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So no basic phytoplankton dose either?For now it’s a whole lot of fish poop. That’s why I started with a lot of fish and went with my “treat it as a fish tank first philosophy.” I do have an ATS on the tank. It was stripping faster than I liked so I dialed it back to 5 hours a day. An ICP showed I was getting low on trace elements (which the scrubber removes en masse) so I dosed Brightwell Restore. Once my levels were back to normal and the ATS was tuned down, I stopped dosing the trace elements and stuck with water changes; unless ofcourse I start to see the issues again.
I treat additives in bottles as tools to be used when I need to fix. I never rely on them for daily doses. In the end, I know a large water change is more in balance than playing mad scientist with elements that are already scarce in seawater to begin with. I don’t see myself needing to use an amino acid supplement (if at all) for a few years as the tank grows in and I can’t feed the fish enough anymore compared to the coral load. But, before that happens I’ll always tune down the skimmer, remove the ATS or even take the skimmer offline half the day before I resort to bottles.