Our mission

Raising nutrients

I’ve not read all the previous post, so if I’m repeating, please disregard

Nutrients...
There is nutrition from feeding your livestock and there is “excess nutrient” which participates in algae growrth.
You livestock needs to be fed...so feed them. Feed them well and feed them often.

Livestock produces waste
That waste contains nitrogen, ammonia, phosphate...that is “nutrient” for undesirable life forms
The solution to the build up of these “nutrient” pollution is water changes
 
Meshmez said:
My concern about the timer for the skimmer is ato fluctuations. I figure when it's off water will evaporate but not fill (because water level has risen) then when the skimmer kicks on ato refills the evaporated water, plus the displaced water. Day to day this is probably negligible, over time I would think this would drop salinity. Am I over thinking this?
Click to expand...
Put your ATO sensor at a level when the skimmer is on, then when the skimmer goes off the water will rise and the ATO will not trigger, when the skimmer goes back on any evaporation will get topped off and you'll be at your ideal salinity level.

That said, I would only do this if you think your skimmer is over sized for your system.
 
As others have stated, you can either add more nutrients through food, aminos, dosing; or you can pull out less nutrients, by skimmer less, turning down your fuge lighting period, not running GFO, reducing water change frequency, etc.

Within those two approaches, I go with feeding more, turning down fuge light schedule, and removing GFO as my first line.

I have never turned off my skimmer because I like the aeration it brings, and a stable pH is important to me. I think water changes are important for trace and the “invisible stuff” that it helps to normalize.

I have dosed aminos and nitrate before, but I am not convinced they do anything besides change numbers on test kits. I would dose aminos before potassium nitrate if I had to.

Hope this helps!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thanks everyone, I have started feeding more, reduced fuge lighting by a couple hours, and turned down my skimmer to be a little more "dry". I realized that I was feeding about 1/3 of the coral food as is "suggested" by the mfg. For now i'll just keep an eye on N&P while they come up, and adjust accordingly.
 
rygh said:
Feeding more sounds great.
Why not just turn skimmer OFF completely? One less hassle to deal with.
Same with fuge, why have one at all?
Click to expand...
I have turned the skimmer off on the frag tank for now, I'm reluctant to turn it off on the DT because Im worried about aeration. I was probably premature on getting the chaeto up and running, but would like to keep it online as i assume at some point my tank will be more heavily stocked, and need that export. My guess is my bioload is WAAAAYYY below what my system is capable of handling right now.

I think in general I was feeding WAAAYYY more conservatively than I need to. Now realizing that was likely my issue, I'm hoping I can use all my tools to maintain a balance. I have been reefing for close to 10 years now, but I dont think I really had a good understanding of nutrient management. I always have more to learn! I think Im learning it now, and hopefully I can apply it well!
 
rygh said:
Feeding more sounds great.
Why not just turn skimmer OFF completely? One less hassle to deal with.
Same with fuge, why have one at all?
Click to expand...
Ph for both. Is leave skimmer on and take cup off before I turned it off. Could always do a co2 scrubber instead I guess
 
Yes, in sump.
I actually do this. I have always had PH issues.
Salt creep is not a problem for me, but it might be depending on sump design.
Although it would be the same as an overflowing skimmer with cup removed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top