Sorry about the dark, weird coral shots. I was playing with a different lens, and, well, I need more practice with it. Let me know if you have any questions!
Coral Euphoria I can’t seemed to lower my nitrate levels they’re about .10 ppm. Phosphate undetectable using the salifert test kit for both. I’m doing large water chances biweekly about 60 gallons on a 165 gallon system. I guess I might feed heavily about a cube of frozen mysis and a cube of ocean nutrition formula two. With only 9 fish. I also had a really bad Dino/cyano outbreak I just got under control (had to remove all my coral), still haven’t placed them back in the tank. What do you think the cause of high nitrates and low phosphate can be? My take not enough fish to much feeding. The other wired thing to me was my cheato died couldn’t grow it. I haven’t put any more cheato in yet because just got the algae outbreak under control. Also lost a lot of coral to RTN. Thank you in advance for any feed back.
@@chez1257 Hey Marco, Nitrate at 0.1 or 10ppm? 0.1 ppm is pretty low, actually. How old is the tank? Sounds like it isn't established since you just got rid of dinos. It's hard to say except your tank is not quite ready. 6:21 is where I talk about new or not-established tanks. I'm guessing you probably have too small of a bioload and/or you don't feed enough. The problem is you need to walk that fine line like I talked about in the video. Eventually work up to about 16-17 fish (slowly) and work your way up to the equivalent of about 4 cubes per day. Get some chaeto in there and wait until you can grow chaeto before you put coral back in. Yeah sounds like not enough nutrients and low bioload, but you need to go slow or you'll break out again in dinos. I say, since you don't have coral in there, reduce your photoperiod and strength, until you have some decent beneficial algae like green stuff or coraline growing on the rocks, just so you don't get dinos again while you are increasing the bioload. Also, no need for doing that big of water changes for now. Your tank sounds like it is pretty sterile looking right now.
Hi, could i check how you actually fit the bucket into the sump for the bucket refugium?, my tank is of similar sizing to yours but i find great difficulty fitting it in.
The more of your content I watch, the more obvious it becomes that your videos are the best saltwater aquarium related offerings on the web. You've outdone yourself with this one. Simply outstanding! I look forward to the next vid, and the next, and...
The illustration at 4:46 is the perfect way to visually represent nutrients in a reef tank. The concept of liquid in a bucket with spigots at different positions that regulate the level is spot on. I'll be sharing this video in the future. Thanks
One of the best reef keeping content creators hands down! Very informative and visually appealing 🔥🤙 thank you for all of the info you share with us. I love hearing/ seeing your take on all of these topics. 🙏👌
Strangely, at least to me, I think I find this to have been one of the more informative vids on NO3 and PO4 that I have come across.. and I think I have seen 90% of them... I do like your take on the subject.
This has to be the absolute clearest and most succinct explanation that I've ever watched/read. You sir, have helped me a ton. Thanks! keep the videos coming.
I started my new tank 6 months ago with the exact same plan. I have change everything I do in line with your methodology and I must say you are spot on. I even made a bucket refugium and "IT's Alive!" I have tried anticipate previously experienced issues in my reef, but realize I have never any challenges touch wood :). This video is at my number 1 spot for anybody wanting to keep any SPS. #myfavoritechannel! Thank you!
This video was exceptional. Especially the diagrams. I’ve been doing a lot of research on this subject lately based on my faded corals due to low nutrients and low feeding and this has helped me. Cheers!
Well, this video defined what I’ve been doing - HIHO. And you’ve confirmed that something stabilizes at around the one year mark, making a new tank able to sustain SPS with less loss - people with new tanks and limited experience would do well to listen! Great video - I’m going to watch it again to understand parts of it better, plus I’ll get another look at the eye candy. 😁
Oh wow, I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this video. So much information to take in. Thanks a lot Abe for such great videos! And your tanks, as you know, look nothing but spectacular.
You have the most educational briefing videos on TH-cam in my opinion. Very nice quality and easy to understand. Your success with how your corals look back you up 100%.
I watched all of your videos. Especially, several times this one. I appreciate your kind explanation and hope to watch your contents more often. Thank you.
You are amazing with easy and sample ways to any one to understand ... Keep this good things going i really get alot of information from your videos you are the guide line for me .. i love your work .. beat wishes and happy reefing from Egypt
Great vid. Did not disagree with anything you said. What was great was that you explained his newer tanks need to be handled. This is always overlooked and you get ppl with newer tanks trying to copy what someone does with a 3 year+ tank and then it all goes to bad. Great tank too.
Very interesting I run basically the same system heavy in heavy out sps dominate no3 is 16ppm and no4 is between .10 - .1 everything is doing really well. Thanks for the video.
