Very low parameters in Nano tank - Please advise

[Sebreef93]

I have a Fluval Sea Evo 13.5g that is 6 months old. I have 9 lbs of sand and around 9 lb of live rock. I'm only running Rowa Carbon in my second chamber. For livestock, I have a pair of clownfish, a tailspot blenny, and a cleanup crew (astraea snails, crabs, nasaarius snails). I've noticed at night that I have an insane amount of amphipods scavenging. For the stock, I have a mix of soft and LPS corals. Every day, I dose Red Sea AB+ food. For maintenance, I change 10% of the water volume every two weeks. I've been testing the tank twice a week, and my nitrates are almost 0, the same as phosphate. Should I stop changing the water since my parameters are almost undetectable? Should I get one more fish for waste? What would be the best option for slowly but stably increasing nitrates/phosphates in such a small tank? Thanks in advance!

 

[Jekyl]

You can stop changing the water. However you'll need to watch your other parameters and dose accordingly.

 

[Sebreef93]

You can stop changing the water. However you'll need to watch your other parameters and dose accordingly.

Is it beneficial or should I change smaller amount of water and increase feeding? I was considering getting a small goby Saffron for example.

 

[doubleshot00]

Nanos are more tricky and less forgiving. Imo stop doing WC for a while and dose some no3. Just monitor it. My im15 nano took over a year to balance out.

 

[Sebreef93]

Nanos are more tricky and less forgiving. Imo stop doing WC for a while and dose some no3. Just monitor it. My im15 nano took over a year to balance out.

I had Red Sea Reefer 170 for 3 years and had to sell it, so now I've started with a small one in my office room and its definitely more challenging. I may stop with the next 1/2 upcoming WC and see if that makes a difference.

 

[Ollie67]

I have a Fluval Sea Evo 13.5g that is 6 months old. I have 9 lbs of sand and around 9 lb of live rock. I'm only running Rowa Carbon in my second chamber. For livestock, I have a pair of clownfish, a tailspot blenny, and a cleanup crew (astraea snails, crabs, nasaarius snails). I've noticed at night that I have an insane amount of amphipods scavenging. For the stock, I have a mix of soft and LPS corals. Every day, I dose Red Sea AB+ food. For maintenance, I change 10% of the water volume every two weeks. I've been testing the tank twice a week, and my nitrates are almost 0, the same as phosphate. Should I stop changing the water since my parameters are almost undetectable? Should I get one more fish for waste? What would be the best option for slowly but stably increasing nitrates/phosphates in such a small tank? Thanks in advance!

I have the same tank! I'm surprised because I usually do weekly or week and a half water changes of 15-20% sometimes. You could possibly do smaller changes every two weeks, but like others have said, keep an eye on your other paramenters- such as alk.

Getting another fish could be an option. I'm curious, I'm not sure if you mentioned it, but how often do you feed your fish? And what do you use? If your nitrate/phosphate are super low, perhaps you could feed more often or larger amounts? For example, I feed frozen brine shrimp, and when my parameters get lower I might increase the portions a little.

Also, what do you use for testing? What test kit(s)?

 

[doubleshot00]

I had Red Sea Reefer 170 for 3 years and had to sell it, so now I've started with a small one in my office room and its definitely more challenging. I may stop with the next 1/2 upcoming WC and see if that makes a difference.

I do 2-3 gallons in mine once a month. Test it once a month.

And 5 gallons in my wb20 bi-weekly. I don't test this tank at all to.

 

[Ollie67]

You could also dose Po4 and No3, there are bottles you can buy that could help increase them!

 

[reeefish]

Nanos are more tricky and less forgiving. Imo stop doing WC for a while and dose some no3. Just monitor it. My im15 nano took over a year to balance out.

My im15 is over a year old now and I still bottom out both N and P, so I simply dose to keep them off zero and test weekly. I have also reduced water changes to every few weeks as well.

 

[Sebreef93]

I do 2-3 gallons in mine once a month. Test it once a month.

And 5 gallons in my wb20 bi-weekly. I don't test this tank at all to.

Is it 2-3 gallons once a month in your 15 gallons tank? I may have to reduce WC to once a month and maybe a smaller amount. I think some of my softies might be not fully happy with low nitrates. Thanks!

 

[Sebreef93]

You could also dose Po4 and No3, there are bottles you can buy that could help increase them!

Do you know the brand of the bottles?

 

[Sebreef93]

My im15 is over a year old now and I still bottom out both N and P, so I simply dose to keep them off zero and test weekly. I have also reduced water changes to every few weeks as well.

I think every two weeks for me it was too often. I will change my schedule to once a month. Could I ask you what are you using to dose N and P?

 

[PharmrJohn]

I think every two weeks for me it was too often. I will change my schedule to once a month. Could I ask you what are you using to dose N and P?

