Carbon Dosing with No skimmer in nano

[Polymate3D]

Hello everyone

The most recent video on BRSTV about Tropic Marin products and carbon dosing peek my interest, but the focus on these videos and most other data is on larger reef aquariums.

My 2 aquariums are both nano reefs at 8 US Gallons and 13 US Gallons.

My question is, would carbon dosing on a small scale and no skimmer be a recipe for disaster? My reasons is solely to improve the food sources to corals. I currently just do water changes and the aquarium has small soft corals and a few LPS. No Kalk etc.

So Just looking for people's opinions / advice. Both aquarium surface skim and keep the water surface agitated, but it basically runs from the live rock and a bit of cheatomorpha which I pull some out occasionally. This sits in the aquarium itself, so not on a special cycle.

- Paul

 

[Miami Reef]

Yes. You can carbon dose without a skimmer. Just start on the lower range since you have less export. A skimmer removes the majority of the bacteria IMO.

 

[DanyL]

I never done this, however imo an over grown bacterial population without a proper export method would quickly result in blooming.

 

[exnisstech]

I don't have nano but I have two tanks 40g and 65g total that I dose TM bacto balance with no skimmer on either.

EDIT : I forgot I'm also using bacto balance on my new tank of 285g total also with no skimmer.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hello everyone

The most recent video on BRSTV about Tropic Marin products and carbon dosing peek my interest, but the focus on these videos and most other data is on larger reef aquariums.

My 2 aquariums are both nano reefs at 8 US Gallons and 13 US Gallons.

My question is, would carbon dosing on a small scale and no skimmer be a recipe for disaster? My reasons is solely to improve the food sources to corals. I currently just do water changes and the aquarium has small soft corals and a few LPS. No Kalk etc.

So Just looking for people's opinions / advice. Both aquarium surface skim and keep the water surface agitated, but it basically runs from the live rock and a bit of cheatomorpha which I pull some out occasionally. This sits in the aquarium itself, so not on a special cycle.

- Paul

If you're not attempting to reduce nitrates, yes you can carbon dose just for the coral.

Very low dosing. If you see any cloudiness at all stop completely until it disappears.

 

[DanyL]

I don't have nano but I have two tanks 40g and 65g total that I dose TM bacto balance with no skimmer on either.

EDIT : I forgot I'm also using bacto balance on my new tank of 285g total also with no skimmer.

Very interesting!
I would have thought that without a skimmer, and small volume it would rather quickly trigger a bacterial bloom.

I've only been using Biopellets in the recent years, and oh boy how thick the skimmate becomes when I replenish the media. It is quite an aggressive method though compared to micro dosing carbon, and it is a large system (206g).

I'm also technically dosing a bit of carbon source in my frag tank (90g), but that's more of a side effect of my DIY Amino Acids which contains 10% of 40% Ethenol.

Out of curiosity - how much and how often are you dosing your smaller systems?

 

[exnisstech]

Out of curiosity - how much and how often are you dosing your smaller systems?

On the reefer 170 about 40g total 0.2ml daily and on the reefer 300 65g total 0.3ml daily up until last week when I cut the dose in half so 0.15 and 0.1 currently. I was having to dose NO3 occasionally and then had to dose N and P after testing 0 on both last week that's my reason for reducing the amount. This is a fairly new method for me so I'm experimenting a bit.

 

[DanyL]

On the reefer 170 about 40g total 0.2ml daily and on the reefer 300 65g total 0.3ml daily up until last week when I cut the dose in half so 0.15 and 0.1 currently. I was having to dose NO3 occasionally and then had to dose N and P after testing 0 on both last week that's my reason for reducing the amount. This is a fairly new method for me so I'm experimenting a bit.

Oh wow, these are tiny amounts
But it makes sense given the volume of the tanks and the lack of export
I guess the extra bacteria is mostly eaten by corals, very interesting

And yes, when we're playing with 1 or 2 of the CNP, it's very easy to bottom out either N/P or both, I've been there before..

I too dose nitrates on my main system, one of my goals of using Biopellets is to keep my phosphates under control, so it's basically a constant carbon source + nitrate, and it works very well and feeds my corals along the way.

 

[Polymate3D]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone.

I am going to track how the aquarium is doing and then I will likely start a very small dose and see how the corals react along with the phosphate / nitrate levels.

- Paul

 

[GARRIGA]

Carbon dosed off and on 16g total volume past 2 plus years without a skimmer. Often stress tested by exceeding recommendation as high as 15ml (although that had fish gasping for a short period) and steady 4ml although best was 2ml. Know when you've dosed too much because white bacterial slime shows up which dissipates quickly once dosing stopped. Taylor it back from there and should see no more problems. Can adjust based on nitrate levels desires and it does lower phosphates as well but not best at that. Just bacterial process requiring phosphates to process nitrates.