Awesome video! I liked it a lot. It’s interesting, I hit 1 year recently with my tank, and acro is finally doing very well. It wasn’t until 9 months in with this tank that I actually realized I was not importing enough. Cheers friend thank you again. 🍻
Now that's how you make a video!! I need to watch this a few more times to soak up all that knowledge, so informative. I love how you explain things. I also believe in a heavy in, heavy out method. Due to watching your videos I switched to rowaphos from standard gfo already. Thanks for the excellent content. 🔥🔥🔥
Sick video Abe. I cant imagine how much time it took you to create it. I started with marco rock in my tank and likewise around the 1 year mark I could tell things had changed and acros started doing very well. Love your videos! 😀
Great video. Really appreciate you dumbing it down for some of us lol. It really does give it a good perspective on the way to achieve great color and growth from our corals. I struggle with my 300. I have a mixed reef but mainly sps and i have a ton of flow and lighting but i also have a ton of fish. Im sure my want for that full reef look is not allowing me to have a awesome tank like yours. I get alot of compliments on it but i am not happy because i know it could be so much better. I appreciate all the videos you do. There are not many fellow reefers with such a successful aquarium like yours that get into the specifics like you do.
Great video! If only it was this easy to prevent nusiance algae & get great acropora colors. I think there is a lot more to the subject. Also the people who are saying to raise the nutrients are in my opinion below the lower “wave” on your diagram @7:22, so very-very close to the bottom. Interestingly it seems like nuisance algae, cyano, dino also likes that “band” at not just the one above the upper “wave”:) Love your channel! Actually it is my current favourite! Keep the videos coming!
I like the way you addressed the ever evolving understanding of nutrients. I'm secretly running an extremely high nutrient system mostly to try and save a wilsoni I found nearly dead at LFS. Its only a secret because if I need advice or have an issue I want as much input as possible not a comment thread that ends with what my po ⁴ no³ is. I've found as of yet nothing negative. I have a lps dominant reef so I'm sure that plays a large factor. I also have an aggressive export methodology.
I come back to re-watch this video every few months. Such a good reminder to consider where my nutrients are at, how I should be thinking about them, and to explain any variables I've seen. Great vid! BTW, what salt mix do you use?
Your videos and explanations are amazing. My new tank( waterbox , 75 gallon display with 30 gallon sump), is only 4 months old. Mostly softies and a couple acropora just to see how they do. They are alive, but not growing much. Guess I'll just have to wait it out. I do feed heavy and have higher nutrients than you at this time... .o6 phosphates and 20 nitrates. Using a skimmer and filter socks with weekly 10% water changes. Thinking about trying some rowaphos as well, but will have to use a media bag for now. Just watched last nights live with Reef Bum...great stream...Thanks
Learnt so much from you over all your videos, this one I've watched before, but just rewatched now. I've been playing with phosphate reduction methods, as I decided GFO is dirty and a pain to deal with. I initially played with lanthanum chloride, but didn't like it, stuff scared me, and it showed very high on ICP. For the last couple of months I've been adding sodium nitrate to my RO top off to intentionally elevate my nitrates, and in doing so, allowing me to run my chaeto reactor more aggressively. I guess I'm force feeding my chaeto to keep my phosphates at a reasonable level, and it seems to work really well. It's also cleared up some micro algae, i guess by outcompeting. I just pre-mixed a batch of 2L of sodium nitrate, then drop 10ml into my 25L RO container. Hopefully a few more months of playing around with this will see if it's a long term strategy, but I'm pretty happy right now, and I'm pouring food into my tank.
Great video Abe!!! Not much out there on this topic believe me I’ve searched it. This very debate has been going on in my head I’ve dozed no3 and po3 trying to raise nutrients off of zero to 5 ppm then 10 ppm for months now to see what the results would be and although I’ve have learned what my acropora seem to like I’ve concluded overall my tanks health as a whole is best at 2-5 ppm nitrate and any reading I get above zero po4 I’m happy. So I’ve now moved away from dosing no3 and po4 and I’m feeding heavier and adding fish slowly. Thanks again
As many have said, great awesome video specially for those who want to achieve what you did. That's my case. And that is kind of going with some of our believes/hypothesis. Not saying I'm doing all that, quite opposite actually lol Yes, unfortunately I did skip WC and my nitrates are quite high. PO4 went to 0.13 ppm, it was 0.02. I only have a few frags and 3 days ago they went downhill. All closed, one may die IDK. But I added more Rowaphos and they opened again. Not saying the issue was PO4, I just don't know. But the guy from one of the LFS I go told me it could also be ammonia or nitrites. And I did a treatment for fluke, so I dosed prazipro and also dosed Vibrant for a bit of algae that came up. So yes, could be the medicine but as the guy said maybe I had an ammonia/nitrite spike. I will never know. I just hope the frag that did really bad comes back.
Amazingly informative video … I have a tank of about coming up on one year after a tank transfer to a waterbox , this definitely helps understand a bit more what’s going on thank you 🙏
I just stumbled on this video I wish I would have years ago….when I got started years ago I chased numbers and killed a ton of coral….i met this one suffer dude reefer who had amazing tanks and after discussing with him for a while and stated talking numbers he said “do you want a fish tank or science project? Let the tank tell you” since then all I test for now is ALK…I see more algae growth I cut back on feeding and I feed heavy, protein skimmer, filter sock, and fuge and now my tank looks amazing…lots of acro growth
Best video out there! Great job! Totally agree on the heavy import/export. It’s what I have found to work the best for me now for 6+ months. I’m not sure however why your test kit readings are so off compared to ATI ICP. Mine are surprisingly dead on and after confirming a few times. I confirmed it by testing also right when I was sending them. I auto feed 3 times a day and manually 0-2 times a day so when you take your water sample to test and /or send really makes a difference in the readings. I use salifert for nitrates and Hanna ultra low test for phosphates.
