New Tank, Stop Water Changes?

[Hezam]

Hello everyone,

Hope y'all doing well. I set up a 300 gallon tank a little over 3 months ago. It started with dead rock that was once live. My problem is that my nutrients are always bottoming out. I am having some struggles with quarantine and the tank only has two clown fish. Its honestly all empty. I feed very little only enough for the clowns. My phosphates hit zero once or twice. I started to feed pellets and finally started to notice some phosphates. My nitrates are between 10-25ppm (its honestly all over the place but I am getting hanna checker to confirm). So now my phosphates are 0.03, but that drops if I don't feed pellets. Thankfully I have no algae issues just some diatoms in the sand.

So my questions is, how do I maintain nutrients with this tank so the corals are happy? It has like 10 coral frags in it. Continue with the water change schedule every week? it drops to zero if I do WC and corals all close up. Switch to bi weekly or monthly water changes until I get some fish? Skimmer is on. Filters socks also are replaced frequently. Should I feed more? I am afraid of all the detritus build up with no one to eat the food.

Thanks for the help

 

[Sdoutreefer]

Hello everyone,

Hope y'all doing well. I set up a 300 gallon tank a little over 3 months ago. It started with dead rock that was once live. My problem is that my nutrients are always bottoming out. I am having some struggles with quarantine and the tank only has two clown fish. Its honestly all empty. I feed very little only enough for the clowns. My phosphates hit zero once or twice. I started to feed pellets and finally started to notice some phosphates. My nitrates are between 10-25ppm (its honestly all over the place but I am getting hanna checker to confirm). So now my phosphates are 0.03, but that drops if I don't feed pellets. Thankfully I have no algae issues just some diatoms in the sand.

So my questions is, how do I maintain nutrients with this tank so the corals are happy? It has like 10 coral frags in it. Continue with the water change schedule every week? it drops to zero if I do WC and corals all close up. Switch to bi weekly or monthly water changes until I get some fish? Skimmer is on. Filters socks also are replaced frequently. Should I feed more? I am afraid of all the detritus build up with no one to eat the food.

Thanks for the help

I had issues keeping No3 and Po4 *detectable*. I decided to pull off my roller mat, and start less frequent water changes, letting the 'good stuff' build up in the tank. Going to document that journey at my Tank Thread. I'll let you know how it goes.

Edit: Forgot to mention, my tank is roughly 2.5 months old.

 

[SliceGolfer]

Hello everyone,

Hope y'all doing well. I set up a 300 gallon tank a little over 3 months ago. It started with dead rock that was once live. My problem is that my nutrients are always bottoming out. I am having some struggles with quarantine and the tank only has two clown fish. Its honestly all empty. I feed very little only enough for the clowns. My phosphates hit zero once or twice. I started to feed pellets and finally started to notice some phosphates. My nitrates are between 10-25ppm (its honestly all over the place but I am getting hanna checker to confirm). So now my phosphates are 0.03, but that drops if I don't feed pellets. Thankfully I have no algae issues just some diatoms in the sand.

So my questions is, how do I maintain nutrients with this tank so the corals are happy? It has like 10 coral frags in it. Continue with the water change schedule every week? it drops to zero if I do WC and corals all close up. Switch to bi weekly or monthly water changes until I get some fish? Skimmer is on. Filters socks also are replaced frequently. Should I feed more? I am afraid of all the detritus build up with no one to eat the food.

Thanks for the help

Water changes primarily accomplish three things: 1) adjusting salinity, 2) lowering nutrients like nitrate and phosphate, 3) replenishing trace elements. How to and how well they accomplish those tasks are up for debate.

As your tank is new, nitrate, phosphate, alkalinity, they're all going to bounce up and down for the next 8 months. It's best to choose a range of parameters now and target those going forward. For example, you may want your Alk to be 9, nitrate at 10ppm, and phosphate 0.10ppm. Those are really good targets to aim for while you're learning how your tank will settle in.

I would stop water changes for now until you have more accurate baseline test information. Phosphate at 0.03 could very well be within the range of +/- variance of your test kit. Don't be afraid to feed your fish enough food that they will consume in 30 seconds. And don't worry about detritus for now. As the micro fauna is getting established, pods, snails, worms, etc could be consuming these left over foods at a microscopic level.

Let the corals and fish be your guide for now. Sounds like you still have the ugly phases coming, which is normal within the first 8 months.