Try to keep a 10:1 ratio of Nitrates to Phosphates. Increased numbers (Phosphate in particular) will inhibit coral growth.

 

[Ollie67]

Do you know the brand of the bottles?

Yes, I like Microbacter products personally. Here is the link on BRS, but you can get them on Amazon too.

NeoNitro - Balanced Nitrogen Supplement

Used in conjunction with MICROBACTER7 and REEF BIOFUEL or KATALYST, enables natural phosphorus uptake to take place in systems with inadequate nitrogen content, lowering phosphate concentration without the use of chemical filtration media and without resorting to polluting the system with...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

NeoPhos - Balanced Phosphorus Supplement

Used in conjunction with MICROBACTER7 and REEF BIOFUEL or KATALYST, enables natural nitrogen uptake to take place in systems with inadequate phosphorus content, lowering ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate concentrations without the use of chemical filtration media and without resorting to polluting...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

There is also other ones out there, but I'm not too familiar.

 

[Dragen Fiend]

How's your filtration setup?

I got a 15 gallon setup. Current bio-load is 4 nassarius snails, 2 turbos, 1 firefish, 1 blue legged hermit crab and a 1 small tux urchin. With 8 corals in the tank all happy.

I am feeding about 1 inch nori algae and 3/4 cube of shrimp mysis a day. Nitrates yesterday were 10ppm. I was overfeeding previously which caused mine to spike in the 25+ range which caused a bloom.

Haven't done a single wc in 2 months. Just top off. I do need to wc this weekend. ugh hate wc's.
I also have AB+ but I've only dosed once in the last 3 months.

 

[doubleshot00]

Is it 2-3 gallons once a month in your 15 gallons tank? I may have to reduce WC to once a month and maybe a smaller amount. I think some of my softies might be not fully happy with low nitrates. Thanks!

Yes. And your softies are probably eating the no3 to

 

[Sebreef93]

How's your filtration setup?

I got a 15 gallon setup. Current bio-load is 4 nassarius snails, 2 turbos, 1 firefish, 1 blue legged hermit crab and a 1 small tux urchin. With 8 corals in the tank all happy.

I am feeding about 1 inch nori algae and 3/4 cube of shrimp mysis a day. Nitrates yesterday were 10ppm. I was overfeeding previously which caused mine to spike in the 25+ range which caused a bloom.

Haven't done a single wc in 2 months. Just top off. I do need to wc this weekend. ugh hate wc's.
I also have AB+ but I've only dosed once in the last 3 months.

I have no skimmer, then in my second chamber there's a sponge with Rowa Carbon on top and Biomax media for filtration. I believe all the rocks will contribute to the filtration too. I am feeding 1/4 cube of mysis a day or maybe even less. I believe I may have feed too little and I will have to increase the amount of the food and reduce WC. My all parameters are close to 0 most of the time. Got some mushrooms, GSP, papaya polyps, candy cane, hammer, chalice. My LPS are definitely more happy than softies. AB+ dosed every day. Additionally I am thinking about doing WC once a month. How much of water are you changing for your 15G?

 

[doubleshot00]

I have no skimmer, then in my second chamber there's a sponge with Rowa Carbon on top and Biomax media for filtration. I believe all the rocks will contribute to the filtration too. I am feeding 1/4 cube of mysis a day or maybe even less. I believe I may have feed too little and I will have to increase the amount of the food and reduce WC. My all parameters are close to 0 most of the time. Got some mushrooms, GSP, papaya polyps, candy cane, hammer, chalice. My LPS are definitely more happy than softies. AB+ dosed every day. Additionally I am thinking about doing WC once a month. How much of water are you changing for your 15G?

I feed WAY less than you in my nanos. Try adding some flakes and start the no3 and po4 dosing.

 

[Sebreef93]

I feed WAY less than you in my nanos. Try adding some flakes and start the no3 and po4 dosing.

Like vitalise Marine flakes? Would it be worth feeding both flakes and shrimps but for example morning flakes and afternoon shrimps?

 

[Ollie67]

I have no skimmer, then in my second chamber there's a sponge with Rowa Carbon on top and Biomax media for filtration. I believe all the rocks will contribute to the filtration too. I am feeding 1/4 cube of mysis a day or maybe even less. I believe I may have feed too little and I will have to increase the amount of the food and reduce WC. My all parameters are close to 0 most of the time. Got some mushrooms, GSP, papaya polyps, candy cane, hammer, chalice. My LPS are definitely more happy than softies. AB+ dosed every day. Additionally I am thinking about doing WC once a month. How much of water are you changing for your 15G?

Yeah I've been feeding 1/4 cube of mysis as well, but I have 4 fish and a shrimp currently. It gets eaten up haha, but I have recently starting feeding twice a day, but only for some days. My nitrate has been around, or less than, 5ppm recently, but I am facing high phosphate for some reason- around 0.50~ppm.