Wow a lot of ground was covered in this video! 👏 It could have easy been a 3-part series with the volume of information covered, solid video! Good job with the pacing and keeping it positive! I like your style of "Here's what I read" vs "How I'm applying it" including "Here's the results" and "How I've adjusted my technique" without talking down to the viewers or trying to sell/push products. 👏 👏 👏
Hi, I can say that after low nutrients and lost of some SPS and LPS I learn how important nutrients are in the closed reef system. I started to feed my tank more often and got better results in growing, color and health of the corals. Also letting me to raise the intensity of the t5 light by raising the hours of use.
I like your thought process, it matches mine as a new acropora keeper. I run my acro tank with tropic marin products only, and in that methodology carbon dosing is used to feed the corals. So the extra bacteria are not supposed to be skimmed out, but provide the nutrients in a more pallatable fashion to the corals. So even though I don't have measurable nutrients, my acropora are growing. Some are basically white, but growing fast. Others, like my strawberry shortcake, came to me bleached after stessfull shipping. And despite my ULNS it is, after 1.5 months maybe, completely colored up and totally beautiful and growing. I even got my money back for it, since it was bone white and with no polyp extension. So the way I see it is, I need to saturate my water with pallatable nutrients. Bacteria, aminos, planktonic foods daily. I have a very low fish population, so I really feel this saturation works. anyways, great video!
Good thoughts. Just lowered my no3 and po4 to 5 and .07-.12. Would like to get my po4 down to .05 consistently just don’t want to use rowa. 20 fish in about 180g. Started feeding less and that has helped. Skim overnight to keep ph up at night but shut off during photoperiod to keep ph below 8.4!
What a great vid! My favourite reefing channel for sure! You only feed dry foods? Can you make a video about what you feed and why, I ve read a lot of people with high input say you shouldnt do dry. Also I agree the po4 shouldnt go to high. I bought 24 frags from a ulns with high input of which 2 died within a week. My p04 was 0.12 and two others were losing tips. I then lowered to about 0.08 and they regained there tips. Now its has gone up again and they are losing tips. I for sure believe some corals cant deal with po4 higher then 0.1. Also you should try the red sea p04 test kit. I realy trust this kit. I trust it as much as my kh test kits, and in the netherlands it is recomended and trusted by most on the forums.
Excellent video discussion sir. Can I make a reading suggestion? I am a laymen in my understanding of corals, but my degree is in plant and soils science. Your approach reminds me of agricultures framework in understanding terrestrial photosynthetic organisms nutrition. I think this discussion would benefit from understanding "Liebig's law of the minimum", a foundation of plant and soil nutrition. I won't suggest it's a direct parallel, but i think the methodology is worth your time given your literacy on the topic. I find many similarities between the nutrition concerns of soil vice sea water in how they sustain the organisms relying upon them
I’m setting up a new tank. I share your feeling 100% on heavy in and heavy out. I’m interested to know how you have your bucket plumbed as well as the light used? Thank you got the informative video
Always informative concrete info. Acros looking stunning, I remember the unboxing video of those designer acros. Questin, whats your opinion on biopellets for no3 reduction. Thanks, Oh, you get a thumbs up.
Hello Abe I love your videos and your concept of everything being kind of simple setup I'm not a big fan of all these gizmos old school only a few I've been in salt water since 1986 you really seem to have your system down pat believe it or not I still do run a wet dry filter people always say that they were nitrate factories I have 100 gallon tank with a yellow tang and a fifteen-year-old hippo Tang and a couple of clownfish not a very big bioload that's probably why my nitrates are very low I remember not long ago where everybody was saying keep your nitrates and phosphates at zero now the new thing is keep a little bit of both in your tank how things change over time take care abe
Very cool and educational video, allow me share to my FB group. I am the 2016 April RC TOTM tank owner, which I saw a picture of my tank in your video. Very cool. My concept about ULNS is very similar to yours, but you explain it a much better way. Congrats!
Abe, first of all wanted to say love your channel your knowledge & success in this hobby is very inspiring. I wanted to ask you have you run into issues where your chaeto doesnt out compete algae in your display ? What steps do you take to remedy this ? Providing maintenance is on point, weekly water changes, feeding clean food etc. Feel like im doing everything right moving into my 4th tank Planning on sps dominant but gha seems to be winning & my chaeto is growing well. Would you suggest using some gfo ? Or checking no3/po4 and dosing nitrate to take down the excess po4 ? Water changes ? What would you do ?
Hey man your tanks are amazing. I would love to get some of your frags but the shipping to South korea might break me. Either way appreciate your vids they give me more knowledge about this hobby nowadays i started just before you but have been off and on
What I experience with low nutrients is that I have little polyp expansion. At the moment I try to feed coral daily to make the nutients readable, but this doesn't work. I have also reduced the hours of my algae compartment so far. What I can try to do now is to prune the algae even more to a minimum and hope that there are some more nutrients to read, where the sps corals can be a bit happier and give better polyp expansion.
