Another nitrate and phosphate questions

Fishingandreefing

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Yup, my corals are not doing good. Most problem I see is that some euphyllias or ricordeas will shrink then die in a couple of weeks. Some just closed and won’t open. My trachy is not fully open as well.

alk 8
Mag 1320
Cal (unknown)
Nitrate 7.8 (low?)
Phosphate .15 (seems high to me)
salinity 1.024/25
Temp 77
Tank 73g and it’s about 1.5 year old.

do I need to increase nitrate a bit and lower my phosphate? Turn off my slimmer? I am thinking dosing lanthanum chloride to drop the phosphate to at or under .10. (If dosing LC, any problem with just drop straight to the sump in the high flow area with the 5 micron sock?)

any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.
 

BroccoliFarmer

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Numbers aren't to bad. What about lighting and flow?
I was about to say the same thing. Numbers look right on the money where I would keep them (maybe nudge the alk up a little..but i dont think an 8 is going to hurt much other than growth rate). Frogs, OCtos and hammers like a gentle sway where torches like a good current. Do the opposite, they dont do well. I am going to assume that your flow is well given you are saying they shrink in weeks. This to me talks of food / starvation.
 

BroccoliFarmer

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Radions at about 30% with diffusers and flows are moderate. Icp in summer times came back nothing stood out.
Where are they in relation to the tank. how deep is the tank and how far away are they from the lighting. My Octos and torches do great at about 14 inches below the water line when my radions were8 inches above the water.
 
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Fishingandreefing

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I was about to say the same thing. Numbers look right on the money where I would keep them (maybe nudge the alk up a little..but i dont think an 8 is going to hurt much other than growth rate). Frogs, OCtos and hammers like a gentle sway where torches like a good current. Do the opposite, they dont do well. I am going to assume that your flow is well given you are saying they shrink in weeks. This to me talks of food / starvation.
Red Sea energy daily and reef roid weekly. Half cube of mysis for 8 fish.
 
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Fishingandreefing

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So I ended up dosing neonitro 6 capfuls so hopefully bring it up to around 11ish. Based on the instruction, if I increase nitrate and phosphate should drop.

and can anyone explain why does dosing microbacter7 together helps with raising nitrate? (Based on the instructions) Isn’t mb7 a nitrate reducer?
 

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Lavey29

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So I ended up dosing neonitro 6 capfuls so hopefully bring it up to around 11ish. Based on the instruction, if I increase nitrate and phosphate should drop.

and can anyone explain why does dosing microbacter7 together helps with raising nitrate? (Based on the instructions) Isn’t mb7 a nitrate reducer?
I had to double dose neophos and neonitro for several weeks before my numbers came up. Yes microbacter 7 will reduce both.
 

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Then why it was recommended to use it together? Anyone?


Brightwell instructions are interesting lol. My guess is that, since they assume that either nitrate or phosphate is too high but not the other, that you can dose one, then dose microbacter to decrease them both down once you have them in a better ratio.
 
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Fishingandreefing

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Brightwell instructions are interesting lol. My guess is that, since they assume that either nitrate or phosphate is too high but not the other, that you can dose one, then dose microbacter to decrease them both down once you have them in a better ratio.
Good question since mb7 reduces phosphate as well. I just emailed them and let see what they gotta say or just another gimmick to get our money.
 

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I have about 8 fish and give 6 cubes a day so guess depends on what type of fish you have maybe
 

When to mix up fish meal: When was the last time you tried a different brand of food for your reef?

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