have a frag tank that only has snails and emerald crabs. There’s also tons of microfauna life, there’s huge diversity which makes me happy to see.
I do have algae that grows but think the cuc probably is the reason I barely see any algae. I just have to scrape the glass because the snails kinda eventually leave a funny pattern of spots. But I can’t seem to get detectable levels of nutrients.
I slowed down water changes and mainly dose Alk, Ca, Mg, and trace elements so my corals all do great. And stop using filter floss. It wasn’t really getting dirty and think was trapping more pods and phyto than it wasn’t needed.
But when I move healthy frags of softies to the tank, it’s like 50/50 if they do okay or struggle. I had moved a nice mini colony of a leather I only have one of and it melted which made me realize I should really look into getting nutrients up.
I do feed my corals, I use red sea reef energy and live phyto. So would think there is a nutrient input.
In the AIO chambers I have biomedia, live rock, and a bag of Red Sea carbon. (I only add a little bit and replace once a month). I wouldn’t think carbon is going to strip nitrates and phosphates that aggressively.
I don’t intend to run a ULNS tank but also worried if I dose nitrates and phosphates without a plan I can toss my tank balance down the stairs.
For those who dose nitrates and phosphates what are your tips? How to start and properly monitor to increase levels ?
I do have algae that grows but think the cuc probably is the reason I barely see any algae. I just have to scrape the glass because the snails kinda eventually leave a funny pattern of spots. But I can’t seem to get detectable levels of nutrients.
I slowed down water changes and mainly dose Alk, Ca, Mg, and trace elements so my corals all do great. And stop using filter floss. It wasn’t really getting dirty and think was trapping more pods and phyto than it wasn’t needed.
But when I move healthy frags of softies to the tank, it’s like 50/50 if they do okay or struggle. I had moved a nice mini colony of a leather I only have one of and it melted which made me realize I should really look into getting nutrients up.
I do feed my corals, I use red sea reef energy and live phyto. So would think there is a nutrient input.
In the AIO chambers I have biomedia, live rock, and a bag of Red Sea carbon. (I only add a little bit and replace once a month). I wouldn’t think carbon is going to strip nitrates and phosphates that aggressively.
I don’t intend to run a ULNS tank but also worried if I dose nitrates and phosphates without a plan I can toss my tank balance down the stairs.
For those who dose nitrates and phosphates what are your tips? How to start and properly monitor to increase levels ?