Love it just subscribed. Speaking of reef2reef I tried and couldn't register it won't let me join for some reason I read reviews where it happened to other people too
I'm curious if the same holds true for LPS colors. Seems like my Lps all change color after having them for a few months. I always run about Po4 . 1-.2 and No3 about 3-7. I wonder if I ran lower nutrients of they would return to their original coloring.
I think if we were to create a well rounded ecosphere within a system there probably would not be a huge need to test. I agree with one point you alluded to, even though a tank can be “cycled” quickly these days, there’s still a ton of biology that has to establish beyond the initial cycle and it takes 7-9 months... especially with dry rock
What I feed changes from time to time. Currently I feed 1 cube of mysis, 2 round teaspoons of flakes, a 1/4 tsp of pellets in each of my 120g and 140g.
Hey abe.. how you been bro.. so I'm still watching your old videos. I learn something new every time I wach them. So it's now January 2022 . I'm 5 months into my new tank build for sps dominant tank. I have a few small lps frags on the sand bed for now. I tool my bucket fuge offline when I took down my old tank . I had a custom made acrylic 10 gallon cheato refugium made so I can plumb it into my main sump. I'm thinking it's time to to get that online now. February 8th will be my 6month point on this new tank. The dynos I was fighting are gone now and have not returned. This tank was built with all dry marco rock, no live rock at all. So I'm thinking I'll still need to wait another 6 months before I introduce my first sps frags. What's your opinion on that. Should I wait the full year or should I start buying sps frags sooner. I will be buying my first acro frags from you. And I will no doubt be using your ask Abe option on your website so you can help me get through my first frags so they are successful.. just wondering if that should be sooner or later.. no what I mean..
It depends on how stable your tank is at this point. Parameters stable? LPS doing good? If you need the fuge for nutrient export, I would probably wait until after the macro is growing and the nutrients are stable at a suitable level before adding Acros.
I watch this video from time to time for my sps tank in training. I do have to ask, are you still performing biweekly 15g water changes, if so what salt are you using? I know it’s a great debate but I just like data 🙂. Thank you.
Hi there, warching this video for the 100th time and I think im getting it. Im running the same approach on my young acro tank feeding heavy but steuggling to see phospahte at test. Only problem is I have gha. Can i put this down to it being a young tank? What would should i do about the algae?
Sorry about the dark, weird coral shots. I was playing with a different lens, and, well, I need more practice with it.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Coral Euphoria I can’t seemed to lower my nitrate levels they’re about .10 ppm. Phosphate undetectable using the salifert test kit for both. I’m doing large water chances biweekly about 60 gallons on a 165 gallon system. I guess I might feed heavily about a cube of frozen mysis and a cube of ocean nutrition formula two. With only 9 fish. I also had a really bad Dino/cyano outbreak I just got under control (had to remove all my coral), still haven’t placed them back in the tank. What do you think the cause of high nitrates and low phosphate can be? My take not enough fish to much feeding. The other wired thing to me was my cheato died couldn’t grow it. I haven’t put any more cheato in yet because just got the algae outbreak under control. Also lost a lot of coral to RTN. Thank you in advance for any feed back.
@@chez1257 Hey Marco, Nitrate at 0.1 or 10ppm? 0.1 ppm is pretty low, actually. How old is the tank? Sounds like it isn't established since you just got rid of dinos. It's hard to say except your tank is not quite ready. 6:21 is where I talk about new or not-established tanks. I'm guessing you probably have too small of a bioload and/or you don't feed enough. The problem is you need to walk that fine line like I talked about in the video. Eventually work up to about 16-17 fish (slowly) and work your way up to the equivalent of about 4 cubes per day. Get some chaeto in there and wait until you can grow chaeto before you put coral back in. Yeah sounds like not enough nutrients and low bioload, but you need to go slow or you'll break out again in dinos. I say, since you don't have coral in there, reduce your photoperiod and strength, until you have some decent beneficial algae like green stuff or coraline growing on the rocks, just so you don't get dinos again while you are increasing the bioload. Also, no need for doing that big of water changes for now. Your tank sounds like it is pretty sterile looking right now.
You did a great job - super educational
Hi, could i check how you actually fit the bucket into the sump for the bucket refugium?, my tank is of similar sizing to yours but i find great difficulty fitting it in.
The more of your content I watch, the more obvious it becomes that your videos are the best saltwater aquarium related offerings on the web. You've outdone yourself with this one. Simply outstanding! I look forward to the next vid, and the next, and...
Glass Reef agreed
I couldn't agree more!!
The illustration at 4:46 is the perfect way to visually represent nutrients in a reef tank. The concept of liquid in a bucket with spigots at different positions that regulate the level is spot on. I'll be sharing this video in the future. Thanks
One of the best reef keeping content creators hands down! Very informative and visually appealing 🔥🤙 thank you for all of the info you share with us. I love hearing/ seeing your take on all of these topics. 🙏👌
The more I watch this channel, the more I believe this guy has some kind of scientific education. Fantastic source of information and thank you!
