Can’t win
- Thread starter Rodeo
- Start date
Coral reefer
Past President
High phosphate and little to no nitrate favors cyanogen for sure
Still want to know your lighting type intensity and photo period
Still want to know your lighting type intensity and photo period
Coral reefer
Past President
Make a tank journal. It will make this process much easier for us to help you help yourself
Coral reefer
Past President
Photoperiod a bit long for my liking, but not bad. I would def look at flow and the phosphate nitrate imbalance primarily
NanoCrazed
Supporting Member
Dose NaNO3... food /lab grade from Amazon .
Can also use Spectracide stump killer. KNO3. Has potassium , if you have low potassium.
Sodium nitrate is better though imo
I use Brightwell NeoNitro to supplement nitrate. I like using things made for the reef hobby because I know there won’t be weird contaminants in a future batch, and they come with clear instructions for reef use. And unless you starting using it by the gallon in the future there isn’t a significant cost difference. Lots of people use the DIY supplements successfully, I’m just stating my preference and what I’d suggest for someone just starting to dose something.
Feeding more will give you more phosphate as well as nitrate by the way. Depending on your target values you probably don’t want to keep boosting your phosphate levels higher. If you supplement nitrate without adding more phosphate, it will gradually bring the phosphate level down.
The reason why zero nitrates promotes Cyanobacteria is because they are one of the few organisms in our tanks that can fix N2 gas from the air into ammonia, which they then consume as an alternative to nitrate. This gives them an unfair advantage against other surface colonizers when nitrate is zero, since everything needs some form of fixated nitrogen to grow.
Feeding more will give you more phosphate as well as nitrate by the way. Depending on your target values you probably don’t want to keep boosting your phosphate levels higher. If you supplement nitrate without adding more phosphate, it will gradually bring the phosphate level down.
The reason why zero nitrates promotes Cyanobacteria is because they are one of the few organisms in our tanks that can fix N2 gas from the air into ammonia, which they then consume as an alternative to nitrate. This gives them an unfair advantage against other surface colonizers when nitrate is zero, since everything needs some form of fixated nitrogen to grow.
xCry0x
Supporting Member
Be careful with the phosphate rx.
You want to either dose it directly into a filter sock or some sort of dense filter media. Melevsreef has a really good video on the stuff. You can also look up lanthanum chloride dosing.
Its also likely overkill.
If your tank is only 3 months old it just needs to mature.
And if you don't have any clean up crew, go to reefcleaners and buy one. They have pre packed crews based on tank size. I just got done ordering a huge pile of snails from them, personally. Spent like $80 shipped on a huge pile of cleaners.
You want to either dose it directly into a filter sock or some sort of dense filter media. Melevsreef has a really good video on the stuff. You can also look up lanthanum chloride dosing.
Its also likely overkill.
If your tank is only 3 months old it just needs to mature.
And if you don't have any clean up crew, go to reefcleaners and buy one. They have pre packed crews based on tank size. I just got done ordering a huge pile of snails from them, personally. Spent like $80 shipped on a huge pile of cleaners.
I purchased this spectracide stump killer basically because it's practically pure potassium nitrate so I could perform a few experiments I've seen on YouTube... It works fantastically melted in a 60/40 ratio or this and white sugar. I plan to make a few smoke bombs, fuses and rockets just for amusement. I've already made a batch just to see it in action and I was very impressed and because it emits oxygen when burned it not only burns hot and fast but will burn in almost any condition. Now as far as a stump remover I couldn't say but I'd imagine it would work rather well lol.