A lot of you make nutrient control look easy. I receive a little jab every time I see someone post about dosing nitrates and phosphates... good grief!
My daughter and I ran a 55g for 4+ years before starting a 125g mixed reef last September. The 55 was always plagued with 30-50ppm nitrates and elevated phosphates. We learned the sources included older, deep substrate, poor skimming, and no other nutrient export methods.
When we started our 125g, we knew we wanted to explore SPS corals in addition to the many LPS, fish, and inverts. So, we knew we needed to control nutrients with a plan. In addition to 20% water changes every 2 weeks, we have strong skimmers and started a refugium with chaeto and caleurpa macro algaes under a Kessil H80 running 22 hours / day. The refugium has helped us maintain nutrients, but, today, they were higher than in weeks past. Nitrates = 10ppm and Phosphates .107ppm. Nothing horrible, but still higher than we'd like. The macro algae is growing, but slowly. I don't feel like we're maximizing the potential there. I increased the flow and made it indirect in an effort to spread out the surface area of the algae. In the past, the flow pushed it all to 1 corner. What else can we do to maximize nutrient uptake in the refugium?
Additional options:
Feeding:
My daughter and I ran a 55g for 4+ years before starting a 125g mixed reef last September. The 55 was always plagued with 30-50ppm nitrates and elevated phosphates. We learned the sources included older, deep substrate, poor skimming, and no other nutrient export methods.
When we started our 125g, we knew we wanted to explore SPS corals in addition to the many LPS, fish, and inverts. So, we knew we needed to control nutrients with a plan. In addition to 20% water changes every 2 weeks, we have strong skimmers and started a refugium with chaeto and caleurpa macro algaes under a Kessil H80 running 22 hours / day. The refugium has helped us maintain nutrients, but, today, they were higher than in weeks past. Nitrates = 10ppm and Phosphates .107ppm. Nothing horrible, but still higher than we'd like. The macro algae is growing, but slowly. I don't feel like we're maximizing the potential there. I increased the flow and made it indirect in an effort to spread out the surface area of the algae. In the past, the flow pushed it all to 1 corner. What else can we do to maximize nutrient uptake in the refugium?
Additional options:
- Algae Turf Scrubber - pros - almost all users report undetectable nutrients. con - we have a purple tang that LOVES the caleurpa. If the ATS comes online, it would likely starve out the caleurpa.
- Vinegar Dosing - this may be a contender. I think it addresses nitrates more than phosphates. Are there other cons?
- GFO - messy, maintenance intensive, and costly.
- 11 Green Chromis
- 2 Ocellaris Clowns
- 1 Purple Tang
- 1 Sally Lightfoot Crab
- 3 Peppermint Shrimp
- 1 Blood Shrimp
- 1 Scarlett Cleaner Shrimp
- 1 Pistol Shrimp
- 2 Emerald Crabs
- Large Duncan colony
- Large Frogspawn colony
- GSP
- Neon Torch
- Red Setosa frag
- Rainbow Plays
- Sunset Monti frag
- Hawkins Enchinata frag
- Cali Tort frag
- Cyphastrea frag
- Laptastrea frag
- Red Dragon frag
- Blastos
- Maze brain
Feeding:
- Freeze Dried Mysis in auto feeder 1x per day. ~ 1/2 tsp
- Mix Hikari Marine S & New Life Spectrum Thera A+ pellets in auto feeder 1x/ day. ~ 1/4 tsp
- 1 cube frozen mysis + 1 cube Reef Frenzy + Reef Chili - 2x per week