Tank aging/chemistry advice

[docforestal]

Hello
back to the hobby after a while and was lucky for a while, then unlucky, quit for 10 years - back now 3 months on 55 gallon, fowlr for now until aging and ready for corals
i dont have heavy fish load but feed on heavy side,
i used to be a fan of dsb, but i am starting to siphon mine;
no fuge, but hob skimmer and filter
i have been doing 15-25 gallon water changes every few weeks to keep nitrates down - although they admittedly are up and down; they stayed in the 5-10 range for a while - when they got to 20 i will do water change - recently this likely stressed and contributed/caused death of my lemon-peel angel and some mention i am being on the aggressive side for so young a tank

Is there a time line when to get more aggressive with parameters: nitrates/phosphates, eventually trace elements (my nitrates are in the 20 range the last week) - skimmer not dialed in tho this week) (phosphates with gfo staying in the 0.12-0.2 range)
hair algae dying off (nitrate contributer perhap)

In near future (saving $) i want to institute auto water changes to lessen the stress on tank/fish/me. although i know there are some with long term success without much/any water changes, the nutrients stay in there if not taken out
planning chaeto reactor as well as no room for fuge

admittedly i am a bit ocd and tend to go overboard but wish to do this responsibly and as well as i can - thanks for any advice

 

[glb]

Hello
back to the hobby after a while and was lucky for a while, then unlucky, quit for 10 years - back now 3 months on 55 gallon, fowlr for now until aging and ready for corals
i dont have heavy fish load but feed on heavy side,
i used to be a fan of dsb, but i am starting to siphon mine;
no fuge, but hob skimmer and filter
i have been doing 15-25 gallon water changes every few weeks to keep nitrates down - although they admittedly are up and down; they stayed in the 5-10 range for a while - when they got to 20 i will do water change - recently this likely stressed and contributed/caused death of my lemon-peel angel and some mention i am being on the aggressive side for so young a tank

Is there a time line when to get more aggressive with parameters: nitrates/phosphates, eventually trace elements (my nitrates are in the 20 range the last week) - skimmer not dialed in tho this week) (phosphates with gfo staying in the 0.12-0.2 range)
hair algae dying off (nitrate contributer perhap)

In near future (saving $) i want to institute auto water changes to lessen the stress on tank/fish/me. although i know there are some with long term success without much/any water changes, the nutrients stay in there if not taken out
planning chaeto reactor as well as no room for fuge

admittedly i am a bit ocd and tend to go overboard but wish to do this responsibly and as well as i can - thanks for any advice

I highly recommend AWC’s when your budget allows. My tank’s been up for 6 years and after installing my DOS for water changes, everything became more stable. Also, the more coral you add over time, the easier it will be to control nutrients. My nutrients stay pretty low even though I feed the fish and corals a lot. As far as stability for corals, LPS and softies can handle higher nutrients (nitrates even up to 10-15, but I don’t keep mine at that, and phosphates can also be higher). If you want to keep SPS, nitrates shouldn’t get much higher than 3ppm and phosphates around 0.02-0.05ppm IME. My nitrates are between 1-2 and phosphates around 0.02 and everything is happy. Good luck!

 

[Dan_P]

Hello
back to the hobby after a while and was lucky for a while, then unlucky, quit for 10 years - back now 3 months on 55 gallon, fowlr for now until aging and ready for corals
i dont have heavy fish load but feed on heavy side,
i used to be a fan of dsb, but i am starting to siphon mine;
no fuge, but hob skimmer and filter
i have been doing 15-25 gallon water changes every few weeks to keep nitrates down - although they admittedly are up and down; they stayed in the 5-10 range for a while - when they got to 20 i will do water change - recently this likely stressed and contributed/caused death of my lemon-peel angel and some mention i am being on the aggressive side for so young a tank

Is there a time line when to get more aggressive with parameters: nitrates/phosphates, eventually trace elements (my nitrates are in the 20 range the last week) - skimmer not dialed in tho this week) (phosphates with gfo staying in the 0.12-0.2 range)
hair algae dying off (nitrate contributer perhap)

In near future (saving $) i want to institute auto water changes to lessen the stress on tank/fish/me. although i know there are some with long term success without much/any water changes, the nutrients stay in there if not taken out
planning chaeto reactor as well as no room for fuge

admittedly i am a bit ocd and tend to go overboard but wish to do this responsibly and as well as i can - thanks for any advice

I am going to exercise an idea and maybe it will be useful. If not, toss it in the trash.

There are two competing forces in aquarium keeping. One of these forces produces waste but has a high priority: feed your animals enough to keep them healthy and in breeding condition. The opposing force is to minimize “waste” accumulation in the aquarium to make it pleasant to look at. Generally, green, red and golden slime are undesirable.

The aquarium surfaces, sand and rocks can harbor just so much bacteria and micro algae that keep waste accumulation to a minimum. Keeping the size of waste production in line with waste removal is aquarium management. If you want only the aquarium sand and rocks to process waste, you cannot cram your aquarium with living organisms at today’s standard. If you want to overstock a little, your system will need help removing waste. If you want to cram your aquarium with livestock, then the cabinet in the aquarium stand will need to resemble an oil refinery full of pipes, valves, and wastes removal unit operations.

So, there is no such thing as timing when it comes to waste removal. If your system is overstocked on day 1, then do what you have to to remove waste.

 

[docforestal]

@Dan_P thanks - i feel better that i am not being over aggressive with waste removal, i just have to diversify - increased skimming (still trying to get this thing tuned in right - aquamaxx hob), chaeto reactor i will play with and the water changes,
maybe if i get the auto water change thing done now will keep ahead easier and less stress to the fish