Solution to a tank with heavy feeding regime

[potatocouch]

Please don't say less feed.

Is there anyway to compensate heavy feeding regime but at the same the ability to have a low nutrients water? Low nutrients being low in No3 and Po4.

It's a 55 gallon tank with LPS, softies and couple of Anthias and objective is to move to SPS but need to low the nutrients down significantly !

Current setting in the sump:
* 4 chambers
* chamber 1: overflow
* chamber 2: tunze 9410 skimmer
* chamber 3: live rocks
* chamber 4: return

I've been contemplating to replace the live rocks with something that are more aggressive in combating the nutrients. The pile of LRs just don't cut it.

Please chime in!

[BlackTip]

There is no magic potion. What you put in, must get out, or fully consumed by something else. You may want to consider bigger skimmer, GFO, algae scrupper, planted refugium, filter socks, etc

[DrewHaus]

Look into carbon dosing.

[slief]

There is no magic potion. What you put in, must get out, or fully consumed by something else. You may want to consider bigger skimmer, GFO, algae scrupper, planted refugium, filter socks, etc

+1

The key for me is a lot of live rock (nearly 1000 pounds in a 650g volume system, four 7" 200 micron filter socks, two refugiums, one has a 30"x36"x 5" deep deep sand bed, great flow and a great skimmer. I have no nitrate issues although my Po4 levels do tend to climb despite running GFO. I also do daily automated water changes of 5 gallons a day. My tank has about 60 fish which are fed 3x a day and the night feeding is very heavy and arguably overfeeding. Because of my flow, I don't have detritus issues at all. Because of the refugiums, I don't have nuisance algae issues and because of the combination of everything, I have 0 detectable nitrates. When my Po4 gets to high, I dose LaCl into 10 micron filter socks to knock it back down. I suppose if I changed my GFO more often my Po4 wouldn't be an issue but I hate doing maintenance and GFO replacement is the one thing I haven't figured out how to automate yet.

[steallife904]

you might not be over feeding. It turns out a lot of times that issues with the tank as far as corals go is because of under feeding. If you are dumping to much food in and trying to remove the left over I would say filter socks to catch as much as possible and clean them often. Make sure you blow the rocks out every few days as well to get the trapped food out. I typically try to blow rocks out 2 times a week. One random and one when doing water change.

[CStrickland]

How much are you feeding?
What are your ppm's for nutrients now?
What are your goal ppm's?

If your sump live rocks are dirty they can drive up your nitrates instead of lowering them.
A couple anthias in a 55 shouldn't be that hard to feed properly without trouble.

[lespaul339]

Lots of water changes.

[potatocouch]

How much are you feeding?
What are your ppm's for nutrients now?
What are your goal ppm's?

If your sump live rocks are dirty they can drive up your nitrates instead of lowering them.
A couple anthias in a 55 shouldn't be that hard to feed properly without trouble.

No3 = 80 ppm.
zero for Ammonia & Nitrite.
Po4 = 0.25.

Goal ppm: I would be happy if I can reach < 20 ppm for now.

I feed 2 cubes (morning and night), but the problem probably occur prior to that. I went overseas for a week, where I've been using Eheim feeder to do pellets and I've been correcting the No3 issue ever since ..... but to tell you the trust, I may have had No3 issue even before that as I haven't been testing.

Softies looks great ...
Mushies & rics are just awesome.
Zoas looks good.
Hammers expand but they used to be bigger.
Goniopora expand, although I know they can do better.
I lost an Elegance, the meat fell off.
Torch expand but I know it can do better.
Fishies looks happy.
Turbo snails everywhere, small medium big.

At the moment I am dosing NoPox for the past 2 weeks.

Day 1 (Saturday 9 Jan 2016): Dosed 2 ml.
Day 2 (Sunday 10 Jan 2016): Dosed 2 ml.
Day 3 (Monday 11 Jan 2016): Reading pH 7.4, No3 80 ppm & Po4 0.25 ppm. Dosed 2 ml.
Day 4 (Tuesday 12 Jan 2016): Reading pH 8.2, No2 0 ppm & No3 40~80 ppm. Dosed 2 ml.
Day 5 (Wednesday 13 Jan 2016): Dosed 2 ml.
Day 6 (Thursday 14 Jan 2016): Dosed 2 ml.
Day 7 (Friday 15 Jan 2016): Dosed 2 ml. Reading No3 40~80 ppm.
Day 8 (Saturday 16 Jan 2016): 10% WC; Dosed 2 ml. Reading No3 40~80 ppm, Po4 0.25 ppm.
Day 9 (Sunday 17 Jan 2016): Dosed 2 ml.
Day 10 (Monday 18 Jan 2016): Dosed 2 ml.
Day 11 (Tuesday 19 Jan 2016): Dosed 3 ml.

