alex277
Community Member
I’m coming off of an outbreak of ich that ended up taking about 60% of my livestock. I’ll admit during this time I was fairly discouraged and didn’t keep up with my water changes or filtration as much as I should have. I was in the process of lowering nitrate anyway, it was previously up around 35ppm. Now it’s something like 75ppm. What’s odd is my phosphate is only .07ppm, so nothing really needs to be done here. Tank is almost 2 years old now, and I don’t have any coral currently. End goal is an lps dominant tank with maybe a couple non-lps coral.
I want to get nitrate down and then start stocking again when numbers are looking better. I have tried my hand at refugiums in the past and not sure it’s something I want to do again. A tank of my size (180g) takes so much chaeto gro and I always eventually hit a point that the macro stops growing and just dies back. It doesn’t seem the most consistent, at least for my tank. Looking for a long term alternative, I think the tropic Marin carbon dosing system seems like a good option.
I like the idea that if nutrients get too low I can move to maintaining, rather than lowering. And it sounds like it will be beneficial to coral when those are added, as well. Is there any harm in dosing this prior to adding coral? And will it help me effectively reduce nitrates alongside 15% water changes? Also, it is my understanding that carbon dosing doesn’t really lower phosphate effectively, which would be perfect, considering mine is already at a good range. Is this the case?
I really am looking for a long term aid in keeping nitrates where I want them to be, and honestly this seems like a better option than a refugium in the sense that it seems much more “tunable”.
Anyone have any experience and could chime in with any info?
I want to get nitrate down and then start stocking again when numbers are looking better. I have tried my hand at refugiums in the past and not sure it’s something I want to do again. A tank of my size (180g) takes so much chaeto gro and I always eventually hit a point that the macro stops growing and just dies back. It doesn’t seem the most consistent, at least for my tank. Looking for a long term alternative, I think the tropic Marin carbon dosing system seems like a good option.
I like the idea that if nutrients get too low I can move to maintaining, rather than lowering. And it sounds like it will be beneficial to coral when those are added, as well. Is there any harm in dosing this prior to adding coral? And will it help me effectively reduce nitrates alongside 15% water changes? Also, it is my understanding that carbon dosing doesn’t really lower phosphate effectively, which would be perfect, considering mine is already at a good range. Is this the case?
I really am looking for a long term aid in keeping nitrates where I want them to be, and honestly this seems like a better option than a refugium in the sense that it seems much more “tunable”.
Anyone have any experience and could chime in with any info?
