Low Nutrients/How much is okay to feed?

[tidepooldreamer]

I'm having trouble with very low nutrients in my tank (nitrate and phosphate both reading at 0). My corals (small zoa frag and a ricordea) look fine, but they aren't really growing so I'm guessing there's not enough food for them. I also haven't really had any algae growth - ever - since setting up the tank last November. My rocks and sand are less stark white than when I added them but that's about as dramatic as it's been. At least I haven't had any dino troubles!

 

I'm not wholly surprised by this, since there's almost no livestock in the tank. It's a "15 gallon" (more like 10 gal actual volume) with 3 blue leg hermits. I know adding more animals would help with my levels but that's not an option for me until mid-November.

 

In the meantime, what's my best approach to get nutrients to a happier level? I've read either feeding more heavily, or dosing. I'm happy to do either, but I'm not sure exactly how much extra food could be feasibly added with such a light stock. Currently I am feeding daily, rotating between frozen mysis (1/6 block maybe?) + phytofeast (~10 drops for the tank), NLS pellets (3-5), and dried nori. As it stands, the crabs aren't able to finish most of the frozen food. I worry about excess uneaten food causing possible issues for the tank (is ammonia a risk)?
If I go the dosing route, is there a particular brand recommended? I'd rather not spend a ton on a large supply when I hopefully won't need it after stocking more fully!

 

Thanks! 🙂

[filefishfinatic]

1 minute ago, tidepooldreamer said:

I'm having trouble with very low nutrients in my tank (nitrate and phosphate both reading at 0). My corals (small zoa frag and a ricordea) look fine, but they aren't really growing so I'm guessing there's not enough food for them. I also haven't really had any algae growth - ever - since setting up the tank last November. My rocks and sand are less stark white than when I added them but that's about as dramatic as it's been. At least I haven't had any dino troubles!

 

I'm not wholly surprised by this, since there's almost no livestock in the tank. It's a "15 gallon" (more like 10 gal actual volume) with 3 blue leg hermits. I know adding more animals would help with my levels but that's not an option for me until mid-November.

 

In the meantime, what's my best approach to get nutrients to a happier level? I've read either feeding more heavily, or dosing. I'm happy to do either, but I'm not sure exactly how much extra food could be feasibly added with such a light stock. Currently I am feeding daily, rotating between frozen mysis (1/6 block maybe?) + phytofeast (~10 drops for the tank), NLS pellets (3-5), and dried nori. As it stands, the crabs aren't able to finish most of the frozen food. I worry about excess uneaten food causing possible issues for the tank (is ammonia a risk)?
If I go the dosing route, is there a particular brand recommended? I'd rather not spend a ton on a large supply when I hopefully won't need it after stocking more fully!

 

Thanks! 🙂

get some EI nitrate its ridiculousy  cheap. also, what you can do is feed your ricordea a lot and make it poop. also, if you want to dose other elements, you can use road salt and baking soda along with epsom. i will get back to you with the numbers for it though. 

[Clown79]

1 hour ago, tidepooldreamer said:

I'm having trouble with very low nutrients in my tank (nitrate and phosphate both reading at 0). My corals (small zoa frag and a ricordea) look fine, but they aren't really growing so I'm guessing there's not enough food for them. I also haven't really had any algae growth - ever - since setting up the tank last November. My rocks and sand are less stark white than when I added them but that's about as dramatic as it's been. At least I haven't had any dino troubles!

 

I'm not wholly surprised by this, since there's almost no livestock in the tank. It's a "15 gallon" (more like 10 gal actual volume) with 3 blue leg hermits. I know adding more animals would help with my levels but that's not an option for me until mid-November.

 

In the meantime, what's my best approach to get nutrients to a happier level? I've read either feeding more heavily, or dosing. I'm happy to do either, but I'm not sure exactly how much extra food could be feasibly added with such a light stock. Currently I am feeding daily, rotating between frozen mysis (1/6 block maybe?) + phytofeast (~10 drops for the tank), NLS pellets (3-5), and dried nori. As it stands, the crabs aren't able to finish most of the frozen food. I worry about excess uneaten food causing possible issues for the tank (is ammonia a risk)?
If I go the dosing route, is there a particular brand recommended? I'd rather not spend a ton on a large supply when I hopefully won't need it after stocking more fully!

 

Thanks! 🙂

If they aren't eating all what you are feeding, then reduce it as this will lead to waste build up.

 

Reducing waterchange size/frequency will help.

 

The best and cleanest method is dosing.

