Since my last post I have upgraded to a 85g tank. I also stopped Nopox (diy) dosing. My tank has remained ULN because:
1. I have been running fallow for last 2 months because of a velvet outbreak.
2. I added a Marinepure large block. I feed my corals Reef Roids 2-3 times a week, and Rod's frozen 3 times a week.
3. I reduced my sandbed to only 1 inch, and reduced my live rock in DT so I can vacuum sandbed and baste/brush rocks easily.
4. I upgraded my skimmer to one thats rated for 200g+
I will be slowly adding fishes in the next few weeks (currently they are in QT) and plan to remain ULN without carbon dosing. I was doing Nopox dosing consistently for almost 2 years and here's my take on it: Nopox / vodka dosing is good if you have a heavy bioload and your nitrates are in the 10ppm + range. Carbon dosing is very effective in quickly bringing down trates and keeping them low. The cons of carbon dosing is that because of the huge swings in bacterial population in your tank, your tank is on the edge. Nitrates and phosphates can get depleted too rapidly and harm corals (for example if you are out of town and change your feeding regimen for a few days). Also, the large bacterial load consumes a lot of oxygen and my tank was consistently showing low pH (8.1 max during day and close to 7.6 at night). Since I stopped nopox my ph swings between 8 and 8.3. If for any reason you lose power, your fishes can die in a matter of hours in a nopox tank because the bacteria consumes all the oxygen really fast. I lost several wrasses during a move once while transferring them in a bucket with 3g of tank water and airstone in a matter of 2-3 hours. Thats how oxygen-depleted your tank can get when you carbon-dose. IMO thats very risky, especially because we overlook oxygen concentration and its effect on coral health, and rarely test oxygen levels. Finally, nitrate or amino acid dosing is risky in a carbon-dosed tank because the bacteria can consume the nitrate and phosphate too fast and deplete your phosphate to dangerously low levels.
I still test nitrate and phosphate regularly (twice a week) and dose nitrate as needed. So far my corals have been looking great and I intend to stay ULN without carbon-dosing. I'll see how addition of fishes work out.
. If I divide arbitrarily by 150 then it still would be .3ppm which is very high to me. Do you think I could be truly limited at a level of .03ppm PO4? I finally found my checker so I'll dust if off and test both tanks. I guess worst case is I could dose a little PO4 and see if it gets consumed and/or if NO3 drops any...
