Nano reef - large water changes but maintaining phosphate/nitrate

[RZGreef]

I have a nano reef (Fluval Evo 13.5gal) setup going on a little over 3 months now. I've managed to get past the diatom bloom, and a case of dinos followed by cyano. The worst of the ugly stage seems to have passed.

My question is about ongoing water changes, and maintaining at least some low levels of nitrate and phosphate to keep corals happy, and avoid a repeat dinos and other problems. I've seen the typical recommendation of 10% water change per week is fine for larger tanks, but for nano tanks, like mine, it's better to go bigger, as much as 50%. I've read that both here on reef2reef, and also saw mention of it on a recent BRS video where they had folks from WWC on.

The problem I experience is that when I do those 50% water changes, my nitrates and phosphates tend to bottom out to 0. That makes me concerned because I don't want to have to go through another case of dinos which was a pain to deal with.

What should be the right approach? Do those who perform large water changes on nanos then dose nitrates and phosphates? Or do you just ignore the advice on the large water changes, and just monitor nitrates/phosphates and only do a water change once they start to get too high?

Please help me understand. I haven't found a clear answer on balancing water changes yet keeping nitrates/phosphates above 0, on nano tanks. Thank you!

 

[ReeferJay86]

I’d say you would be fine doing a 10% water change weekly. That’s only 1.35gal change. I would test you Nitrate/Phosphate mid week to see where they stand. Just so after every water change you can see if there's a trend. If they drop too far, do little less water change. Now this also depends if you have a skimmer, refugium or using any chemical media that will deplete these nutrients. I had this same one and used it for a frag tank. Grew coralline like crazy.

 

[RZGreef]

I’d say you would be fine doing a 10% water change weekly. That’s only 1.35gal change. I would test you Nitrate/Phosphate mid week to see where they stand. Just so after every water change you can see if there's a trend. If they drop too far, do little less water change. Now this also depends if you have a skimmer, refugium or using any chemical media that will deplete these nutrients. I had this same one and used it for a frag tank. Grew coralline like crazy.

Thanks for the insight on what you did with the same tank. That's helpful.

In chamber 1, I have filter floss at the top, some bio balls in the middle, then a small pouch of carbon below that. Chamber 2 holds some rock rubble. Chamber 3 has an Aquamaxx Bullet-1 HOB skimmer in it, but there's almost no skimmate being produced because the bioload is very light, and also the big water changes (until now) leave little to be pulled out. It serves more to oxygenate the water than anything else. Since I have the stock lid and lights on, it limits gas exchange, and my pH was running around 7.8 until I got the skimmer, but runs around 8.0-8.1 now. Eventually I do plan to get better lights, and a screen lid, and will need an ATO too then, but for now I'm not there yet. No sign of growing coralline yet, but the tank's only a bit over 4 months in (typo in my original message when I said a bit over 3 mos).

 

[ReeferJay86]

Just give it some time, try not to over think things. I know, I do it from time to time. You’re heading in the right track. Skimmer is always helpful for gas exchange, eventually it will start to pull out gunk. For ATO, I’d go with Tunze Nano. I have one on my IM 30L. Best investment ever. The stock light work fairly well. It can grow some easy SPS if they’re about 3-4 in under the surface. My Acans and hammers did well at the bottom. In turns of flow, I used an Aquamai nano. Purchased it at Petco, it has Wi-Fi capabilities and has some presets to choose from or make your own schedule. It’s about the size of an egg, perfect for this size tank. I hope everything else works out well for you. Keeps us updated with your progress.

 

[Kellie in CA]

I have always had nanos. Never had a skimmer and 10-15% change every other week has worked for me.

 

[RZGreef]

Thank you, both @ReeferJay86 and @Kellie in CA . I'll stick to the 10%-ish water changes, and monitor NO3 & Phos.

I have the hygger Mini wavemaker in there, which is about the size of the aquamai nano I think. I got it when I was getting cyano, and it really helped clear that up too, and has helped with maintaining the sandbed as well. I'm really happy with it.

 

[jgalina]

How's your tank doing now? I have a similar setup in my EVO, just made some additional upgrades, aded the Ice Cap ATO, AI Prime HD light, InTank chamber 2 and did add the Fluval skimmer which is working well, a pain to adjust but once it's ready it works well. I'm also battling a bit with my low nitrates and phosphates, but I do believe with 10% weekly water changes, you should be good. Hope everything's working well for you.

 

[RZGreef]

How's your tank doing now? I have a similar setup in my EVO, just made some additional upgrades, aded the Ice Cap ATO, AI Prime HD light, InTank chamber 2 and did add the Fluval skimmer which is working well, a pain to adjust but once it's ready it works well. I'm also battling a bit with my low nitrates and phosphates, but I do believe with 10% weekly water changes, you should be good. Hope everything's working well for you.

