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Tank: 120g mixed reef + 20g sump w/ chaeto. ~20" of fish spread across 8 fish. Misc corals, but nothing expensive.
In preparing for a vacation, I switched from 2 cubes frozen per day to dry (mix of brs pellets, Hikari Marine Herbivore Pellet + random flake I had). After one week NO4 is at 30ppm and PO4 is a 0.2ppm. Before this, the tank has been pretty consistent at 5ppm NO3 and 0.1ppm PO4 for over a year. I think I can't go on vacation.
Does anyone else get similar results with dry food?
There are compounding variables, but I still suspect the food. Specifically:
* I'd used up my Nyos nitrate test kit and replaced it with Red Sea. This is my first time using the Red Sea. The color is hard to read, but it looked like it was between the 20 and 50 ppm color marks. I also tested with an old (but not expired) API kit (yes, I shook both bottle 2 and the test well for a full minute) and got between the 20 and 40 ppm range. So I'm guessing ~30ppm.
* Two weeks ago I had a doser mishap and raised my Ca to 750+. I've done a water change, and other threads say that's probably not a big deal. It's fallen to 570.
* For unknown reasons, but probably overdosing due to misreading a test, my Mg is unknown but quite high. I switched from Nyos to Red Sea for Mg too, but the Red Sea is reading 3900, 1580 and 3700 this week. Obviously I'm doing something wrong, but I do suspect Mg is high. Other threads say that's also probably not a big deal either.
Some of my zoas and a kenya tree look a bit unhappy (water change happens tomorrow). There does seem to be more algae on the rocks this week too.
I'm supposed to be gone for 2 weeks in July, but I'm thinking making it just one. I thought of turning up my skimmer, but the worst tank disaster I had was mis-adjusting that after a water change, resulting in skimmer overflow and partial tank drain. At least I confirmed my emergency shut-off mechanisms worked, but no flow for a week because the return pump power gets cut would be worse than the nitrates/phosphates.
I can't be the only one with this problem. Or perhaps everyone else with a reef tank spends too much on corals to afford a vacation (I'm almost there, but we're pulling it off this year by visiting family).
In preparing for a vacation, I switched from 2 cubes frozen per day to dry (mix of brs pellets, Hikari Marine Herbivore Pellet + random flake I had). After one week NO4 is at 30ppm and PO4 is a 0.2ppm. Before this, the tank has been pretty consistent at 5ppm NO3 and 0.1ppm PO4 for over a year. I think I can't go on vacation.
Does anyone else get similar results with dry food?
There are compounding variables, but I still suspect the food. Specifically:
* I'd used up my Nyos nitrate test kit and replaced it with Red Sea. This is my first time using the Red Sea. The color is hard to read, but it looked like it was between the 20 and 50 ppm color marks. I also tested with an old (but not expired) API kit (yes, I shook both bottle 2 and the test well for a full minute) and got between the 20 and 40 ppm range. So I'm guessing ~30ppm.
* Two weeks ago I had a doser mishap and raised my Ca to 750+. I've done a water change, and other threads say that's probably not a big deal. It's fallen to 570.
* For unknown reasons, but probably overdosing due to misreading a test, my Mg is unknown but quite high. I switched from Nyos to Red Sea for Mg too, but the Red Sea is reading 3900, 1580 and 3700 this week. Obviously I'm doing something wrong, but I do suspect Mg is high. Other threads say that's also probably not a big deal either.
Some of my zoas and a kenya tree look a bit unhappy (water change happens tomorrow). There does seem to be more algae on the rocks this week too.
I'm supposed to be gone for 2 weeks in July, but I'm thinking making it just one. I thought of turning up my skimmer, but the worst tank disaster I had was mis-adjusting that after a water change, resulting in skimmer overflow and partial tank drain. At least I confirmed my emergency shut-off mechanisms worked, but no flow for a week because the return pump power gets cut would be worse than the nitrates/phosphates.
I can't be the only one with this problem. Or perhaps everyone else with a reef tank spends too much on corals to afford a vacation (I'm almost there, but we're pulling it off this year by visiting family).