How to safely raise Phosphate and Nitrate?

Reefing102

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Hey all,

So I am currently running a 2.5 gallon Pico. I have a two head hammer and 4 Ricordea. The Ricordea look great. The hammer seems to be happy but not thriving in the tank (working on an upgrade).

I am currently running a NiCrew 30 watt LED at 20% blue and 20% white. About 8 inches off the surface. I don’t have a par meter but this seems to be a low par LED light. Based on manufacturer specs, it’s 100 Par at 24” in air (I hope that made sense)

I just got all new Salifert test kits and think I found why stuff seems happy but isn’t thriving.
Salinity: 1.025-1.026
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0
Calcium: 430
Alk: 8.3
MG: 1350
PH: 8

I do weekly ~20% water changes with instant ocean.

No dosing of any kind. Tank has been up 2+ years (I honestly don’t remember when it was set up but I’ve been married more than two years and it was up before then)

All coral was added about 2 weeks ago. No significant algae problems.

So my thought is I need to slightly boost Nitrate and Phosphate. I’m concerned as prior to this tank I had massive algae issues (cyano and hair algae). There’s no fish and once a week feeding of a couple pellets to keep the hermits and snails happy. Any thoughts on safely uping these two without decimating the tank? Or just let it be and keep on keeping on? Like I said everyone seems happy just not “thriving”.
 
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Reefing102

Reefing102

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I should add no skimmer or fuge

I’m liking the Petco idea lol
 
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Reefing102

Reefing102

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That’s what I was thinking was to slightly increase feeding. I noticed a lot of products have “for every 10 gallons” or whichever
 

Azedenkae

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Hmm, I would disagree. Feeding more brings the risk of overfeeding, with can be dangerous to the fish and the tank. With dosing, you can raise n and p by a specific, controlled amount.
Can you elaborate on how you think overfeeding can be dangerous to the fish in the tank? Just that they might become too fat (and die, maybe?) or something like that?
 

ThePurple12

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Can you elaborate on how you think overfeeding can be dangerous to the fish in the tank? Just that they might become too fat (and die, maybe?) or something like that?
Something like that, LOL. I read about it in an aquarium book a while ago. The fish don’t know when to stop eating.
 

Azedenkae

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Something like that, LOL. I read about it in an aquarium book a while ago. The fish don’t know when to stop eating.
Somehow from my experience, that seemed to be truer for freshwater fish compared to marine fish. Mine seems to stop caring about food once they fed enough. XD But fair point nonetheless.
 
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Reefing102

Reefing102

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I would agree with the overfeeding aspect, however in this case there’s no fish in this tank. I feed sparingly just to keep the hermits and snails happy. I can easily watch if there gets to be left over food
 

NowGlazeIT

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I would agree with the overfeeding aspect, however in this case there’s no fish in this tank. I feed sparingly just to keep the hermits and snails happy. I can easily watch if there gets to be left over food
I’ve used coral food to boost phosphates, reef roids work well but the dosing is great for people that need the po4 boost everyday
 

PeterZammetti

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Hey all,

So I am currently running a 2.5 gallon Pico. I have a two head hammer and 4 Ricordea. The Ricordea look great. The hammer seems to be happy but not thriving in the tank (working on an upgrade).

I am currently running a NiCrew 30 watt LED at 20% blue and 20% white. About 8 inches off the surface. I don’t have a par meter but this seems to be a low par LED light. Based on manufacturer specs, it’s 100 Par at 24” in air (I hope that made sense)

I just got all new Salifert test kits and think I found why stuff seems happy but isn’t thriving.
Salinity: 1.025-1.026
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0
Calcium: 430
Alk: 8.3
MG: 1350
PH: 8

I do weekly ~20% water changes with instant ocean.

No dosing of any kind. Tank has been up 2+ years (I honestly don’t remember when it was set up but I’ve been married more than two years and it was up before then)

All coral was added about 2 weeks ago. No significant algae problems.

So my thought is I need to slightly boost Nitrate and Phosphate. I’m concerned as prior to this tank I had massive algae issues (cyano and hair algae). There’s no fish and once a week feeding of a couple pellets to keep the hermits and snails happy. Any thoughts on safely uping these two without decimating the tank? Or just let it be and keep on keeping on? Like I said everyone seems happy just not “thriving”.
overfeed with frozen food.
 

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