Time to dose PO4 and NO3?

[beatle]

Following on from my last post about Alk and ULN, I've got my Alk under control, but my nutrients are lower than ever.  PO4 has always measured 0.0, and NO3 is now down to 1.3.  I've increased my frozen fish feedings (still just once a day) but portion sizes are a bit bigger, I have been feeding corals 3-4 times a week, changing my filter socks only once a week, and my refugium now only runs for 7 hours a day instead of 12.

 

I could start scheduling my skimmer to only run part of the day, take out my filter socks completely, or just start throwing in Costco sized pieces of fish, but I think I'd rather dose what I feel like I'm missing - nitrate and phosphate.  I've met a couple people who do, but for some reason this seems unpopular.  Is it?

 

I'm considering buying some Trisodium Phosphate on Amazon for Phosphate, and using some Brightwell NeoNitro I got from a fellow reefer for nitrate.  Is 16:1 nitrate:phosphate a good ratio?

 

 

[menglish]

Matt,

How big is your tank and what is the current bio load (fish and corals)?

[beatle]

It's a "300 liter" system, but really the tank is about a 65 with a 15 gallon sump.  Here's a rough list:

 

2x ocellaris clowns

2x banggai cardinals

2x mandarins

1x royal gramma

1x midas blenny

1x purple firefish

1x yellow watchman goby

1x yellow clown goby

1x pistol shrimp

1x porcelain crab

1x cleaner shrimp

1x peppermint shrimp

2x rbta

 

I've got a mix of SPS/LPS/softy, including a pretty large blue ridge coral.  Frogskin, monti cap, branching monti, dragon fruit monti, xenia, gsp, gorgonian, galaxea, sinularia, clove polyps, hammer, torch, mushrooms, zoas, palys, acans.  It sounds like a lot, but it's mostly a bunch of small frags that I've mostly been waiting to grow out to no avail.

 

Nothing is really that big, and I have a fair amount of room to grow out.  I've lost a few frags recently, including a very nice toadstool and an ice tort.  Most frags tend to fade a few days after I introduce them into my tank.

[ReefdUp]

I'm one of the oddballs that doses, and I'm happy to talk through it when I can get some time to respond better. 

 

I have no clue why it isn't more popular, other than it is probably a less common problem in general.

[wildcrazyjoker81]

You already know my take on this. I feel like I feed like crazy as well and i have to dose Nitrate and Phosphate as well. I try to stay around 10ish NO3 and between .04-.08 phosphate.

[beatle]

Didn't want to call you out by name initially, but your tanks are definitely some of the most successful dosed tanks I've seen, Aaron!

[menglish]

You have a pretty light bio load for this tank, small fish.

perhaps you need more fish in the tank

Perhaps, stop running the fuge for a while and see it things change. Really no need for one in your current situation. Does the algae grows?

[beatle]

Macro algae does grow, though I did go through a couple swings where a lot of it was smothered by hair algae.

 

I am not against getting a few more fish.  They are more fun than dosing.