J’s 20G Peninsula Reef

[thebookshark]

Looking good! How are you maintaining your parameters?

Thank you!! My nitrate and phosphate are so low because of the huge mass of chaeto I have in the center back chamber. I have a little clip on LED fuge light I got off eBay over it that I leave on 24/7 mostly because I don’t have room for a timer on my power strip . I feed heavily every day and don’t run a skimmer plus I removed all my filter media so I am assuming it’s the chaeto sucking up all the nutrients. There is a lot of rock in the system too though and it was all wet and established when I set up/transferred the tank in January so I should have a lot of nitrifying bacteria in the system.

I dose KH daily, usually twice a day if I can, by hand and I top off with fresh RODI daily (twice daily if needed) manually as well. I’ve had bad experiences with ATOs and dosing pumps and am just generally wary of over-complicating things with technology so I do everything myself as needed. It’s not too difficult in a small system like this. I have a couple local friends that live-in house-sit for me when I’m out of town and they are good about taking care of the tank.

I test all my parameters at least once a week. So far I’ve only had to dose Ca and Mg a few times.

 

[Hunna]

Try one of THESE if you are wary of the electronic ones. The pump for the ATO in my bedroom died on me, so I bought a second one of these for it until I can replace the pump/buy a new one. I also have one on my daughter’s 4.8g. They work great for smaller tanks. I’ve found Smart Water bottles work the best for me.

 

[civics14]

Thank you!! My nitrate and phosphate are so low because of the huge mass of chaeto I have in the center back chamber. I have a little clip on LED fuge light I got off eBay over it that I leave on 24/7 mostly because I don’t have room for a timer on my power strip . I feed heavily every day and don’t run a skimmer plus I removed all my filter media so I am assuming it’s the chaeto sucking up all the nutrients. There is a lot of rock in the system too though and it was all wet and established when I set up/transferred the tank in January so I should have a lot of nitrifying bacteria in the system.

I dose KH daily, usually twice a day if I can, by hand and I top off with fresh RODI daily (twice daily if needed) manually as well. I’ve had bad experiences with ATOs and dosing pumps and am just generally wary of over-complicating things with technology so I do everything myself as needed. It’s not too difficult in a small system like this. I have a couple local friends that live-in house-sit for me when I’m out of town and they are good about taking care of the tank.

I test all my parameters at least once a week. So far I’ve only had to dose Ca and Mg a few times.

That's pretty impressive doing all that manually. Kudos to you doing all that.