Advice on Consistently low N03 and P04 in 6 month old tank

Jcon82

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Hi all,

I see a lot of similar question but regarding zero nutrients. My 40b has a steady 2ppm n03 and 0.03p04, I test it twice a week. I am currently dosing 3ml all4reef for stability and have chemipure blue in the HOB. There are about 30 various frags of lps, sps and a few softies. inhabitants are two clowns, 4 chromis, a firefish goby, starfish and 25 various snails. I am using IO Reef Crystals mixed to 1.026.

I feel like my nitrate should be a little bit higher and phosphate should be up to .5ppm. But should I just leave it since its been stable for months?

I was planning on stopping at my LFS this afternoon to ask for advice. I'm not sure if I should be dosing nitrate or just feeding more and/adding fish.
 

Waters

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Hi all,

I see a lot of similar question but regarding zero nutrients. My 40b has a steady 2ppm n03 and 0.03p04, I test it twice a week. I am currently dosing 3ml all4reef for stability and have chemipure blue in the HOB. There are about 30 various frags of lps, sps and a few softies. inhabitants are two clowns, 4 chromis, a firefish goby, starfish and 25 various snails. I am using IO Reef Crystals mixed to 1.026.

I feel like my nitrate should be a little bit higher and phosphate should be up to .5ppm. But should I just leave it since its been stable for months?

I was planning on stopping at my LFS this afternoon to ask for advice. I'm not sure if I should be dosing nitrate or just feeding more and/adding fish.
I agree they should probably both be a bit higher (although .5 is pretty high for phosphates unless you meant .05?) The question though is how do your coral look? If everything looks good and is growing, I would leave it as is.
 

Daniel

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How are the frags doing? Sometimes increasing bio-load (more fish) and feeding more can help get the nutrients up.

I'm thinking, if it's stable just keep it stable... with minimally introduced changes. As long as corals are growing, fish are happy, and tank is well maintained, let it do its thing!
 
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Jcon82

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I agree they should probably both be a bit higher (although .5 is pretty high for phosphates unless you meant .05?) The question though is how do your coral look? If everything looks good and is growing, I would leave it as is.
I suppose I did mean .05 and didn't even know it! There's a typo in the BRS chart I was referencing.

Corals are OK for the most part. My first zoa just started growing new polyps after 5 months and the 5 other types I added two weeks ago are starting to settle in. I have a hammer and Goniopora that just do not seem to be happy no matter where I place them. I know zoas like more nutrients so I wanted to give them what they need. I have a few mushrooms (rhodactis and Disco) that dont seem to be coloring up that much. but my leptos, acans, favites, montis, birdsnests and BoP are looking great after only a few months.

So I'm hoping to find a way to bring N03 up just a bit and keep it there without too much hassle.
 

chimbo84

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I have documented three questions that I run through every time I consider making a change in my tank. If you can’t provide cogent and valuable responses to all three then I advise you to not change anything.

Change Control​

  1. What is the issue I’m trying to fix?
  2. What is my definition of success?
  3. How will my proposed change lead to success?
 
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Jcon82

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How are the frags doing? Sometimes increasing bio-load (more fish) and feeding more can help get the nutrients up.

I'm thinking, if it's stable just keep it stable... with minimally introduced changes. As long as corals are growing, fish are happy, and tank is well maintained, let it do its thing!
Frags are doing ok I think. This is my first reef tank after many freshwater tanks. Some are starting to encrust off the plugs so I think they are happy. But a few mushrooms and euphyllia are worrying me. Not much extension and dont seem happy regardless of flow or lighting.
 

Joe462

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if they are detectable and stable thats pretty good in my opinion. I dose nitrates, but only because if i don't they aren't detectable. 6 months is still relatively new. I would give it more time before i make any changes. and before i started dosing i would consider options like turning off your protein skimmer, if you run one, or reducing other filtration/nutrient removal you might run.
 
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Jcon82

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if they are detectable and stable thats pretty good in my opinion. I dose nitrates, but only because if i don't they aren't detectable. 6 months is still relatively new. I would give it more time before i make any changes. and before i started dosing i would consider options like turning off your protein skimmer, if you run one, or reducing other filtration/nutrient removal you might run.
I don't run a skimmer other than the integrated on on my Tidal HOB. There is Chemipure blue in the filter but I didn't think this would impact n03 and p04.

I do feed heavily, especially when feeding the corals 3 times a week. But the levels are always the same.

Will a Salifert n03 and p04 kit actually be clear if zero is detected? They are pretty light by my eye and could possible be even less
 

Jekyl

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How's your algae situation?
 
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Jcon82

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How's your algae situation?
honestly its really been getting better. Months 2 through 4 were just constant scrubbing and extraction of that globby brown stuff . But now its just a few spots of stubborn hair algae but it isnt spreading. This make some thing I'm doing something right since I dont have anything in there that eats it.
 

Joe462

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I don't run a skimmer other than the integrated on on my Tidal HOB. There is Chemipure blue in the filter but I didn't think this would impact n03 and p04.

I do feed heavily, especially when feeding the corals 3 times a week. But the levels are always the same.

Will a Salifert n03 and p04 kit actually be clear if zero is detected? They are pretty light by my eye and could possible be even less
I don't use salifert for PO4 but with the salifert NO3 it is clear or close enough that i can't detect any pink, sometimes. most of the time with dosing mine is around 2.5ppm.
 
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