help me understand

12PMER

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Did my weekly testing of the water quality.

My question is this:
Do 0 (zero) nitrates have anything to do with my phosphates being super high at 1.0 ?

Been having a issue with phosphates for a few weeks now. Tank has only been up since July 4th and can't seem to get my phosphates down. Added recommended amount of phosguard.

Tank:
32 biocube
Intake basket--
-2 pieces of filter floss with phosguard sandwiched between on first rack
- activated carbon 2nd rack
- chemipure blue 3rd rack

Tunze 9001 skimmer
DIY fuge with chaeto...growing like mad crazy

PH- 8.2
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-0
Calcium-450
PHOSPHATE- 1.0---->YUCK!!

1- 6 line wrasse
1- purple dottyback
1- sleeper goby
And a bunch of CUC

NO CORALS until I figure out Phosphates.
 

saturn13

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What are you using to test phosphate? how often and what are you feeding fish?
 
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12PMER

12PMER

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20210908_202136.jpg
 

Biglew11

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Yes low or zero of either one can cause the other one to remain high. The bio filter bacteria needs to consume both nitrates and phosphates. If one is zero then the bacteria can not consume any of the other.

Also either one at zero can be an invitation for dinoflagellates.
 

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I would definitely invest in a better PO4 test kit, something like the hanna ULR PO4 checker. Or if you didnt want to spend that much the Red Sea Algae Pro Test Kit works well, plus it includes a PO4 & NO3 test.
 

saturn13

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I'd feed less, I feed my fish every few days. Dry foods tend to carry more phosphate. And if possible get a hanna phodphate checker.
 

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First, order a hannah ultra low phosphate or phosphorous checker. Kinda silly to worry about phosphates without a good tool.

Second, read up on how aragonite binds phosphate. It will bind a LOT and can act like a huge reservoir. It will unbind when the water column gets a lower level. If you started with dry or dead rock, that is where it came from... most of it is bound with lots of terrestrial phosphate.

No bacteria will remove the po4. There is anoxic bacteria that will use oxygen on the no3 molecule and turn it into nitrogen gas - this is likely why yours is low. You have to remove it with some media - chaeto can remove it, but it won't grow well if you are at 1.0 of P. GFO or Lanthanum Chloride is what you want.

Whatever you do, go slow. Spend a few months lowering this. I would use Lan Chloride since it is cheaper than GFO, but you need a good skimmer.

Don't feed your fish less. This is just cruel. The problem is lack of export, so pick that up.
 
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12PMER

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Un-confuse me. My phosphates are at 1.0

How would that read on an ultra low hanna checker?
 

Tamberav

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Dose some nitrate to see if the macro can grow even faster and eat up the phosphate with it. Try not to let either hit 0. Perhaps the rock is leeching some bound PO4.

I would never cut back feeding as a way to deal with nutrients. That is a bandaid and honestly a health concern for some fish (like the sand goby).
 

Aqua Man

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How would that read on an ultra low hanna checker?
API test kits are not the most accurate.

It’s best not to over correct a problem that may or may not exist. So an accurate reading is a good idea.


If you started with dry or dead rock, that is where it came from... most of it is bound with lots of terrestrial phosphate.
Not sure if I got lucky or not, because with the Dry rock I started with it’s sucking up the P04!! Like a sponge lol.
 
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12PMER

12PMER

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Who cares. If it cannot read it, then it is bad...doesn't matter how bad at that point.
Would a "low" reader be sufficient? It reads 0 to 2.50. Atleast that way I can see if I'm trending in the right direction. Or do you still think
"ultra low" because once I'm there I can maintain the level?
 

Biglew11

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I would go with the ultra low, if it reads out of range you know you still have to come down, and once you do get low enough you just have to maintain it there.
 

fish farmer

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Would a "low" reader be sufficient? It reads 0 to 2.50. Atleast that way I can see if I'm trending in the right direction. Or do you still think
"ultra low" because once I'm there I can maintain the level?
You could also just buy a Salifert kit if it is that high...I think it reads deep blue. If you buy either Hanna kit...buy some reagent, then only give you a few test packets with a new reader.

I had high numbers like you did as well as high nitrates, chaeto worked for me, GFO worked really well...too quick. Whatever you do...bring it down slow like others have said.
 

Dkmoo

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Instead of feeding less, consider looking at what you are currently feeding. Maybe something you are feeding is high in phos. There are tons of posts that discuss what fish food is high in phos vs low. Maybe replace the high P foods with low P ones
 

jda

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You are going to have a hard time with most macro with P at 1.0... it slows down or quits growing as P rises too high. At lower levels, chaeto can work really great.

You just need the Hannah to know when to back off as your number gets lower. It will start to work at like .6, or something so all that you need to know is when it just blinks at you then you are in bad shape.
 
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12PMER

12PMER

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First, order a hannah ultra low phosphate or phosphorous checker. Kinda silly to worry about phosphates without a good tool.

Second, read up on how aragonite binds phosphate. It will bind a LOT and can act like a huge reservoir. It will unbind when the water column gets a lower level. If you started with dry or dead rock, that is where it came from... most of it is bound with lots of terrestrial phosphate.

No bacteria will remove the po4. There is anoxic bacteria that will use oxygen on the no3 molecule and turn it into nitrogen gas - this is likely why yours is low. You have to remove it with some media - chaeto can remove it, but it won't grow well if you are at 1.0 of P. GFO or Lanthanum Chloride is what you want.

Whatever you do, go slow. Spend a few months lowering this. I would use Lan Chloride since it is cheaper than GFO, but you need a good skimmer.

Don't feed your fish less. This is just cruel. The problem is lack of export, so pick that up.
Do you have a recommended brand of lanthanum chloride or GFO? One you've used with success???

I ordered the ultra low hanna checker today.

I have a skimmer, tunze 9001 as the tank I have only allows certain ones to fit.

Ever use or recommend anything like this..
 

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