Hi Abe, greetings from France. Thx for the quality, the advice, to me your channel is #1.
I don't miss a single episode.
That was a lot of good information, I’m going to watch it again. I always enjoy your no nonsense videos please keep them coming.
Nobody admits our hobby grade test kits are garbage. Glad to hear you saying it. I trust you more than most for that comment alone my dude.
Great video Abe! Interesting theories. Thanks for taking the time to create this video.
Strangely, at least to me, I think I find this to have been one of the more informative vids on NO3 and PO4 that I have come across.. and I think I have seen 90% of them... I do like your take on the subject.
This has to be the absolute clearest and most succinct explanation that I've ever watched/read. You sir, have helped me a ton. Thanks! keep the videos coming.
I started my new tank 6 months ago with the exact same plan. I have change everything I do in line with your methodology and I must say you are spot on. I even made a bucket refugium and "IT's Alive!" I have tried anticipate previously experienced issues in my reef, but realize I have never any challenges touch wood :). This video is at my number 1 spot for anybody wanting to keep any SPS. #myfavoritechannel! Thank you!
Thanks so much!
This video was exceptional. Especially the diagrams. I’ve been doing a lot of research on this subject lately based on my faded corals due to low nutrients and low feeding and this has helped me. Cheers!
Well, this video defined what I’ve been doing - HIHO. And you’ve confirmed that something stabilizes at around the one year mark, making a new tank able to sustain SPS with less loss - people with new tanks and limited experience would do well to listen! Great video - I’m going to watch it again to understand parts of it better, plus I’ll get another look at the eye candy. 😁
Thanks! Your videos are on my “Day 1 must watch” list.
so nice to see someone who gets its , there is an old reefer saying , Stability. Promotes .Success .
Oh wow, I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this video. So much information to take in. Thanks a lot Abe for such great videos! And your tanks, as you know, look nothing but spectacular.
You have the most educational briefing videos on TH-cam in my opinion. Very nice quality and easy to understand. Your success with how your corals look back you up 100%.
Still one of the best videos on nutrients. Well done!
I watched all of your videos. Especially, several times this one. I appreciate your kind explanation and hope to watch your contents more often. Thank you.
Awesome, thank you!
You are amazing with easy and sample ways to any one to understand ... Keep this good things going i really get alot of information from your videos you are the guide line for me .. i love your work .. beat wishes and happy reefing from Egypt
I havent watched the video but a like was needed lol abe love your vids man one of the BEST youtubers out there
I appreciate it 😀
Absolutely fantastic video. Great job! You bring clarity to complexity, and simplify for the masses. More of these please!
I love your channel man. This one is like the myth busters of the reef hobby.
Wow dude! Very well put! I feel like you've brodened my understanding and confirmed my isolated thought processes. Thank you!
Great vid. Did not disagree with anything you said. What was great was that you explained his newer tanks need to be handled. This is always overlooked and you get ppl with newer tanks trying to copy what someone does with a 3 year+ tank and then it all goes to bad. Great tank too.
Very interesting I run basically the same system heavy in heavy out sps dominate no3 is 16ppm and no4 is between .10 - .1 everything is doing really well. Thanks for the video.
Awesome video! I liked it a lot. It’s interesting, I hit 1 year recently with my tank, and acro is finally doing very well. It wasn’t until 9 months in with this tank that I actually realized I was not importing enough. Cheers friend thank you again. 🍻
Love your channel! Best reefing videos on TH-cam for sure!
Once again you have knocked it out of the park on this video ;) Awesome Abe
Now that's how you make a video!! I need to watch this a few more times to soak up all that knowledge, so informative. I love how you explain things. I also believe in a heavy in, heavy out method. Due to watching your videos I switched to rowaphos from standard gfo already. Thanks for the excellent content. 🔥🔥🔥
Man you summarized reef keeping science in a video.
Sick video Abe. I cant imagine how much time it took you to create it. I started with marco rock in my tank and likewise around the 1 year mark I could tell things had changed and acros started doing very well. Love your videos! 😀
My favorite nutrient explanation on youtube. Great content Abe!
Can sound like cliche, but best explanation I have ever experienced.
Hey bud just want to say I love your videos and thanks for taking the time to make them very helpful and much appreciated.
Great video. Really appreciate you dumbing it down for some of us lol. It really does give it a good perspective on the way to achieve great color and growth from our corals. I struggle with my 300. I have a mixed reef but mainly sps and i have a ton of flow and lighting but i also have a ton of fish. Im sure my want for that full reef look is not allowing me to have a awesome tank like yours. I get alot of compliments on it but i am not happy because i know it could be so much better. I appreciate all the videos you do. There are not many fellow reefers with such a successful aquarium like yours that get into the specifics like you do.
Thanks for sharing, Rick. 👊
Great video! If only it was this easy to prevent nusiance algae & get great acropora colors. I think there is a lot more to the subject. Also the people who are saying to raise the nutrients are in my opinion below the lower “wave” on your diagram @7:22, so very-very close to the bottom. Interestingly it seems like nuisance algae, cyano, dino also likes that “band” at not just the one above the upper “wave”:) Love your channel! Actually it is my current favourite! Keep the videos coming!
