got ethical husbandry?

Max’s 30 gal

alk 9.1
NO3 15? (Somewhere between the 10 and 25 but closer to 10)
PO4 will have to wait cause I had a total brain fart and put the reagent in before doing anything else, I was cutting the bag to have it ready and went on autopilot

the NO3 is lower than when I last tested so I think my current feeding and dosing is hopefully more stable and no longer slowly bringing that up. I want alk to be lower though, so I am going to mix up some sw for a wc
 
Not sure if STN or RTN (is it just time based? Or are they different issues?) but the base of my A2 sunshine Millie bleached last night. It must be nutrients or the low pH?

I have 7 gal ready for a water change and will be doing that after work today, it should bring the alk down a bit and hopefully make things happier, I’ve been losing tissue on some LPS and some montis/stylos but they will hopefully be able to recover. I am interested to see what my PO4 will be when I get more reagent and can test.


I don’t want to cause too many changes all at once so I will wait, but I do want to remove my UV and see if the dinos return. It takes up space in the display because I couldn’t fit it in the back chambers so ideally Ill remove it and not need it. If I feel the need to add it back I’ll switch to an external one like aquaUV so I can just put a pump in the chambers to feed it
 
Alk 8.8 but I reduced the dosing that was keeping it stable to lower slowly to around 7, we’ll see where it settles I just want to bring it down a bit
PO4: .55ppm
NO3: 10-25 ppm but closer to 25 I belive, so stable from the last time I tested but maybe slightly higher. I’m going to reduce dosing for nitrates by 1mL

I’ll probably do another water change soon to get that down, but I also have filter pad again after running out and not using it for awhile which will decrease the nutrients eventually by reducing the amount of food that can break down. I’ll swap them out every 3-4 days and test NO3 and PO4 more often now that I got more reagent again
 
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Coral reefer said:
Damn that’s pretty high...I’d get the gfo going already. Nitrates seem plenty high, why keep dosing that?
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I know I need to adjust because it has impacted some corals, but the acros are all doing well so I’m afraid of bringing the nutrients back down too quickly if that’s logical? I don’t want to move it too quickly.
I was dosing 3mL of my NO3 mixture per day and will bring it down to 1mL because it appears to be trending upwards and like you said it’s high.
The last time I tested PO4 it was over .9ppm so I know it is already trending down based on the result today, I want to wait to add GFO until I test tomorrow and Monday.
 
I’m perplexed by the mixed success I’m having with the tank currently. all the acros I've added are doing well besides the Millie I had rtn. The pe on the BC magic wand makes it look like just polyps, it’s awesome. But at the same time I’ve lost half the heads on a duncan with 20+ heads, stylos lost tissue in spots, and some encrusting montis bleached while others have nice pe and color. Zoas, leathers, gsp, and euphylia have been normal and growing.

this makes me think it could be caused by the fluctuations I’ve had. I had alk go up quickly when I saw it going down and increased dosage by too much. I saw PO4 and NO3 go up and then back down to the levels I posted yesterday. But I would expect the lps and hardy sps to survive while having losses for the acros. I hope I’m not jinxing myself, but it just seems very odd. Does anyone have any guesses?

my guesses are:
fluctuations
I was dosing live phyto, when I ran out I stopped (not sure this would have an impact, but it could be a factor?)

I don’t have any known coral nippers: just two clowns, a cleaner shrimp, hermits, and assorted snails

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I don't think it's possible to keep everything happy all the time. Different coral want different amounts of light, nutrients, energy.

Alk is one thing you want to keep stable. Stability there is often more important than level, you should increase alk by small increments. My last tank crashed because of an Alk spike. Doesn't mess around.

If you stabilize alk and then you still see issues ... a few things to check:
* Anything stinging the corals?
* Any inverts who might be picking at those specifically?
* Any changes (if you dosed something and stopped, that can always be a culprit)


In my experience there's always some luck involved. Try moving things around the tank, sometimes a small change in flow, light, etc. can be disruptive and imperceptible to you.

I've never had the pristine tanks that people who manage it like crazy do, but I generally have gotten good growth on most corals. That said, some corals just won't grow in your tank period - no matter where you move them; maybe it's the micro-biome in your tank, pests, other coral chemicals, etc.
 
Thanks @borker that all makes sense. I know it’s asking a lot to have everything happy in a mixed reef, especially one with a limited volume like mine. hopefully I can find better spots for some of the ones that have taken a turn for the worse. At least my acros are happy.

It has been interesting, the alk is not going down despite reducing the dosage. I will wait another day and see What happens before making another adjustment
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max_nano said:
Thanks @borker that all makes sense. I know it’s asking a lot to have everything happy in a mixed reef, especially one with a limited volume like mine. hopefully I can find better spots for some of the ones that have taken a turn for the worse. At least my acros are happy.

It has been interesting, the alk is not going down despite reducing the dosage. I will wait another day and see What happens before making another adjustment
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It's possible your phos level is stunting growth. Also what's your ph been?
 
Meshmez said:
It's possible your phos level is stunting growth. Also what's your ph been?
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pH is always low even with my windows open 24/7, I still have my scrubber teady for when I get a skimmer, but I have been holding off on buying a skimmer for another month. The nano ones are pricey And I’m basically just using it as an air stone. With that said, increasing pH seems to be close to proven as a solution. the brs stuff recently, Rostatos tank, and other bar members all contribute success to high pH among other factors.
 
max_nano said:
pH is always low even with my windows open 24/7, I still have my scrubber teady for when I get a skimmer, but I have been holding off on buying a skimmer for another month. The nano ones are pricey And I’m basically just using it as an air stone. With that said, increasing pH seems to be close to proven as a solution. the brs stuff recently, Rostatos tank, and other bar members all contribute success to high pH among other factors.
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Skimmer might help with them nutrients too... ;):p

I dont care what anyone says. Ph 100% affects alk in a very noticeable way. Whether or not it matters if it's over 8.3 or 8.2 or 8.1 I'm not sure. But there is a difference between 7.8 and 8.2 for sure.
 
Coral reefer said:
Damn that’s pretty high...I’d get the gfo going already. Nitrates seem plenty high, why keep dosing that?
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Well PO4 went higher so I am adding a bag with gfo
Also alk still rose despite lowering dosage. I will reduce it again my 1mL
Alk: 9.3
PO4: .60
NO3: between 10-25 again

results from saturday
Alk: 8.8
PO4: .55
NO3: 10-25 (estimate 15)


I started taking pics of the NO3 result but I looked at them awhile and just feel like I’m going crazy
C2A1E543-441E-4378-8D0A-C31C7B4C0E9A.jpeg6744F65A-6F0F-4AF7-A3BB-56DB5FFE02BE.jpeg
I can’t tell the difference and just feel like
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Added 1/2 cup of GFO in a media bag to get the phosphate going down. I ordered a skimmer and might remove the GFO when I add the skimmer but I will watch by testing and decide based on that.

In theory the GFO would be removing the existing phosphate while a skimmer would remove the waste before it breaks down? So the GFOs impact will be noticeable by testing after adding while a skimmers impact on nutrients would take longer to see by testing?
 
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