Beginner phosphate/nitrate questions

[rsigler]

Hey Gang,

I have an 8 week old Red Sea Nano G2 (33 gallons).

I have two clown fish.

Last week my nitrates were 4.1 and phosphates were 0.05.

This week, nitrates are 0.1 and phosphates are 0.11.

So, how should I proceed. I’ve been running the skimmer but it produces nothing. (Guessing it’s still breaking in.)

I do a 5 gallon water change every week. The tank is currently in the ugly stage…a little green algae on the rocks but it’s barely noticeable.

Thoughts? Thank you for helping!

Rob

 

[Reeferbadness]

Do you have any corals yet? I wouldn’t really worry about phos and nitrates jumping around a bit this early on. Start with some easy soft corals and continue to monitor and see how they do. Algae at this stage is par for the course.

 

[rsigler]

I have two zoa frags. They seem to be doing well!

Rob

 

[Pod_01]

Just my opinion, if PO4 is between 0.08-0.3ppm I would do nothing. Phosphate is important for corals.

NO3 at 1ppm is sufficient, ammonia is actually what corals prefer for N source. Fish provide ammonia… search this forum for ammonia dosing…

If you are not dosing anything you may consider adding some trace elements like Tropic Marin A and K elements. Corals do consume some trace elements from water.
In your case this is what I would do, and also keep eye on PO4.

Here are my NO3/PO4 values:

Couple of corals:

Good luck,

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’d feed a bit more. I consider nitrate at 0.1 ppm too low and is a problem that should be corrected in a new tank.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Get a couple more fish and feed more, but I really wouldn't concern myself with those numbers for now. You can turn off the skimmer for now if you want, only 2 fish in a 30 gallon with weekly water changes is basically a very clean tank, there is nothing in the water to skim.

Don't worry about the rocks turning green, thats very natural and does not imply that you have an algae problem.