I like the way you addressed the ever evolving understanding of nutrients. I'm secretly running an extremely high nutrient system mostly to try and save a wilsoni I found nearly dead at LFS. Its only a secret because if I need advice or have an issue I want as much input as possible not a comment thread that ends with what my po ⁴ no³ is. I've found as of yet nothing negative. I have a lps dominant reef so I'm sure that plays a large factor. I also have an aggressive export methodology.
I come back to re-watch this video every few months. Such a good reminder to consider where my nutrients are at, how I should be thinking about them, and to explain any variables I've seen. Great vid! BTW, what salt mix do you use?
This clip is very good advice for me. Thanks a lot.
Are you reefing until now?
Your videos and explanations are amazing. My new tank( waterbox , 75 gallon display with 30 gallon sump), is only 4 months old. Mostly softies and a couple acropora just to see how they do. They are alive, but not growing much. Guess I'll just have to wait it out. I do feed heavy and have higher nutrients than you at this time... .o6 phosphates and 20 nitrates. Using a skimmer and filter socks with weekly 10% water changes. Thinking about trying some rowaphos as well, but will have to use a media bag for now. Just watched last nights live with Reef Bum...great stream...Thanks
Learnt so much from you over all your videos, this one I've watched before, but just rewatched now.
I've been playing with phosphate reduction methods, as I decided GFO is dirty and a pain to deal with.
I initially played with lanthanum chloride, but didn't like it, stuff scared me, and it showed very high on ICP.
For the last couple of months I've been adding sodium nitrate to my RO top off to intentionally elevate my nitrates, and in doing so, allowing me to run my chaeto reactor more aggressively.
I guess I'm force feeding my chaeto to keep my phosphates at a reasonable level, and it seems to work really well. It's also cleared up some micro algae, i guess by outcompeting.
I just pre-mixed a batch of 2L of sodium nitrate, then drop 10ml into my 25L RO container. Hopefully a few more months of playing around with this will see if it's a long term strategy, but I'm pretty happy right now, and I'm pouring food into my tank.
I really like your videos, this video in particular has really helped with verify a couple questions I've been wondering about. Keep up the good work!
Great video Abe!!! Not much out there on this topic believe me I’ve searched it. This very debate has been going on in my head I’ve dozed no3 and po3 trying to raise nutrients off of zero to 5 ppm then 10 ppm for months now to see what the results would be and although I’ve have learned what my acropora seem to like I’ve concluded overall my tanks health as a whole is best at 2-5 ppm nitrate and any reading I get above zero po4 I’m happy. So I’ve now moved away from dosing no3 and po4 and I’m feeding heavier and adding fish slowly. Thanks again
Thanks for sharing that 👍
Fantastic! Amazing job and scientific evaluation along with excellent observation and explanations! Keep this up.
Ive been waiting for u to do a vid on no3 and po4 and here it is. Thanks for the awesome info.
As many have said, great awesome video specially for those who want to achieve what you did. That's my case. And that is kind of going with some of our believes/hypothesis. Not saying I'm doing all that, quite opposite actually lol Yes, unfortunately I did skip WC and my nitrates are quite high. PO4 went to 0.13 ppm, it was 0.02. I only have a few frags and 3 days ago they went downhill. All closed, one may die IDK. But I added more Rowaphos and they opened again. Not saying the issue was PO4, I just don't know. But the guy from one of the LFS I go told me it could also be ammonia or nitrites. And I did a treatment for fluke, so I dosed prazipro and also dosed Vibrant for a bit of algae that came up. So yes, could be the medicine but as the guy said maybe I had an ammonia/nitrite spike. I will never know. I just hope the frag that did really bad comes back.
Abe! you are the man dude! Thanks for the vid, definitely learned a lot from this, happy reefing 🐠
Amazingly informative video … I have a tank of about coming up on one year after a tank transfer to a waterbox , this definitely helps understand a bit more what’s going on thank you 🙏
I just stumbled on this video I wish I would have years ago….when I got started years ago I chased numbers and killed a ton of coral….i met this one suffer dude reefer who had amazing tanks and after discussing with him for a while and stated talking numbers he said “do you want a fish tank or science project? Let the tank tell you” since then all I test for now is ALK…I see more algae growth I cut back on feeding and I feed heavy, protein skimmer, filter sock, and fuge and now my tank looks amazing…lots of acro growth
Best video out there! Great job! Totally agree on the heavy import/export. It’s what I have found to work the best for me now for 6+ months. I’m not sure however why your test kit readings are so off compared to ATI ICP. Mine are surprisingly dead on and after confirming a few times. I confirmed it by testing also right when I was sending them. I auto feed 3 times a day and manually 0-2 times a day so when you take your water sample to test and /or send really makes a difference in the readings. I use salifert for nitrates and Hanna ultra low test for phosphates.