 

Esv bionic and brightwell sell dosing products that are good and easy to use.

 

Also if you are using anything lije chemipure blue, elite, phosguard, purigen- stop using it.

 

You can use small amounts of regular activated carbon but no nitrate/phos reducers.

[tidepooldreamer]

2 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

If they aren't eating all what you are feeding, then reduce it as this will lead to waste build up.

 

Reducing waterchange size/frequency will help.

 

The best and cleanest method is dosing.

 

Esv bionic and brightwell sell dosing products that are good and easy to use.

 

Also if you are using anything lije chemipure blue, elite, phosguard, purigen- stop using it.

 

You can use small amounts of regular activated carbon but no nitrate/phos reducers.

Thanks - I'll pick up one of those and try dosing. My filtration is only floss and carbon.

[DevilDuck]

1 hour ago, tidepooldreamer said:

I'm having trouble with very low nutrients in my tank (nitrate and phosphate both reading at 0). My corals (small zoa frag and a ricordea) look fine, but they aren't really growing so I'm guessing there's not enough food for them. I also haven't really had any algae growth - ever - since setting up the tank last November. My rocks and sand are less stark white than when I added them but that's about as dramatic as it's been. At least I haven't had any dino troubles!

 

I'm not wholly surprised by this, since there's almost no livestock in the tank. It's a "15 gallon" (more like 10 gal actual volume) with 3 blue leg hermits. I know adding more animals would help with my levels but that's not an option for me until mid-November.

 

In the meantime, what's my best approach to get nutrients to a happier level? I've read either feeding more heavily, or dosing. I'm happy to do either, but I'm not sure exactly how much extra food could be feasibly added with such a light stock. Currently I am feeding daily, rotating between frozen mysis (1/6 block maybe?) + phytofeast (~10 drops for the tank), NLS pellets (3-5), and dried nori. As it stands, the crabs aren't able to finish most of the frozen food. I worry about excess uneaten food causing possible issues for the tank (is ammonia a risk)?
If I go the dosing route, is there a particular brand recommended? I'd rather not spend a ton on a large supply when I hopefully won't need it after stocking more fully!

 

Thanks! 🙂

 

This is part of the new tank process. Low stock, light feedings and new algae growth contributes to low nutrients as well as anything that removes uneaten food/organics before it completely breaks down such as skimmers, filter socks floss, activated carbon, gac, and other scavenging media. 

 

To address this I recommend dosing nitrate and phosphate until you get testable amounts and removing any scavenging media like GAC, Phosguard etc.  I personally use Brightwell NeoPhos and NeoNitrate just because that's what my local fish store has. You can also DIY by using food grade or lab grade potassium nitrate and potassium phosphate powder from Amazon mixed in RODI. Dosing nitrate and phosphate will give more predictable results and will take effect immediately. 

 

Zero nitrate and phosphate puts you at risk for dinoflagellates which is a fight you don't want ever want.

 

Once your tank matures you will get stable uptake of nitrate and phosphate. 

 

 

 

 

[jservedio]

5 hours ago, DevilDuck said:

 

To address this I recommend dosing nitrate and phosphate until you get testable amounts and removing any scavenging media like GAC, Phosguard etc.

Totally agree with one small change - if there is any chemical filtration, I would take that out first and wait a few weeks to see if things naturally corrected.

 

Going straight to dosing while also removing chemical filtration at the same time can lead to an over correction. With no dinos and nothing receding, there is no need to rush raising nutrients.

 

But if there's no media, go straight to dosing!

[tidepooldreamer]

24 minutes ago, jservedio said:

Totally agree with one small change - if there is any chemical filtration, I would take that out first and wait a few weeks to see if things naturally corrected.

 

Going straight to dosing while also removing chemical filtration at the same time can lead to an over correction. With no dinos and nothing receding, there is no need to rush raising nutrients.

 

But if there's no media, go straight to dosing!

Remove activated carbon, too?

 

Thanks for all the help!

[jservedio]

2 hours ago, tidepooldreamer said:

Remove activated carbon, too?

 

Thanks for all the help!

I personally would, but there are perfectly valid reasons to run a bit of carbon. As long as you are not going overboard with it and using it sparingly, it's totally fine to run.

 

If you are only running a small amount of carbon and not other chemical media, I'd go ahead and start dosing now to slowly bring up your nutrients.

[Jakesaw]

8 hours ago, DevilDuck said:

 

 

Zero nitrate and phosphate puts you at risk for dinoflagellates which is a fight you don't want ever want.

 

 

*** SNARL ***