Picture probably paints better description:
http://postimg.org/image/d9iyfpq3d/
http://imgur.com/znQaWNn

[potatocouch]

can you no longer post pics in this forum?

[Dkuhlmann]

It seems to be a block of some sort on those links, not sure why when using the img attach icon with your links

http://imgur.com/znQaWNn

http://postimg.org/image/d9iyfpq3d/

http://i.imgur.com/znQaWNn.jpg?1

The last pic I put the mouse over the pic and did a right click copy image address and then did the icon insert. So it does work but have to copy the image directly and not the full url of those pages. Below you can see the url's are different

http://i.imgur.com/znQaWNn.jpg?1

[Devaji108]

There is no magic potion. What you put in, must get out, or fully consumed by something else. You may want to consider bigger skimmer, GFO, algae scrupper, planted refugium, filter socks, etc

could not have said it better myself...

I would try an ATS upflow or drop in...
are your rock leaching?

[potatocouch]

could not have said it better myself...

I would try an ATS upflow or drop in...
are your rock leaching?

Most probably they are but how can one tell.

[potatocouch]

Lots of water changes.

You would think that solve the issue.

The answer is no.

I did 50% WC and another 20% WC gradually and it did zip nada to No3.

[slief]

You would think that solve the issue.

The answer is no.

I did 50% WC and another 20% WC gradually and it did zip nada to No3.

I have crossed checked your test results with another test kit from a different manufacturer?

[potatocouch]

have you crossed checked your test results with another test kit from a different manufacturer?

Yes, I have and the result match with LFS.

Not too sure what the exact ppm is, but they are towards the danger zone (80 ppm , bright orange, dark orange ... any oranges are no good).

I guess I just have to carry on with NoPox dosing and see where that takes me to.

[rabbithazen]

Sulfer reactor and vodka dosing together.

[clekchau]

+1

The key for me is a lot of live rock (nearly 1000 pounds in a 650g volume system, four 7" 200 micron filter socks, two refugiums, one has a 30"x36"x 5" deep deep sand bed, great flow and a great skimmer. I have no nitrate issues although my Po4 levels do tend to climb despite running GFO. I also do daily automated water changes of 5 gallons a day. My tank has about 60 fish which are fed 3x a day and the night feeding is very heavy and arguably overfeeding. Because of my flow, I don't have detritus issues at all. Because of the refugiums, I don't have nuisance algae issues and because of the combination of everything, I have 0 detectable nitrates. When my Po4 gets to high, I dose LaCl into 10 micron filter socks to knock it back down. I suppose if I changed my GFO more often my Po4 wouldn't be an issue but I hate doing maintenance and GFO replacement is the one thing I haven't figured out how to automate yet.


Ditto with me , a lot of live rock, 1 cryptic fuge, 1dsb, big skimmer and a lot of fish (30 or so 20 get decent size) and I feed 6x a day and still have low nitrates, under 5 ppm and my sps are doing good. Leathers not so much because water is so clean.

[toothybugs]

Spank your system with vinegar. At one point, courtesy of a dosing error, I had 100+ NO3 and 1.5ppm PO4. A big water change and an immediate start on heavy vinegar dosing, plus once-every-other-day feedings for a week eventually got a grasp on things. Took probably 3 weeks but I could see progress so it kept me going. I feed fairly heavily now and am reading around 3-5ppm NO3 and <.08ppm PO4 but I maintain a constant vinegar drip. My skimmer loves it. Apparently so do the sticks.

[running scott]

I didn't see you useing any carbon? I run carbon in a bag in my sump along with Seachem's Purigen. Be careful with the Purigen seems too effective at stripping nutrients from the water. I used too much at first thinking more is better. My soft corals starved. My N03 went from 80 to 0 so fast, not good for corals.

[Dans85]

Have a look at the marine pure media. I have no personal experience with it, but some of the people that are using it are reporting good results. It might be an option for you.

[g_langley]

Or NOPOX?

[welshintheusa]

I feed heavy and keep my parameters in check, with a decent refugium lit 24 hrs. Lots of LR rubble down in the sump, with a huge surface area. Good Gaseous exchange, and a good Husbandry routine. Plus an over sized quality Skimmer. I change 15 gals every week, rain or shine, snow or Hail lol. I have around 70 gals

[CStrickland]

I ran an 5 fish 55 for a year with just a filter sock, 10% weekly changes, 2/3# rock per gal water, and 4-5x daily feedings. My nitrates stayed under 10.

I think that blowing off the rocks and vacuuming my sand to change the water made the difference. And not having lots of fish. But also my tank was pretty stable in that regard. I think nitrates are extra tricky cause they creep up slowly if your husbandry is a little out of balance, and then it can be quite hard to get them back down again.