High nitrates and low phosphate - help!!!

[W31Olds]

Snails are really hit or miss. I QT everything and I always lose some there and then a couple more die in my DT. They work very slowly so you would need a lot to make a dent and they also avoid GHA once it gets long. The Group could chime in if your high Nitrates would be a problem for an Urchin. Mine is an Algae Beast and has grown since I got him. Probably worth 30 snails.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

My concern is that some urchins will strip coralline too, leaving more opening for green algae. Reef cleaners sells good groups of clean up crews.

 

[W31Olds]

That's where I got my urchin. I don't have a lot of coralline algae but will check to see if he's eating that as well. I'll give John a call before I order more inverts.

 

[bluemon]

Sand as a ton of surface area for beneficial bacteria’s and algae’s to populate, which helps keep rock clean and sand white in addition to any nutritional value they have for fish and coral consumption.

But not a must have, but may be more challenging at first.

I run phosphate at .1ppm.

0.03ppm with testing error could also be zero, which favours development of the pest type stuff like Cyano and Dino…

Most beneficial bacteria live in rocks and not sand, so sand really doesn’t help in that field.

Bare bottom is actually quite popular for ease of cleaning and coral placement/growth

 

[newreefhobbyist]

Thank you to all the people who have provided me with valuable inputs, I will keep you all posted on the progress of my tank in the coming weeks. You guys are superb!!!

 

[cricket3901]

Why is there no sand?

I thought that sand bed can increase nitrate build up hence I did not add any sand.

Oh ok

 

[Uncle99]

Most beneficial bacteria live in rocks and not sand, so sand really doesn’t help in that field.

Bare bottom is actually quite popular for ease of cleaning and coral placement/growth

Never ever heard of that.
My bed is chock full of a array of processors.