N03

[sunnykita]

I believe its a 25-30g. And im pretty sure thats almost as big as i can fit. Unless i clear out the other side of my stand where my ato bucket and doser and dosing jugs are and put in a tank thats drilled as close to the top as possible.

if it's the sump you got from me Riley it's a 30 gallon, remember the 40 was too big for your stand. Could you add a refugium made out of a 10 gal tank in there somewhere?

 

[reeferkeeper420]

Icould but then would have to figure out where to put my ato and doser.

 

[TORX]

Well doesnt seem like you are over feeding, and your skimmer is overkill, so no issues there. There is a cycle to running pellets. Some have issues with slime algae, I did, I used chemiclean (or something) to get rid of it. Been running pellets since I set up my current tank and have not had a relapse of slime. Like everything else in this hobby, it is a balance, sometimes you have to sacrifice one area for another while the tank does its thing. I just took my GFO offline last weekend after exhausting its life and found that my tank is clearer and corals are looking better already. I will be slowly removing pellets as well to see what happens, just continue to add less and less until I find that sweet spot. I am finding that good husbandry and skimmer are all I may need. Also working slowly on a refugium.

 

[jroovers]

I will be slowly removing pellets as well to see what happens, just continue to add less and less until I find that sweet spot. I am finding that good husbandry and skimmer are all I may need. Also working slowly on a refugium.

I think this approach, while simple, is often all that is needed (less sometimes is more). I've had no media running on my tank, and hope to keep it that way. Just strong flow, strong lighting, strong skimming, periodic water changes, and low to medium bioload (in balance with what is removed). I also removed my sand bed and went to a natural tiled stone bottom to prevent the build up of detritus.

 

[CanadaCorals.com]

I would double check your test with another kit just to make sure its accurate.

If it is accurate, carbon dosing won't work. Read up on the red-field ratio. You need phosphates and nitrates to be high in order for carbon dodging to work. I've been in this situation before and the only fix was a LARGE water change. Just make sure to match the parameters of the new saltwater with the current parameters of your system to minimize shock. Also make sure to fully aerate your water.

 

[jroovers]

If it is accurate, carbon dosing won't work. Read up on the red-field ratio. You need phosphates and nitrates to be high in order for carbon dodging to work.

Are you saying that 50-100 ppm nitrates are not high enough, or that BOTH nitrates and phosphates need to be high in order for the BP to work due to the redfield ratio? In the case of both the former and the later, that is not my experience, nor my understanding of the redfield ratio (and how interpretation of such can be applied to nutrient export). BPs worked just fine at removing nitrates in my last tank and allowed me to feed heavier, without ever having measurable phosphates while running a nominal amount of GFO as well. That said, if your nitrates are 50-100 ppm, you want to ask yourself how they got there, and what is contributing to it, and reduce that practice. BPs aren't on their own going to solve the problems of elevated nitrates due to prolonged overfeeding, a detritus trap sump that hasn't been cleaned, a DSB that's gone south, a dirty unmaintained SSB, inadequate skimming, etc., but it certainly can help with achieving appropriate nutrient balance.

Reefkeeper420 what are you running for nutrient export - do you have GFO online? It does seem odd that your nitrates are that elevated, with 0 phosphates? Before doing anything, finding the source of your nitrate issue should be objective #1 IMO.

 

[heath]

Riley, not sure if this could be part of the cause but, remember we were told that Ingersoll is going to be adding additives to the water system to clean the pipes...the time line kind of seems to fall in line with your issues...look back through some of the past post...maybe its the culprit or part of...

 

[heath]

Oxford County Water Warning
Discussion in 'General Reef Discussion' started by Pipes, Jul 19, 2015.

here is the article, I would check it out...

 

[Pistol]

Are you saying that 50-100 ppm nitrates are not high enough, or that BOTH nitrates and phosphates need to be high in order for the BP to work due to the redfield ratio? In the case of both the former and the later, that is not my experience, nor my understanding of the redfield ratio (and how interpretation of such can be applied to nutrient export). BPs worked just fine at removing nitrates in my last tank and allowed me to feed heavier, without ever having measurable phosphates while running a nominal amount of GFO as well. That said, if your nitrates are 50-100 ppm, you want to ask yourself how they got there, and what is contributing to it, and reduce that practice. BPs aren't on their own going to solve the problems of elevated nitrates due to prolonged overfeeding, a detritus trap sump that hasn't been cleaned, a DSB that's gone south, a dirty unmaintained SSB, inadequate skimming, etc., but it certainly can help with achieving appropriate nutrient balance.

Reefkeeper420 what are you running for nutrient export - do you have GFO online? It does seem odd that your nitrates are that elevated, with 0 phosphates? Before doing anything, finding the source of your nitrate issue should be objective #1 IMO.

Carbon dosing is culturing bacteria, the bacteria use N and P to build their cell walls, they die and get skimmed out or consumed by corals and the N and P are exported. You need all three for it to work, the process uses more N than P.

 

[jroovers]

Carbon dosing is culturing bacteria, the bacteria use N and P to build their cell walls, they die and get skimmed out or consumed by corals and the N and P are exported. You need all three for it to work, the process uses more N than P.

I'm not really sure what you are getting at, or what all "three" exactly are. But I agree the end result of BPs specifically eliminate nitrates much more effectively than phosphates (I've seen estimates of up to 20 parts nitrate to 1 part phosphate), hence why it might be a good fit here for reefkeeper420 (elevated nitrates, undetectable phosphates).

 

[reeferkeeper420]

Yup im running gfo and have a large outbreak of bryopsis algae so its probably absorbing the p04 aswell. I have next to no sand in my tank just a bit in the one corner for my wrasses. And im runnin a sro3000 skimmer. Maybe the sump needs a cleaning??

 

[jroovers]

The nitrates are getting in there somehow and not being removed... a sump cleaning could help if that's the source... what is in that section of your sump with the mangroves? Is there some type of substrate? As a few others have said, I would retest your water you use for changes/top up, and retest for nitrates, just to be safe.

 

[reeferkeeper420]

No mangroves in my sump. Just 2 chambers one for my skimmer and 1 for the return and reactor.

 

[reeferkeeper420]

Yeah they were 0 a month ago too. Only change i made was takin GAC offline to see if it was maybe contributing to the cyano.

 

[reeferkeeper420]

So something in the last month has caused it too spike.

 

[jroovers]

No mangroves in my sump. Just 2 chambers one for my skimmer and 1 for the return and reactor.

My mistake, I was looking at Scubasteve's sump photos.

 

[reeferkeeper420]

I have some BP soaking to start them back up to hopefully get this undercontrol before i lose any coral. My cobalt is almost gone along with my red diablo and wolverine. And a few burnt tips on my millis.

 

[jroovers]

So something in the last month has caused it too spike.

I think retesting is probably a good idea, ideally with a different test kit, maybe its a false positive of sorts... how bad do your "sticks" look?

 

[reeferkeeper420]

Some not bad at all. Just a few that are looking like crap. Cobalt wolverine×2 fire and ice milli red diablo rainbow montis ice tabbler

 

[reeferkeeper420]

Now most of my acros are looking bad.