0 nitrate .03 phosphate

[BrokeBudgetReef]

Hey all,

So over the last few weeks I have found tufts if gha in my display. They don't seem to be growing but they are there and driving my crazy. So I decided to break out all my checker and run some test. Well I found I have zero nitrate (hanna hr) and .03 phosphate (hanna ulr). I am running a refugium filled with ocean live rock and whatever algea grows plus a thick branching red macro ( can't remember the name). My question is what should I do.

All corals look happy and all have polyps and feeders out daily but I feel colors could be better.

Tank stats:
Cal 435 (trident) 420 (redsea)
Mag 1333 (trident) 1350 (redsea)
Alk 8.57 (trident) 8.8 (hanna)
Salt 1.025
Ph 7.9-8.1 (apex)
Temp 78.2-78.6 (apex)

Feed and dosing:
Fish are feed twice daily (anthas)
Redsea ab+ or fuel daily
Fusion 2 daily
Reef complete when needed

Sorry for the breathing in the video....

 

[BrokeBudgetReef]

Tank get infrequent water changes (over 1 month atm)
Tank is 6 months old

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I am going thru this on all my tanks, low nutrients are an issue for me. I feed 3-4 times a day, Flake, pellet, frozen also Phyto. I am thinking it is the Phyto is my culprit because that is the common denominator on all my tanks.
Remember, showing numbers on a test just tells you how much extra you have. Doesn’t mean you don’t have any. You have GHA so you have nutrients. The issue is GHA is better processing those nutrients better than your corals.

 

[TheBear78]

@BrokeBudgetReef as your tank matures further, you may find that you have the opposite problem and end up with high Nitrate and possibly Phosphate too. Any changes made now may not be necessary in a few months time so I would refrain from any expensive solutions that may end up redundant. Ask me how I know...
The situation doesn't sound terrible if everything looks good so it shouldn't need a big change.
You appear to have a fair range of nutrient import and export going on. Do you also run a skimmer?
The obvious starting point would be to increase import or decrease export. How that is achieved is up to you as it will likely involve changing one of the methods that you currently use.

 

[BrokeBudgetReef]

I am going thru this on all my tanks, low nutrients are an issue for me. I feed 3-4 times a day, Flake, pellet, frozen also Phyto. I am thinking it is the Phyto is my culprit because that is the common denominator on all my tanks.
Remember, showing numbers on a test just tells you how much extra you have. Doesn’t mean you don’t have any. You have GHA so you have nutrients. The issue is GHA is better processing those nutrients better than your corals.

So I had a similar thought as you on this but they gha is so minimal compared to the water volume. I'm leaning towards my refugium is over doing it and grabbing it all up. Still a algea clearing it out in the end. Thanks for the reply.

 

[BrokeBudgetReef]

@Randy Holmes-Farley would dosing 1-2ppm per day have a negative effect? I running into a issue where dosing .5ppm still leaves me at 0. Also at .03 ppm phos should I aim for over on nitrate?
Lastly, with dosing nitrates can I keep up with my normal amino acid and coral good routine?

 

[Spare time]

Just increase the reef energy

 

[BrokeBudgetReef]

Just increase the reef e

dosing 50ml per night in a 180 with no cnage to nitrate level.

 

[Spare time]

If you are dosing 50ml per night that means that it is being used up and not wasted. Maybe try adding more but at a different time.

 

[Timfish]

Feed your fish more. I would not dose nitrates as you are already adding nitrogen with your amino acids. Corals prefer their nitrogen in the forms of urea and amino acids (dissolved orgain N, DON) and ammonia over nitrates. Also nitrification, mineralization and demineralization is taking place in the coral holobiont. I would keep PO4 above .03 mg/l, the threshold level identfied by researchers at SOuthampton Univeristy to avoid phosphorus deficiency in corals, but be aware we can only test for inorganic phosphorus and can't test for organin orparticualte forms. I would just use manual removal for the unwanted GHA and be patient, your system is still maturing.



Fig 4 from "Phosphorus metabolism of reef organisms with algal symbionts"



Fig 3 from "Context dependant effects of nurtrient loading on the coral-algae mutualism."

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[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

^^^^
@BrokeBudgetReef , listen to this guy!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

@Randy Holmes-Farley would dosing 1-2ppm per day have a negative effect? I running into a issue where dosing .5ppm still leaves me at 0. Also at .03 ppm phos should I aim for over on nitrate?
Lastly, with dosing nitrates can I keep up with my normal amino acid and coral good routine?

I would dose N and maybe P if needed, or feed more.

Yes, algae may grow more, but other risks aren't worth taking, IMO (dinos, starving corals).

Yes, dosing nitrate does not mean you need to alter amino acids dosing or any other corals foods you use now or may choose in the future.