Carbon dosing, ULN and feeding habits

[evoIX_Reefer]

So my tank nutrient levels are normally pretty low. Red sea pro tests no3 near undetectable, Hanna is testing po4 near 0.02 constantly.

Yes, these are not fine tuned but by hobby standards are pretty good kits.

I dose NOPOX and at maintenance dosage. 2ml/day
10ml of reef energy a&b

Filtration using BM curve 5 and my chaeto is still growing out of control.

That being said. I am not seeing the coloration and explosion of growth. I do see growth on all corals but nothing amazing.

I feed my tank pellets almost every other day and rods food normally once on the weekends.


Can I and should I up my feeding habits since I am achieving ULN and can possibly get more food consumption into my corals?

Who does carbon dosing or achieves ULN with your preferred method and upped their feeding habits?

 

[offdahooklikeoj]

Whats the water volume of your tank? What type and how many fish do you have?
What kind of corals are you not seeing good colors and growth?

 

[jackson6745]

If you add carbon dosing on top of your already low nutrients you will kill all your SPS. Carbon dosing works to lower nutrient levels, but something about the bacteria growth causes your SPS to explode with growth and color if you don't strip your system.
Since your colors are already faded I wouldn't mess around. Increase your bioload, get nitrates somewhere between 5-15ppm, and then you'll be safe to play around with a carbon source, more importantly see a benefit and not kill your tank
I would remove the macros to let no3 levels climb a little.

 

[JBNY]

Agree with jackson6745 Also, how long are your giving things for you explosion of growth and color? A month or two many times it can take before you see the results you are looking for.

 

[evoIX_Reefer]

Total water volume was 80 (about to upgrade) but slight higher water volume due to bigger sump on the newer system.

I am probably overdoing it.

I was around 1-2ppm nitrates before dosing NOPOX and PO4 was closer to 0.04-0.08. 0.08 was when I forget to swap out my rowaphos.

I started dosing to lower the need for rowaphos and get my nitrates at a stable 0 as well as the hoping to actually grow SPS.

With higher nitrates (not at 0) I saw great Zoa growth (3-5 new heads almost every 2 months).

What growth and color I was expecting? Zoas aren't as "vibrant" as they were prior but expected the opposite. Much more PE on my remaining SPS and added coloration.

Before NOPOX my True GARF Bonsai was doing great and encrusting extremely fast and good color. Since NOPOX the color has faded and though there is slight growth, it looks like it is about to die out.

I have seen more PE in my green slimer and a mariculture bonsai but not like others have pictured.

I am starting to see my tips of my green slimer fading.


I must be doing something wrong because other people seem to have no problems with doing less work or filtration.



One thing I did wrong was go with much less "live rock" than I normally do because I went with more manmade aquatecture rock vs matured rock.

I plan on doing full on BRS pukani rock for the next build or around 70# total vs 30-40# on the current tank. I was trying a more minimalist and "manmade" rockwork.

Livestock:
Yellow tang
Sixline
Pair of black ice clowns
Flame angel

So besides the yellow tang (only ~3"), not a heavy bioload.

 

[duke62]

Nopox to me is a dangerous carbon source. I used it for a month about 3 years ago and my corals looked horrible. Once I stopped the colors came back. I would do what Jackson said and when you are ready to carbon dose I would get the recipe to use vodka. Right now your starving your corals. Feed your tank some fatty protein enriched food like mysis everyday. You should see a improvement

 

[evoIX_Reefer]

Got it. I'm going to stop my NOPOX and lower my dosages but continue the reef energy a&b. See how that works out.

I'll have to report back in a month or 2. Swapping out tanks for the next 2 weeks.