Another phosphate and nitrate question

[Fishingandreefing]

Two tanks and a few questions.

1. 120g high nitrate at 25ppm and phosphate at .43. So I have been dosing 20ml microbacter 7 daily for about two weeks and it was supposed to be reduce both but now it’s higher? (Everything looks ok but sps browned out but it’a been a high nutrient tank)

2. 73g with high nitrate at 25/50ppm by Salifer and phosphate is good at .03 by Hanna. Now what should I do? (Everything doing ok except Yuma ricordeas are dying)

I have no pox on hand and microbacter.

Appreciated any inputs.

 

[pseudorand]

How long has each tank been up?

Where did you read the microbacter will reduce phosphate and nitrate? I am neither confirming nor denying, I just haven't heard that one before and I'm doubtful. I thought it was geared towards cycling -- i.e. getting enough bacteria to turn ammonia and nitrite into nitrate. If you have high nitrate, you probably have plenty of bacteria.

I suspect the generally accepted advice for both high nitrate and phosphate is water changes. What's your water change schedule? Do you stick to it?

What and how much do you feed (i.e. what's the input for nitrate/phosphate)?

When did this happen? Has it always been that way, or did nitrate and phosphate spike recently? How fast? How long has it been that way? It it on the rise?

What problems are you having that you attribute to the levels of nitrate and phosphate (i.e. why do you think they're a problem)? The one I might expect is algae. Any algae problems? Pictures?

The only problem you mention is your Yumas. I've only ever had one, and it didn't make it. I have no idea why, but my nitrate and phosphate are much lower than you reported. I've read that yumas are supposedly hearty, but that wasn't my experience.

In older reef tanks, nitrates are generally low and some people even dose them. I'm just repeating stuff I've read here, but I think that's because various things, including bacteria and photosynthesizing algae, corals, etc. use nitrate. Phosphate is more complicated. It's used at different rates and generally requires various export methods, such as water changes, a fuge with chaeto, GFO/Phosguard, etc. It also binds to rocks and substrate, which act as a source/sync. So you can be stripping it out but not measure a change in the water because it's leeching from the rocks.

What's the lighting like on each tank? Things that will consume nitrate and phosphate generally require energy in the form of light to do so. I turned down my lights recently to acclimate some new frags (I was unsuccessful). Both nitrate and phosphate spiked after having been stable for close to a year. I suspect my ill-advised lighting change precipitated that.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

120 is over 2 years and the smaller one is about 9 months.

I am going to dose no pox on the 120 since it will suppose to reduce both nitrate and phosphate.

but what would be my best approach for the tank that has high nitrate but low phosphate? (Besides water changes and turn the skimmer on)

?????

 

[Hincapiej4]

I can tell you right now, NOPOX almost killed all my coral, and DID kill a few + a black widow....

I've had much more success with Syn-Biotic from Tropic Marin.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

I can tell you right now, NOPOX almost killed all my coral, and DID kill a few + a black widow....

I've had much more success with Syn-Biotic from Tropic Marin.

Hmmmmm can you explain more?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Two tanks and a few questions.

1. 120g high nitrate at 25ppm and phosphate at .43. So I have been dosing 20ml microbacter 7 daily for about two weeks and it was supposed to be reduce both but now it’s higher? (Everything looks ok but sps browned out but it’a been a high nutrient tank)

2. 73g with high nitrate at 25/50ppm by Salifer and phosphate is good at .03 by Hanna. Now what should I do? (Everything doing ok except Yuma ricordeas are dying)

I have no pox on hand and microbacter.

Appreciated any inputs.

MB7 is not going to generally reduce nutrients. I'd use more generally accepted methods, such as growing macroalgae or turf algae, GFO, organic carbon dosing, denitrators, etc.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

MB7 is not going to generally reduce nutrients. I'd use more generally accepted methods, such as growing macroalgae or turf algae, GFO, organic carbon dosing, denitrators, etc.

How can I lower just nitrate but not phosphate?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

How can I lower just nitrate but not phosphate?

Organic carbon dosing (vodka, vinegar, NIOPOX, etc.) or denitrators (carbon and sulfur):

Phosphate In The Reef Aquarium
https://www.reef2reef.com/blog/?p=3184

Nitrate in the Reef Aquarium - REEFEDITION

 

[Crustaceon]

Do either of your tanks have protein skimmers? If not, dosing beneficial bacteria or nopox isn’t going to do anything to reduce nitrates. Secondly, if you intend on using nopox and only have .03ppm phosphates, you should also have means on hand to increase phosphates on a daily basis to prevent it from being stripped from the tank, which will cause issues with your corals. Nopox added with beneficial bacteria works great at reducing nitrates so long as you can keep phosphates in your system and your protein skimmer is functioning.

 

[Aldrinlights]

Just a thought here because this happened to me recently, How old is your testing reagent? I was getting false high results on phos and nitrate using an API test that was supposed to expire in December of this year. It may be worth a 2nd opinion from another testing kit.