Who Gives A Fish Forums

My best color and growth happen when both nitrogen and phosphorus are undetectable on my Salifert test kits. I'm aware there are still some nutrients present, but I have no idea of the exact levels.

I've found that I don't need to use organic carbon or GFO, and in fact, using them has led to negative consequences in my tank.

Vitaly wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 7:52 pm I'm still trying to figure out what to do when my husbandry is on point and I hit those 0 levels. Do you guys just up the food, and that's it?

If that organic source of N and P is fully utilized and doesn't lead to unwanted waste buildup, then yes, that might work. Otherwise, manually adding N and/or P through something like calcium nitrate would be a better approach.

If your husbandry is solid and you've got a well-equipped tank with the right in-tank processors and mechanical export in place, the bacteria and micro fauna in your sand and rocks will naturally find a balance with your feeding schedule. This balance also factors in the organic carbon that's introduced through feeding, allowing the tank to maintain itself near zero. It's a self-regulating system - more bioload, more fauna; less bioload, less fauna. It's a pretty seamless process, really.

I've experimented with adding sodium nitrate in the past, and at the time, I genuinely believed it made a noticeable difference in my SPS color. However, after stopping the additions, I didn't see any change in color.

I'm big on keeping my tank clean, but I've come to realize that's not always the best approach. I do 5% water changes twice a week on my 36-gallon bow front, and with only two fish, I was wondering why my SPS weren't growing like I wanted. So I took a step back, let things settle for a couple of weeks, and what happened? A bit more algae, but my corals started thriving. That's when I started using Reef Chili, feeding more, and I'm planning to add another fish or two soon. The difference is huge, and I'm okay with a few spots of algae if it means my corals are healthier. My turf scrubber's even started developing more, and hopefully, it'll take care of the algae soon.

This topic's been beaten to death, if you ask me. I've always maintained that the best-looking tanks I've seen have a good balance of fish and regular feedings, but they also have top-notch filtration systems in place to handle the waste.