Very true about the timing! I suspect that is a huge reason for the difference
Wow a lot of ground was covered in this video! 👏 It could have easy been a 3-part series with the volume of information covered, solid video! Good job with the pacing and keeping it positive! I like your style of "Here's what I read" vs "How I'm applying it" including "Here's the results" and "How I've adjusted my technique" without talking down to the viewers or trying to sell/push products. 👏 👏 👏
I appreciate the feedback 👍
I just want to thank you for for your class . Seriously amazing knowledge. Question for you. Why not send in the bottom??
Hi, I can say that after low nutrients and lost of some SPS and LPS I learn how important nutrients are in the closed reef system. I started to feed my tank more often and got better results in growing, color and health of the corals. Also letting me to raise the intensity of the t5 light by raising the hours of use.
I really love this video. Thank you so much for all the work you put into this. I have certainly learned some stuff from it
As usual, content is top notch and the eye candy corals are a bonus! Thanks
I like your thought process, it matches mine as a new acropora keeper. I run my acro tank with tropic marin products only, and in that methodology carbon dosing is used to feed the corals. So the extra bacteria are not supposed to be skimmed out, but provide the nutrients in a more pallatable fashion to the corals. So even though I don't have measurable nutrients, my acropora are growing. Some are basically white, but growing fast. Others, like my strawberry shortcake, came to me bleached after stessfull shipping. And despite my ULNS it is, after 1.5 months maybe, completely colored up and totally beautiful and growing. I even got my money back for it, since it was bone white and with no polyp extension. So the way I see it is, I need to saturate my water with pallatable nutrients. Bacteria, aminos, planktonic foods daily. I have a very low fish population, so I really feel this saturation works. anyways, great video!
Bacteria driven systems are very interesting for sure! Thanks for sharing 😁
Unreal video love how you explain things mate. Keep them coming 👌👌👌👍
Good thoughts. Just lowered my no3 and po4 to 5 and .07-.12. Would like to get my po4 down to .05 consistently just don’t want to use rowa. 20 fish in about 180g. Started feeding less and that has helped. Skim overnight to keep ph up at night but shut off during photoperiod to keep ph below 8.4!
Love your tank! It’s my goal for my 120. Doing a reboot now. Trying to emulate what you’re doing this time around
Wowww what an awesome informational video... best nutrient vide i have seen. You explained it so well
I appreciate it 👍👌
What a great vid! My favourite reefing channel for sure! You only feed dry foods? Can you make a video about what you feed and why, I ve read a lot of people with high input say you shouldnt do dry. Also I agree the po4 shouldnt go to high. I bought 24 frags from a ulns with high input of which 2 died within a week. My p04 was 0.12 and two others were losing tips. I then lowered to about 0.08 and they regained there tips. Now its has gone up again and they are losing tips. I for sure believe some corals cant deal with po4 higher then 0.1. Also you should try the red sea p04 test kit. I realy trust this kit. I trust it as much as my kh test kits, and in the netherlands it is recomended and trusted by most on the forums.
Couldn’t have said it better, just looking at ur corals can say more than test kits, !! Great vid
Awesome video and I trust your coral philosophy.. Don't take so long for another video. It felt like forever.. 😭😭😭
Excellent video discussion sir.
Can I make a reading suggestion?
I am a laymen in my understanding of corals, but my degree is in plant and soils science. Your approach reminds me of agricultures framework in understanding terrestrial photosynthetic organisms nutrition.
I think this discussion would benefit from understanding "Liebig's law of the minimum", a foundation of plant and soil nutrition.
I won't suggest it's a direct parallel, but i think the methodology is worth your time given your literacy on the topic. I find many similarities between the nutrition concerns of soil vice sea water in how they sustain the organisms relying upon them
Wonderful video. Love your method of explaining!
Great video man, best reefing youtuber by a mile
Keep it up , really like your sharing and thoughts . Love to watch your video
Great video Abe. Loved the content very informative.
I’m setting up a new tank. I share your feeling 100% on heavy in and heavy out. I’m interested to know how you have your bucket plumbed as well as the light used? Thank you got the informative video
Always informative concrete info.
Acros looking stunning, I remember the unboxing video of those designer acros.
Questin, whats your opinion on biopellets for no3 reduction.
Thanks, Oh, you get a thumbs up.
I never tried them.
Excellent video fella, I like your way of thinking and your tank is simply amazing 👍
Hello Abe I love your videos and your concept of everything being kind of simple setup I'm not a big fan of all these gizmos old school only a few I've been in salt water since 1986 you really seem to have your system down pat believe it or not I still do run a wet dry filter people always say that they were nitrate factories I have 100 gallon tank with a yellow tang and a fifteen-year-old hippo Tang and a couple of clownfish not a very big bioload that's probably why my nitrates are very low I remember not long ago where everybody was saying keep your nitrates and phosphates at zero now the new thing is keep a little bit of both in your tank how things change over time take care abe
So true about the low phosphate and nitrate readings. I can get algae and have zero readings, corals are the ultimate test kits 😀
You're getting zero cus your algae is sucking up the nutrients.
Great video and great explanation! Definitely heavy in/heavy out for me!
Such a good video. Keep the content coming!
