Sixty’s Understanding of Nutrient Ratios

[areefer01]

Here is a question.. Lets say I have a tank full of cyanobacteria - and treat it with chemiclean. - what will happen

It will come back because you have not solved the original problem. Sort of like how some have surgery to help lose weight then wonder why it is gained back. The original problem hasn't been addressed.

Going back to lurk mode.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Here is a question.. Lets say I have a tank full of cyanobacteria - and treat it with chemiclean. - what will happen

Chemiclean is a antibiotic I believe, I could tell you what caused the bloom with nutrients limitations if you interested

 

[sixty_reefer]

It will come back because you have not solved the original problem. Sort of like how some have surgery to help lose weight then wonder why it is gained back. The original problem hasn't been addressed.

Going back to lurk mode.

That’s correct although if limitation were to be understood we could avoid it from happening in the first place or do changes to avoid it from coming back, in some cases you could even do changes in the nutrient to kill it also

 

[MnFish1]

It will come back because you have not solved the original problem. Sort of like how some have surgery to help lose weight then wonder why it is gained back. The original problem hasn't been addressed.

Going back to lurk mode.

Yet agreed - there is an 'unless here' - unless you change water' or change something else - that changes nutrient flow. . I just used chemiclean after a tank crash - just changed 30% of the water - upped the skimmer - added carbon. Will change another 30% tomorrow. The crash was due to an alkali overdose from a Weil known controller failure.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Yet agreed - there is an 'unless here' - unless you change water' or change something else - that changes nutrient flow. . I just used chemiclean after a tank crash - just changed 30% of the water - upped the skimmer - added carbon. Will change another 30% tomorrow. The crash was due to an alkali overdose from a Weil known controller failure.

Sorry for your loss dude, didn’t knew you had had a issue with your tank, how bad it is? Did the hole solution got emptied in your tank?

 

[MnFish1]

Sorry for your loss dude, didn’t knew you had had a issue with your tank, how bad it is? Did the hole solution got emptied in your tank?

yes it was months ago - lol - I just havent done much with ithe soft corals and fish all did fine

 

[sixty_reefer]

yes it was months ago - lol - I just havent done much with ithe soft corals and fish all did fine

Have you started the chemiclean yet?

 

[MnFish1]

Have you started the chemiclean yet?

Yes - already done and gone

 

[bmelvin20]

Bringing back the thread… so what I have going on is this
Po3- 4ppm
Po4- .12ppm

the reef is stable at these readings. Seems to be where it always settles. But I am always fighting something. Bright now it’s dinos. LCA to be exact. But that being said I don’t have the best growth and it’s always something going on. So my idea was to raise nitrates. Dosed Neonitro, to raise from 4ppm to 10ppm. Po3 did not move but my po4 dropped to .09.

what does this tell me about what is limited and abundant? All the back and forth on this thread has kind of left me confused.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Bringing back the thread… so what I have going on is this
Po3- 4ppm
Po4- .12ppm

the reef is stable at these readings. Seems to be where it always settles. But I am always fighting something. Bright now it’s dinos. LCA to be exact. But that being said I don’t have the best growth and it’s always something going on. So my idea was to raise nitrates. Dosed Neonitro, to raise from 4ppm to 10ppm. Po3 did not move but my po4 dropped to .09.

what does this tell me about what is limited and abundant? All the back and forth on this thread has kind of left me confused.

I assume the 4 ppm is nitrate? You keep writing PO3.

Raising nitrate a bit might help reduce dinos by encouraging something less problematic. Dose more if nitrate is not rising.

 

[bmelvin20]

I assume the 4 ppm is nitrate? You keep writing PO3.

Raising nitrate a bit might help reduce dinos by encouraging something less problematic. Dose more if nitrate is not rising.

Yes sir, I mean nitrate. So yes that’s my idea behind dosing the nitrate to the tank, support other less serious algae or even to feed my microbactor 7 that I dose.

What I really just want to wrap my head around is why after dosing my 189ml as figured by the formula on the back of the bottle did it not move even the smallest amount? Was it really consumed that quickly??(24hr). Or is there an imbalance there with something which causes my nitrate to phosphate ratio to be out of wack.

It always wants to hang around in that 4 nitrate to .12 phosphate area. If I lower phosphate it will climb right back up and stay there. If I dose nitrate it actually lowers my phosphate.

I just want to understand what’s going on inside my tank. I am possibly overwhelmed with all the different theories and ideals that I can’t seem to figure it out on my own.

thanks for the reply and information! Much appreciated

 

[sixty_reefer]

Bringing back the thread… so what I have going on is this
Po3- 4ppm
Po4- .12ppm

the reef is stable at these readings. Seems to be where it always settles. But I am always fighting something. Bright now it’s dinos. LCA to be exact. But that being said I don’t have the best growth and it’s always something going on. So my idea was to raise nitrates. Dosed Neonitro, to raise from 4ppm to 10ppm. Po3 did not move but my po4 dropped to .09.

what does this tell me about what is limited and abundant? All the back and forth on this thread has kind of left me confused.

I would say you are limited at nitrates (no3) your test kit may not be reading correctly at this low concentration of residual.

if you have dinoflagellates neonitro will just be fuelling them further as most ingredient are organic you need a source of inorganic nutrients for this effect, calcium nitrate or sodium nitrate will be a good reliable way to achieve that. Stay away from potassium nitrate as it contains potassium and nitrogen in addition to nitrates.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

.

What I really just want to wrap my head around is why after dosing my 189ml as figured by the formula on the back of the bottle did it not move even the smallest amount?

How many ppm was that supposed to be?

 

[bmelvin20]

How many ppm was that supposed to be?

It should have raised it from 4 to 10. Total volume of 300 gallon

 

[bmelvin20]

It should have raised it from 4 to 10. Total volume of 300 gallon

Two night of dosing and my nitrates have stayed the same at 4ppm. Tonight my phosphates have jumped to .17. Totally was not expecting that.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Two night of dosing and my nitrates have stayed the same at 4ppm. Tonight my phosphates have jumped to .17. Totally was not expecting that.

Just keep dosing more.

 

[Dan_P]

Yes sir, I mean nitrate. So yes that’s my idea behind dosing the nitrate to the tank, support other less serious algae or even to feed my microbactor 7 that I dose.

What I really just want to wrap my head around is why after dosing my 189ml as figured by the formula on the back of the bottle did it not move even the smallest amount? Was it really consumed that quickly??(24hr). Or is there an imbalance there with something which causes my nitrate to phosphate ratio to be out of wack.

It always wants to hang around in that 4 nitrate to .12 phosphate area. If I lower phosphate it will climb right back up and stay there. If I dose nitrate it actually lowers my phosphate.

I just want to understand what’s going on inside my tank. I am possibly overwhelmed with all the different theories and ideals that I can’t seem to figure it out on my own.

thanks for the reply and information! Much appreciated

Besides dinoflagellates, what other algae are in your system?