High nitrate and phosphate levels… should I be worried?

[alexjread]

Hi all

my tank is about 4 months old now, 120 gallon/550 litre with a refugium, currently have about 6 fish in there, a handful of LPS coral, clean up crew etc. feeding twice a day.

My levels all seem to be spot on apart from my nitrates which are 41 and my phosphates are 0.27, I know this is a little on the high side and I’ve been dosing nopox algae management to keep it down but it doesn’t really seem to be working that much.

Everyone and Everything is healthy or at least looks it, should I be worried and if so what are the best ways of keeping the levels down as a whole? I do a 20% water change every couple weeks normally, I did a 50% just over a week ago.

Any advice welcomed

 

[Dan_P]

Hi all

my tank is about 4 months old now, 120 gallon/550 litre with a refugium, currently have about 6 fish in there, a handful of LPS coral, clean up crew etc. feeding twice a day.

My levels all seem to be spot on apart from my nitrates which are 41 and my phosphates are 0.27, I know this is a little on the high side and I’ve been dosing nopox algae management to keep it down but it doesn’t really seem to be working that much.

Everyone and Everything is healthy or at least looks it, should I be worried and if so what are the best ways of keeping the levels down as a whole? I do a 20% water change every couple weeks normally, I did a 50% just over a week ago.

Any advice welcomed

What was the nitrate level just before adding fish, etc.? Wondering where you started at.

 

[RedReefer]

I feed 2-3 times daily. I have to change my filter sock every 3 days or the N & P rise. How often are you changing your sock?

 

[paragrouper]

What, besides the refugium, do you have for nutrient removal?

 

[exnisstech]

At 4 months I would look for a method that doesn't require dosing. I'm not a fan of dosing to reduce nutrients in a new tank. I actually try not to dose to reduce in an established tank too but will as a last resort. Chaeto, water changes, feed less are a few methods.
Personally if everything is doing well I would maybe tighten up on water changes and keep an eye on things. Many people run succesful tanks with higher nutrients. My oldest tank looks it's best when nitrates are 15-20 and phosphates 0.2ish

 

[paragrouper]

At 4 months I would look for a method that doesn't require dosing. I'm not a fan of dosing to reduce nutrients in a new tank. I actually try not to dose to reduce in an established tank too but will as a last resort. Chaeto, water changes, feed less are a few methods.
Personally if everything is doing well I would maybe tighten up on water changes and keep an eye on things. Many people run succesful tanks with higher nutrients. My oldest tank looks it's best when nitrates are 15-20 and phosphates 0.2ish

I second this.

 

[alexjread]

I feed 2-3 times daily. I have to change my filter sock every 3 days or the N & P rise. How often are you changing your sock?

I don’t have a sock, I have a filter media tray, then refugium, then a further section with ceramic balls and my protein skimmer, I change the filter media once every week or so.

 

[alexjread]

What, besides the refugium, do you have for nutrient removal?

Skimmer, ceramic balls, filter media (like a foam pad)

 

[alexjread]

At 4 months I would look for a method that doesn't require dosing. I'm not a fan of dosing to reduce nutrients in a new tank. I actually try not to dose to reduce in an established tank too but will as a last resort. Chaeto, water changes, feed less are a few methods.
Personally if everything is doing well I would maybe tighten up on water changes and keep an eye on things. Many people run succesful tanks with higher nutrients. My oldest tank looks it's best when nitrates are 15-20 and phosphates 0.2ish

Thank you, so do you think these nitrate and phosphate levels are necessarily a problem if everyone is happy?

 

[alexjread]

What was the nitrate level just before adding fish, etc.? Wondering where you started at.

Can’t really remember in honesty, very very low I would imagine, at the start they always were

 

[Sdot]

Thank you, so do you think these nitrate and phosphate levels are necessarily a problem if everyone is happy?

Yes... they will go up if you dont have something consuming or removing it from the water. Id focus on finding natural ways to reduce them and dose more if you need.

 

[LuizW13]

Thank you, so do you think these nitrate and phosphate levels are necessarily a problem if everyone is happy?

Chummingham's Reef runs a very similar N/P levels, and he grows a lot of really nice corals.

But in your case with a young tank, I'd probably take action. If it were me, I'd lower those levels down through either more frequent water changes, feed less, swap out filter pads more often, throwing a skimmer on, if you haven't done so already, or a combination of those things.

 

[exnisstech]

Thank you, so do you think these nitrate and phosphate levels are necessarily a problem if everyone is happy?

I wouldn't say they are a problem but I would work on reducing them and not let them continue to rise. I've only been doing this for 8 years and consider myself a newb but I would do daily water changes on a 4 month old tank before I dosed chemicals to reduce but that's just how I like to reef. There is no right or wrong as long as you get the desired results.

 

[FUNGI]

"I do a 20% water change every couple weeks normally, I did a 50% just over a week ago."

IMO, consistent versus large wc is better. I have a 120 also. I do 10% every saturday....

 

[Icryhard]

Hi all

my tank is about 4 months old now, 120 gallon/550 litre with a refugium, currently have about 6 fish in there, a handful of LPS coral, clean up crew etc. feeding twice a day.

My levels all seem to be spot on apart from my nitrates which are 41 and my phosphates are 0.27, I know this is a little on the high side and I’ve been dosing nopox algae management to keep it down but it doesn’t really seem to be working that much.

Everyone and Everything is healthy or at least looks it, should I be worried and if so what are the best ways of keeping the levels down as a whole? I do a 20% water change every couple weeks normally, I did a 50% just over a week ago.

Any advice welcomed

Everyone and everything looks happy --> SLOWLY lower your nitrate and phosphates then. Why mess with things if its going great?

 

[Icryhard]

I wouldn't say they are a problem but I would work on reducing them and not let them continue to rise. I've only been doing this for 8 years and consider myself a newb but I would do daily water changes on a 4 month old tank before I dosed chemicals to reduce but that's just how I like to reef. There is no right or wrong as long as you get the desired results.

Doing daily water changes is rather a shame for your wallet. You can also buy bacteria which eat nitrate/phosphates. It also benefits the eco system, rather then using chemicals.

 

[exnisstech]

Doing daily water changes is rather a shame for your wallet. You can also buy bacteria which eat nitrate/phosphates. It also benefits the eco system, rather then using chemicals.

I'm shammed. I do small daily water changes vs larger changes as it keeps things more stable IMO. Like I said there are many methods and the end result is all that matters

 

[homer1475]

Doing daily water changes is rather a shame for your wallet. You can also buy bacteria which eat nitrate/phosphates. It also benefits the eco system, rather then using chemicals.

You do realize, Nopox which is just a carbon source, is feeding bacteria that reduce nitrates and phosphates? You then skim out or your corals feed on these bacteria. Carbon dosing is a Natural way to lower nitrates and phosphates(nitrates more then phosphates).

 

[paragrouper]

I assume you have chaeto, or other macro algae in your refugium. How well is it growing? Are you able to harvest it regularly?

 

[exnisstech]

You do realize, Nopox which is just a carbon source, is feeding bacteria that reduce nitrates and phosphates? You then skim out or your corals feed on these bacteria. Carbon dosing is a Natural way to lower nitrates and phosphates(nitrates more then phosphates).

Thank you for stating this.
My lesson of the day. I figured Nopox was just some more majic in a bottle.