It seems to be doing well, being about 8 months in. I've settled on a water change routine of 20% every other week. Things just cleared up and stabilized around the 5-6 month point. I have almost no unwanted algae now except for one spot - more on that below.

I'm happy with the Aquamaxx Bullet-1 skimmer. After I set it originally, I haven't really had to adjust it at all. I clean out the collection cup once a month, and the whole thing every 3 months. I'd recommend it if the Fluval skimmer doesn't meet your needs

I have also replaced the stock light with the AI Blade Grow 12" which fits just about perfectly in the stock lid's light opening. The tank runs a couple of degrees cooler too with this light, and there's no light bleed into the room.

I'm still doing manual top offs rather than an ATO, but with the lid in place the evaporation is minimal so not a big deal. So far I have a pipe organ which is growing like crazy, a torch, a blasto, a candy cane, and a goni that are all doing well. I also have a clove polyp which is struggling, but I am not sure why.

I have a small pair of clowns and a hector goby who get fed a small amount once a day - rotating between pellet, frozen and flake.

I also broadcast feed Benereef 3x/week and can see great response from the corals each time. Even the fish try to grab the bigger bits.

I recently started dosing a bit of all-for-reef too.

There are 2 things I'm currently trying to solve:

1. A bit of algae growth on the skeleton of the pipe organ. The coral doesn't seem bothered by it, but I see the thin filaments of the algae clearly when it's all retracted. It's not hair algae, but some other kind of macro that originally came in on the shell of a snail. I had tried to remove it before adding the snail to the tank but I guess I didn't get all of it. It's only there and nowhere else in the tank, not even on the snail any longer. The goby does pick at that algae, so I'm hoping in time it'll clear up. Just watching it mostly for now, and occasionally manually pulling some away during water changes.

2. I can't get coralline algae to grow at all. I see phots of tanks half the age of mine already growing pinks and purples. Absolutely none in mine. I added some snails that had it on their shells many months ago in hopes of seeding but no luck. I also tried the live coralline in a bottle route some months back, but no results with that either.

These minor issues aside, I'd say it's doing well, and the less I futz with it the better it seems to do.

 

[MoshJosh]

What are your parameters? Should be changing water and dosing based on those. Also your skimmer will play a roll. If you are bottoming out your nitrate and phosphate change less water or turn off the skimmer. If changing less water (or less often) solves your nutrients depletion but your corals are depleting other elements too quickly, dose those elements.

Or feed more/clean filter floss less often

 

[jgalina]

It seems to be doing well, being about 8 months in. I've settled on a water change routine of 20% every other week. Things just cleared up and stabilized around the 5-6 month point. I have almost no unwanted algae now except for one spot - more on that below.

I'm happy with the Aquamaxx Bullet-1 skimmer. After I set it originally, I haven't really had to adjust it at all. I clean out the collection cup once a month, and the whole thing every 3 months. I'd recommend it if the Fluval skimmer doesn't meet your needs

I have also replaced the stock light with the AI Blade Grow 12" which fits just about perfectly in the stock lid's light opening. The tank runs a couple of degrees cooler too with this light, and there's no light bleed into the room.

I'm still doing manual top offs rather than an ATO, but with the lid in place the evaporation is minimal so not a big deal. So far I have a pipe organ which is growing like crazy, a torch, a blasto, a candy cane, and a goni that are all doing well. I also have a clove polyp which is struggling, but I am not sure why.

I have a small pair of clowns and a hector goby who get fed a small amount once a day - rotating between pellet, frozen and flake.

I also broadcast feed Benereef 3x/week and can see great response from the corals each time. Even the fish try to grab the bigger bits.

I recently started dosing a bit of all-for-reef too.

There are 2 things I'm currently trying to solve:

1. A bit of algae growth on the skeleton of the pipe organ. The coral doesn't seem bothered by it, but I see the thin filaments of the algae clearly when it's all retracted. It's not hair algae, but some other kind of macro that originally came in on the shell of a snail. I had tried to remove it before adding the snail to the tank but I guess I didn't get all of it. It's only there and nowhere else in the tank, not even on the snail any longer. The goby does pick at that algae, so I'm hoping in time it'll clear up. Just watching it mostly for now, and occasionally manually pulling some away during water changes.

2. I can't get coralline algae to grow at all. I see phots of tanks half the age of mine already growing pinks and purples. Absolutely none in mine. I added some snails that had it on their shells many months ago in hopes of seeding but no luck. I also tried the live coralline in a bottle route some months back, but no results with that either.

These minor issues aside, I'd say it's doing well, and the less I futz with it the better it seems to do.

Glad to see that your tank is thriving towards maturity, mine is still very young, just went by the diatom stage but otherwise everything is doing great.
I also added snails with Coraline algae on them thinking it would do the trick, I'll let you know if I get some in the following months. Good tip on the AI Blade, hope I knew it sooner, because the cover would have been very useful vs. evaporation.