Very cool and educational video, allow me share to my FB group. I am the 2016 April RC TOTM tank owner, which I saw a picture of my tank in your video. Very cool. My concept about ULNS is very similar to yours, but you explain it a much better way. Congrats!
Oh yes, I am familiar with your tank. Well done sir 👍👌. Thank you Joseph :)
I remind all reefer friends read your video not only once, multiple times
Man you have an awesome reef thanks for sharing 👍👍
Do you have a link on how you did you diy chaeto bucket reactor? Thanks
th-cam.com/video/whiF5xdsBpY/w-d-xo.html
Thanks! Lastly who do you have your aquarium built by? Thanks again.
@@kevinburola889 The 140g was made my crystal dynamics. The 120g is standard manufactured
Abe, first of all wanted to say love your channel your knowledge & success in this hobby is very inspiring.
I wanted to ask you have you run into issues where your chaeto doesnt out compete algae in your display ?
What steps do you take to remedy this ?
Providing maintenance is on point, weekly water changes, feeding clean food etc.
Feel like im doing everything right moving into my 4th tank Planning on sps dominant but gha seems to be winning & my chaeto is growing well.
Would you suggest using some gfo ?
Or checking no3/po4 and dosing nitrate to take down the excess po4 ?
Water changes ?
What would you do ?
Do you have enough herbivores in the display? And yes generally I would consider taking down excess nutrients.
Great content, like always
Thank you for share your knowledge!
Hey man your tanks are amazing. I would love to get some of your frags but the shipping to South korea might break me. Either way appreciate your vids they give me more knowledge about this hobby nowadays i started just before you but have been off and on
Great info always look forward to ur vids 👍🏽✌
Discovered you just now, amazing content!
What I experience with low nutrients is that I have little polyp expansion.
At the moment I try to feed coral daily to make the nutients readable, but this doesn't work.
I have also reduced the hours of my algae compartment so far.
What I can try to do now is to prune the algae even more to a minimum and hope that there are some more nutrients to read, where the sps corals can be a bit happier and give better polyp expansion.
Love it just subscribed. Speaking of reef2reef I tried and couldn't register it won't let me join for some reason I read reviews where it happened to other people too
I'm curious if the same holds true for LPS colors. Seems like my Lps all change color after having them for a few months. I always run about Po4 . 1-.2 and No3 about 3-7.
I wonder if I ran lower nutrients of they would return to their original coloring.
I think if we were to create a well rounded ecosphere within a system there probably would not be a huge need to test. I agree with one point you alluded to, even though a tank can be “cycled” quickly these days, there’s still a ton of biology that has to establish beyond the initial cycle and it takes 7-9 months... especially with dry rock
I tell newbies that all the time, we don't have test kits for everything needed to have a thriving reef tank. Give it time....
Started this method a month ago. Didn't know anyone else was doing it.
Older video, but this is what I plan to do. Small skimmer, roller mat, chaeto. Heavy in heavy out.
Do you have a video on what you feed? You talk about heavy in/heavy out. Keeping my Nitrates at 0 usually causes pale acros.
What I feed changes from time to time. Currently I feed 1 cube of mysis, 2 round teaspoons of flakes, a 1/4 tsp of pellets in each of my 120g and 140g.
Hey abe.. how you been bro.. so I'm still watching your old videos. I learn something new every time I wach them. So it's now January 2022 . I'm 5 months into my new tank build for sps dominant tank. I have a few small lps frags on the sand bed for now. I tool my bucket fuge offline when I took down my old tank . I had a custom made acrylic 10 gallon cheato refugium made so I can plumb it into my main sump. I'm thinking it's time to to get that online now. February 8th will be my 6month point on this new tank. The dynos I was fighting are gone now and have not returned. This tank was built with all dry marco rock, no live rock at all. So I'm thinking I'll still need to wait another 6 months before I introduce my first sps frags. What's your opinion on that. Should I wait the full year or should I start buying sps frags sooner. I will be buying my first acro frags from you. And I will no doubt be using your ask Abe option on your website so you can help me get through my first frags so they are successful.. just wondering if that should be sooner or later.. no what I mean..
It depends on how stable your tank is at this point. Parameters stable? LPS doing good? If you need the fuge for nutrient export, I would probably wait until after the macro is growing and the nutrients are stable at a suitable level before adding Acros.
What is the large purple one called 6 mins in?
Great video mate, got yourself a sub 👍.
Yay new vid! :D It’s nice 👍🏽👍🏽
😍❤
Do you have a video about your in box refugium?
Yes. Click my channel and then the videos tab
Stellar video! Keep them coming!
I watch this video from time to time for my sps tank in training. I do have to ask, are you still performing biweekly 15g water changes, if so what salt are you using? I know it’s a great debate but I just like data 🙂. Thank you.
I do biweekly 40 gallons now lol. I'm always changing it based on how my corals look and grow
Hi there, warching this video for the 100th time and I think im getting it. Im running the same approach on my young acro tank feeding heavy but steuggling to see phospahte at test. Only problem is I have gha. Can i put this down to it being a young tank? What would should i do about the algae?