7.5 Gallon Bookshelf Nano
- Thread starter SeanMc
- Start date
It's room temperature. I've only tried the ESV stuff. It took a while to dial in the right dosage, but it has raised the nitrates on my tests so it seems to be doing its job. Five drops per day directly into the tank has keep the nitrates steady around 20 ppm for several months now. Does ammonium bicarbonate raise ammonium?
tribbitt
Supporting Member
Running activated carbon may help reduce risk of coral disease by lowering dissolved organic carbon. Increased DOC is linked with increased copiotrophic bacterial growth. If something starts dying, I take it out immediately for the same reason. Virulent bacteria won't stay on just that coral and may increase risk of coral disease elsewhere
It seems like you run higher amounts of light. Corals produce harmful byproducts during photosynthesis, ROS. Those need to leave the coral, so things like trace elements (mechanisms to move it out) and flow (making the boundary layer thinner) can help.
In a tank this small I recommend using sand too. My 10gallon is doing meh because I don’t have sand in it too
It seems like you run higher amounts of light. Corals produce harmful byproducts during photosynthesis, ROS. Those need to leave the coral, so things like trace elements (mechanisms to move it out) and flow (making the boundary layer thinner) can help.
In a tank this small I recommend using sand too. My 10gallon is doing meh because I don’t have sand in it too
Chrism1330
Supporting Member
I dont see a 10g build thread i wanna see what that one looks like is it as colorful as the 20g
Ah ok so it isn't a powder. If it was a powder you mix into a solution, that would be the dead giveaway with it getting cold.
The idea behind using ammonium vs. nitrate is that it's more energy efficient for bacteria and corals to use it since they don't need to convert it as far.
Feeding the Color: How Ammonium Bicarbonate Can Transform Your SPS Tank | coralvue.com
What if adding more nitrogen to your reef tank was the key to unlocking vibrant color and accelerated coral growth? For many reefers who've been chasing ultra-low nutrient systems, this concept might sound counterintuitive. But according to longtime reef expert Michael Paletta, dosing ammonium...
www.coralvue.com
This seems correct to me. I do anecdotally feel like when one is unhappy it affects the balance in the system. I could see there being a real benefit to being stricter in a smaller tank with pulling things that aren't doing well. It's a tough line drawing question. You don't want to throw things out that can be saved. But you should also be real - erring on the side of aggressive - about those that probably aren't going to come back.
I briefly ran chemipure, but I don't have a good place to put it. I put it in the back of the tank (where the powerhead is now) but it quickly became a detritus trap, so I removed it. I mostly rely on my oversized skimmer to take care of dissolved organics. The Tunze 9004 is rated by Germans for up to 60 gallons and 20 gal for a heavy bio load. The cup does seem to fill quicker when there's something struggling.
I definitely do run my light higher. Are you suggesting turning it down? I'm open to the idea that I'm overdoing it. My theory is to give the corals as much light energy as they can stand. Plus the long photo period is just nice. The tank is mostly on while I'm awake.
About dosing trace elements, I thought I was good with water changes and ESV, but maybe I'm not understanding that right. Are you suggesting some sort of dosing?
It seems like it's really hard to get good flow. My current setup with a powerhead pointed up straight up has very strong flow in some areas, but it's quite turgid in others. I'm also finding it really hard to get that prized random flow with just one pump. Alternating the power intensity helps, but the truth is it primarily pushes in one direction. I actually have an mp10 coming soon that I'm going to experiment with. I know the new tank will have mp10s, so I thought I'd play around with this one on the current tank.
tribbitt
Supporting Member
I personally run really high light on my tank too, it just sort of looked like the monti was dying back on the top where it's really close to the light. It could be another irritant, but just something to be aware of.
Trace elements are a whole ordeal with a ton of opinions, so it's completely up to you if and how you want to chase that
Yeah, that's just a small tank thing lol. The flow is never quite how you want it
I don't want to derail the thread but it's my budget build
Alexander1312
Supporting Member
Unless I misread but is the issue not rather running a relatively high alk with ultra low nutrients, which stresses the corals. Alk at these low nutrients should be more in the lower 7 range. And not sure how you test, but my Hanna understates dkh readings. Also, Hanna in the ultra-low phosphate range might not be accurate and actually could be lower or 0 even if it provides a number.
Definitely possible it was the light. I was confused by that one because it grew aggressively for six months, wobbled a couple times and came back, and then began a slow decline that I couldn't reverse.
I hadn't heard that, but I will try that. I also like the idea of alk in the lower 7 range because then if I go out of town and the manual dosing doesn't get done, the alk is only dropping from 7 to 5 which isn't a big swing.
Yes, I test with Hanna checkers. My Hanna ultra-low phosphate is 0.00 probably two thirds of the time. If it does have a number, it's usually less than 0.05. That seems too low to me. Even when the ESV calcium nitrate raised the nitrates, the phosphates stayed stuck at zero. I could dose something. Mad scientist is not really my style of aquarium keeping, but I'm willing to experiment. I'm already dosing three different potion bottles.
If you're referring to ESV 2part - it does not supplement trace elements. I've posted about this before but it is a very common misconception. RHF, Bob Stark, and others have explained this in other threads better than I can - but basically it only replaces the traces due to the consumption of the alkalinity - which leaves excess sodium that slowly dilutes the natural balance of traces in the tank. It should not be considered the same thing as "dosing" trace elements to account for the coral consumption.
Do an ICP test to see where your traces are and various folks here can help you interpret the results. This is not typically identified as the cause for coral death or significant unhappiness (low traces that is, excess toxic trace elements are another matter) but the broad consensus is that they are important for coloration.