Brad's 100 'n Change Cube-like Journal

[Aquattro]

So, new month, but not posting a pic. Looks just like last month but without fish.

Started VSV dosing last weekend, overall impressed. However, while the NO3 was cut in half, PO4 went up. Skimmer took out tons of gunk, especially compared to what it did WITH fish. This last week gave twice as much skimmate.

This tells me the following.. excess bacteria were created via dosing. They used half the nitrate available, and a corresponding amount if PO4. Not sure what the ratio is, but P should have dropped over the week. It went up 20%.

So it appears that the rock is leaching faster than dosing can remove it. Not surprising.
I'm ordering a couple boxes of real rock and will rebuild once I get it and cure it. Maybe I can finally get some growth out of the corals.

It'll be fun! (riiight)

[kien]

I think you just happened to discover another one of the many no-win situations in this hobby. Dead rock is awesome but dead rock sucks! Live rock is awesome, but live rock sucks! You just have to decide which is the lesser of the suck, I guess.

[christyf5]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

So, new month, but not posting a pic. Looks just like last month but without fish.

Started VSV dosing last weekend, overall impressed. However, while the NO3 was cut in half, PO4 went up. Skimmer took out tons of gunk, especially compared to what it did WITH fish. This last week gave twice as much skimmate.

This tells me the following.. excess bacteria were created via dosing. They used half the nitrate available, and a corresponding amount if PO4. Not sure what the ratio is, but P should have dropped over the week. It went up 20%.

So it appears that the rock is leaching faster than dosing can remove it. Not surprising.
I'm ordering a couple boxes of real rock and will rebuild once I get it and cure it. Maybe I can finally get some growth out of the corals.

It'll be fun! (riiight)

While its nice to sit back and watch/enjoy the fruits of your labors, we both know this hobby can get kind of boring if theres nothing to tinker with once in awhile. Ok ok, you've had it a bit rough this last go but you know what I mean