50% Water Change for High Nutrients?

[DocRose]

Well, never had this issue before. Took my measurements today and well...

Salinity - 33.2
pH - 7.91
dKH - 9.2
Ca - 420
Mg - 1320
NO3 - 36
PO4 - 0.24

I haven't been having any algae issues so I was worried about numbers, and not monitoring it is why my PO4 got so out of hand. Not chasing numbers here, but my Duncan hasn't opened up fully in over a week, so I know I need to bring that phosphate down.

Suggestion was to do basically a 50% WC. First time in this situation so I figured I'd see what others think.

 

[Miami Reef]

Hmm. I’m not sure if any of your nutrients could cause a Duncan to retract - your numbers look OK.

Perhaps a water change could perk things up/replenish some elements? I think I’d try a 25% initially to observe the effects. I doubt nutrients are the issue.

 

[Sean Clark]

PO4 is very high. I would reduce feeding and possibly implement a phosphate reduction protocol.

 

[DocRose]

PO4 is very high. I would reduce feeding and possibly implement a phosphate reduction protocol.

The crazy part is I only feed once a day, a chunk of frozen mysis about the size of a dime. Stock is a yellow watchman goby, yellow coris wrasse, ruby longfin fairy wrasse, melanurus wrasse, and a green mandarin. I'm extremely hesitant to run GFO because in my last system I accidentally bottomed out my nutrients running it, and triggered a dino outbreak.

Hmm. I’m not sure if any of your nutrients could cause a Duncan to retract - your numbers look OK.

Perhaps a water change could perk things up/replenish some elements? I think I’d try a 25% initially to observe the effects. I doubt nutrients are the issue.

I suppose it could have been being picked at by a ruby mithrax I had in the tank (he's been sumped). I didn't think it was the crab though because my kenya tree is doing perfectly fine; and it's easier to get to than the duncan. So I thought if the crab was going after softies, it would target the kenya first.

 

[Reefer911]

I wouldn’t do 50% with corals unless I knew the problem came on quickly. If your nutrients have been that way for a while, slowly reducing them is best

 

[DocRose]

I wouldn’t do 50% with corals unless I knew the problem came on quickly. If your nutrients have been that way for a while, slowly reducing them is best

What path would you take? What % of water and how frequently?

 

[Reefer911]

What path would you take? What % of water and how frequently?

Honestly I’m not sure how slowly nutrients should come down, I just know that a quick large swing even for the “better” isn't good.
Maybe someone smarter than me in this area can help but decide where you want to be in terms of nutrients and work toward that over the next few weeks (?)
Might want to consider carbon dosing with Tropic Marin Elimi NP to get nutrients down, and then maintain the proper ratio with Bacto Balance. That’s my plan for my newly cycled tank that I need to get nutrients down in

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don't see any emergency reason to do a large water change.

Do you have any other nutrient export methods in place?

 

[DocRose]

I don't see any emergency reason to do a large water change.

Do you have any other nutrient export methods in place?

Mechanical filtration I have is a Reef Mat, and skimmer. I had been holding out on introducing macro algae, but I think it’s about time to go ahead and get some in my fuge.

 

[pandaparties]

I don't see any emergency reason to do a large water change.

Do you have any other nutrient export methods in place?

Agreed here. None of those numbers are outrageous, evening PO4 isn't that high. Take it back down slowly using regular size WCs . If it keeps creeping up address the source and possibly bring GFO or other export like a scrubber online.

FWIW I run my phosphates around that and my nitrates are 5x what yours are. I actually think your numbers are pretty golden

 

[DocRose]

Agreed here. None of those numbers are outrageous, evening PO4 isn't that high. Take it back down slowly using regular size WCs . If it keeps creeping up address the source and possibly bring GFO or other export like a scrubber online.

FWIW I run my phosphates around that and my nitrates are 5x what yours are. I actually think your numbers are pretty golden

Not to number chase but I thought ideal PO4 was between 0.03 and 0.07, and that anything over 0.10 was too high.

 

[pandaparties]

Not to number chase but I thought ideal PO4 was between 0.03 and 0.07, and that anything over 0.10 was too high.

That depends who you ask and is probably affected by a lot of things. I'm of the opinion that high flow and high lights allow for higher nutrients. Im probably an outlier for nitrates but mine have been in the 2-300 range for months and all my coral look happy. I know plenty of amazing SPS keepers here who aim in the .1-.2 range for PO4 and 20-40 range for NO3.

If you have unhappy coral at those levels then slowly bring it back down and see how they respond. I agree that it's not "emergency" levels though

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

What path would you take? What % of water and how frequently?

Salinity looks low, which can negatively affect coral. Your nitrate and phosphate are nothing to worry about at the moment, but track them and if they continue to trend upward, then consider intervening.

As for the idea that "ideal PO4 was between 0.03 and 0.07, and that anything over 0.10 was too high", this may be true for some systems (especially those with picky SPS), but is definitely not true for all. Like @pandaparties , my nutritients run much higher and I have no problem.

 

[DocRose]

That depends who you ask and is probably affected by a lot of things. I'm of the opinion that high flow and high lights allow for higher nutrients. Im probably an outlier for nitrates but mine have been in the 2-300 range for months and all my coral look happy. I know plenty of amazing SPS keepers here who aim in the .1-.2 range for PO4 and 20-40 range for NO3.

If you have unhappy coral at those levels then slowly bring it back down and see how they respond. I agree that it's not "emergency" levels though

Salinity looks low, which can negatively affect coral. Your nitrate and phosphate are nothing to worry about at the moment, but track them and if they continue to trend upward, then consider intervening.

As for the idea that "ideal PO4 was between 0.03 and 0.07, and that anything over 0.10 was too high", this may be true for some systems (especially those with picky SPS), but is definitely not true for all. Like @pandaparties , my nutritients run much higher and I have no problem.

Thanks guys. I completely forgot about the whole PO4 arguement being rooted in SPS keeping. That’s why I love this forum. People can give you a friendly reminder, instead of laughing at you or attempting to belittle your reef keeping knowledge like they do on other platforms.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Thanks guys. I completely forgot about the whole PO4 arguement being rooted in SPS keeping. That’s why I love this forum. People can give you a friendly reminder, instead of laughing at you or attempting to belittle your reef keeping knowledge like they do on other platforms.

Since you said you haven't been testing consistently, the problem certainly *could* be a nutrient issue, but without knowing how long N and P have been where they are now, taking big steps to reduce them might cause more problems.

Water changes are good for nitrate reduction, but not always for phos. Starting your fuge is an excellent idea.

Keep us posted!

 

[Reefer911]

Thanks guys. I completely forgot about the whole PO4 arguement being rooted in SPS keeping. That’s why I love this forum. People can give you a friendly reminder, instead of laughing at you or attempting to belittle your reef keeping knowledge like they do on other platforms.

They get rude here too. Happened to me the other day. Remember, this is still THE INTERNETTTTT!!!