Raising nitrates/phosphates

[Aurortpa]

22 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

It can takes months before SPS start taking off. Especially sticks. Montis, caps and few others might be an exception. 

Unless you're killing them, you should not worry a whole lot. Be patient. 

You are absolutely right—very true. But Ive observed the few SPS I already had before I rebooted months ago have also stalled in growth. My forest fire digi most notably. 

 

Maybe it’s readjusting to it’s conditions but typically it grows even when my tank was in not ideal conditions. 

 

I dont think at this point switching to bi weekly water changes would hurt. I run a very low risk of accumulating nutrients that’s for sure. I’d be happy if I even got a test result of 5 ppm nitrates and .01 phos lol.  

 

It’s definitely a balancing act because I don’t want any macros going sexual if they don’t get enough nutrients.  I’ve been pruning and fragging them to help reduce the chances.  

[empresto]

2 hours ago, Aurortpa said:

@empresto very useful first hand information, thank you—absolutely crazy that a cube a day with a broadcast is taken care of by your macros. Clearly I may still be underfeeding!

 

Yet I feel I should heed @specore,  @Clown79, and @A Little Blue‘s advice and at least make very slow changes. If I change too many variables at once I may not find which one actually triggered a result, especially dependent on if it’s a good or bad one. In the past I used to take drastic measures to effect changes and it only led to complications...like over correcting a car to avoid something on the road.  

 

I think I’ll try reducing frequency of water changes first. The fish are definitely not starving, quite the opposite lol.  My LPS seem to be growing and budding but my SPS altho coloring up are growing at a snail’s pace—like a very lazy astrea snail pace to be clear lol.  My macros are absolutely flourishing so there is clearly competition here. 

Agreed!  Slow changes and one variable at a time are definitely the way to go.  Going from my previous feeding and water change regiment to what I'm doing now was not an overnight thing, and I made sure the check a lot of variables before concluding that it was in fact a nutrient shortage and not something else.

[A Little Blue]

1 hour ago, Aurortpa said:

You are absolutely right—very true. But Ive observed the few SPS I already had before I rebooted months ago have also stalled in growth. My forest fire digi most notably. 

 

Maybe it’s readjusting to it’s conditions but typically it grows even when my tank was in not ideal conditions. 

 

I dont think at this point switching to bi weekly water changes would hurt. I run a very low risk of accumulating nutrients that’s for sure. I’d be happy if I even got a test result of 5 ppm nitrates and .01 phos lol.  

 

It’s definitely a balancing act because I don’t want any macros going sexual if they don’t get enough nutrients.  I’ve been pruning and fragging them to help reduce the chances.  

You’re right Forest Fire is usually a fast grower. However, I have ForestF and Bubble gum which are somewhat similar as far as requirements and growth is concern and my BG seems to be in hibernation in comparison to FF few inches away. But you won’t see me stressing over it. Lol It is what it is. 

[Aurortpa]

@A Little Blue yup, if it was one or even just a few corals I definitely wouldn’t stress over it but overall I think my SPS and tank for the sake of my macros also could use a teeny tiny itty bit more nutrients, just to be safe.  But just a dash lol.

[A Little Blue]

33 minutes ago, Aurortpa said:

@A Little Blue yup, if it was one or even just a few corals I definitely wouldn’t stress over it but overall I think my SPS and tank for the sake of my macros also could use a teeny tiny itty bit more nutrients, just to be safe.  But just a dash lol.

As we talked about it earlier, raising nutrient levels isn’t that hard. Getting them down might be a little harder. 

IMO

You mentioned reducing water changes as a way to increase nutrients. It will reduce export of nutrients for sure but I don’t know if that’s the way to go. And you might try reducing WC if you’re confident your system can handle it without Ill effect. (Just to see what it does) I do WC every 3-4 weeks (about 3g) bc I see no need for more and I hate doing it. Lol

To raise my nutrients I simply focused on more aggressive feeding with wide variety of food, amino/fatty acids and supplements. Unfortunately I don’t have any formula that I can share with you. I just add things when I feel like it or when I have some extra time to spare. 

[mcarroll]

On 9/17/2018 at 4:00 PM, Aurortpa said:

The fish are definitely not starving, quite the opposite lol.

 

On 9/17/2018 at 4:00 PM, Aurortpa said:

My macros are absolutely flourishing so there is clearly competition here. 

 

IMO you hit the nail on the head.

 

 

Sounds like fish are fine and corals are fine, but you can see obvious signs of competition with your macro algae.

 

So don't change how you're feeding your fish.  

 

Don't do anything different to feed corals either.

 

Don't shut down your skimmer.

 

Instead butcher your macroalgae down to golfball size (or equivalent)

...and/or reduce the light cycle on it

...and/or just take it out for a while to see how things do.  

 

Sounds like you could probably do without it now.

 

Perhaps because corals are grown and consuming a lot as well?