Post a pic of your tank so we can all see your build!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It’s easy to dose N and P, and while I normally do not recommend stopping water changes, they also probably are not yet doing much useful so I’d stop for that reason until more is in the tank.

 

[Hezam]

I had issues keeping No3 and Po4 *detectable*. I decided to pull off my roller mat, and start less frequent water changes, letting the 'good stuff' build up in the tank. Going to document that journey at my Tank Thread. I'll let you know how it goes.

Edit: Forgot to mention, my tank is roughly 2.5 months old.

Will follow you! for sure I am interested. I haven't got a filter mat still too early for that level of polish I think

 

[Sdoutreefer]

Will follow you! for sure I am interested. I haven't got a filter mat still too early for that level of polish I think

Yes it is. I come from the world of ZERO filter socks or floss. So, when I set up this new tank, I figured I'd hook everything up. I was dosing live-phyto nightly, and had an Epiphone; the filter floss is catching all live-phyto and it is not getting to my tank mates like it should be.

So, I ordered a half gallon of pods from Dinkin's, along with a half gallon of live phyto and pulled my roller mat. I'm going to keep it off until I start seeing an improvement on my algae. I'm a firm believer that the pods, supplemented with live-phyto, will decimate the algae (obviously with the help of some of my CUC members).

 

[Hezam]

Water changes primarily accomplish three things: 1) adjusting salinity, 2) lowering nutrients like nitrate and phosphate, 3) replenishing trace elements. How to and how well they accomplish those tasks are up for debate.

As your tank is new, nitrate, phosphate, alkalinity, they're all going to bounce up and down for the next 8 months. It's best to choose a range of parameters now and target those going forward. For example, you may want your Alk to be 9, nitrate at 10ppm, and phosphate 0.10ppm. Those are really good targets to aim for while you're learning how your tank will settle in.

Thanks for the answers. My alk is rock solid at 7.8. I think because the corals are so small they aren't making a dent. They are growing though the Duncan went from 2 heads to 5 in just 2 months. I will try to keep those parameters stable. So basically water changes is a tool I can use to lower my nutrients, feed my corals trace elements and adjust the salinity. I am mainly worried about the ugly phase, I know its coming and I am scared. I do some algae here and there but its getting eaten by the snails. Also heard horror stories about dinos so trying not to drop to zero. I also noticed the corals puff up a lot when phosphates are up. The plate coral on the right isn't too happy right now and phosphates are lower. It was much more happy at 0.1 when I first started the tank.

I would stop water changes for now until you have more accurate baseline test information. Phosphate at 0.03 could very well be within the range of +/- variance of your test kit. Don't be afraid to feed your fish enough food that they will consume in 30 seconds. And don't worry about detritus for now. As the micro fauna is getting established, pods, snails, worms, etc could be consuming these left over foods at a microscopic level.

Yeah I found A TON of pods in the tank. Many small critters moving around. Some dove snails also made it to the tank and I think some bristle worms, but there is not enough of food for them to reproduce.

Let the corals and fish be your guide for now. Sounds like you still have the ugly phases coming, which is normal within the first 8 months.

Post a pic of your tank so we can all see your build!

The least thing I expected is how hard is it to take normal pictures of the tank. I swear its not that blue!

It’s easy to dose N and P, and while I normally do not recommend stopping water changes, they also probably are not yet doing much useful so I’d stop for that reason until more is in the tank.

Sounds good, would you feed more or dose N and P? They are the same thing basically but when would you use actual food and when would you dose the liquids

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Sounds good, would you feed more or dose N and P? They are the same thing basically but when would you use actual food and when would you dose the liquids

I would dose if you do not have to organisms needed to consume foods, or if there are other reasons to not want organics In foods, such as cyano or yellowing of the water.

 

[Hezam]

I would dose if you do not have to organisms needed to consume foods, or if there are other reasons to not want organics In foods, such as cyano or yellowing of the water.

Thanks a lot, I think I will dose. Not much to eat and I don't want the bristle worms to become featured in the next dune movie.

Can I dose phosphate alone since my Nitrates are at an acceptable level?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks a lot, I think I will dose. Not much to eat and I don't want the bristle worms to become featured in the next dune movie.

Can I dose phosphate alone since my Nitrates are at an acceptable level?

Yes.