Keeping Nitrate/Phosphate in check for heavy-bioload tank

Emira_Reef · May 27, 2023

Let's start with the history:
I started a new tank (65g) about 3 months ago (red sea reefer 250 g2) - I skipped the cycling by using liverock & corals from old tank.
- Inhabitants since day 1: 5" medium Powder brown tang, 3" small blue hippo tang, 2 clownfish, 1 damsel, 1 bi-colour blenny and 1 melanurus wrasse
15 snails and 100s of baby snails, 3 shrimps, urchin
Euphyllias, open brains, monti/chalice, zoas/mushrooms/leathers, BTA anemone
- Feeding: 1 cube of mysis or brine + nori + small bits of flakes / per day.
- Alk: 9 / Calc: 420 / Mag: 1320
- 15% W/C weekly

Now to the point:
Recently I have noticed some of my corals were unhappy. Specifically: Euphyllias (Frogspaw, Octospawn). Hammers and torch are doing just fine.
I test my paramters (Alk, Calc, Mag) weekly, and they have been stable using a doser.
I never test my nitrates/phosphates unless there is a problem - my thoughts are: if I feed the tank the same amount everyday, wouldn't my nitrate/phosphate and bacteria be balanced?
But because some of my euphyllias were starting to get angry (less extension), I decided to test my nitrate/phosphate. But because my test kits were very old (a little over a year), I ordered hanna test kits for Nitrate and Phosphate. My phosphate test kit isn't here yet, so I will update on Tuesday/Wednesday. But Nitrate shows 43.5. Higher than I've ever had in any of my tanks. I'm sure my phosphate is very high too (although I haven't seen any browning in my corals).
I'm using an over-sized skimmer and I have a refugium with lots of Chaeto growing.

What other methods have you guys used to lower nitrate/phosphate with tanks with heavy bio-load/feeding?

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · May 27, 2023

Emira_Reef said:
Let's start with the history:
I started a new tank (65g) about 3 months ago (red sea reefer 250 g2) - I skipped the cycling by using liverock & corals from old tank.
- Inhabitants since day 1: 5" medium Powder brown tang, 3" small blue hippo tang, 2 clownfish, 1 damsel, 1 bi-colour blenny and 1 melanurus wrasse
15 snails and 100s of baby snails, 3 shrimps, urchin
Euphyllias, open brains, monti/chalice, zoas/mushrooms/leathers, BTA anemone
- Feeding: 1 cube of mysis or brine + nori + small bits of flakes / per day.
- Alk: 9 / Calc: 420 / Mag: 1320
- 15% W/C weekly

Now to the point:
Recently I have noticed some of my corals were unhappy. Specifically: Euphyllias (Frogspaw, Octospawn). Hammers and torch are doing just fine.
I test my paramters (Alk, Calc, Mag) weekly, and they have been stable using a doser.
I never test my nitrates/phosphates unless there is a problem - my thoughts are: if I feed the tank the same amount everyday, wouldn't my nitrate/phosphate and bacteria be balanced?
But because some of my euphyllias were starting to get angry (less extension), I decided to test my nitrate/phosphate. But because my test kits were very old (a little over a year), I ordered hanna test kits for Nitrate and Phosphate. My phosphate test kit isn't here yet, so I will update on Tuesday/Wednesday. But Nitrate shows 43.5. Higher than I've ever had in any of my tanks. I'm sure my phosphate is very high too (although I haven't seen any browning in my corals).
I'm using an over-sized skimmer and I have a refugium with lots of Chaeto growing.

What other methods have you guys used to lower nitrate/phosphate with tanks with heavy bio-load/feeding?

I'm probably not much help as my LPS has always thrived at "high" nitrate levels ("high" being anywhere from 30-100), so your numbers don't look bad to me.

One thing you can do is trim your chaeto often and increase the photoperiod in the fuge. You can also rinse out the remaining chaeto after you trim to remove any food, etc that's caught in it.

You didn't mention mechanical filtration like socks, floss, etc, but cleaning/changing that more often can also help.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · May 27, 2023

Or, try feeding less...

cooltowncorals · May 27, 2023

Carbon dose

Emira_Reef · May 27, 2023

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal said:
I'm probably not much help as my LPS has always thrived at "high" nitrate levels ("high" being anywhere from 30-100), so your numbers don't look bad to me.

One thing you can do is trim your chaeto often and increase the photoperiod in the fuge. You can also rinse out the remaining chaeto after you trim to remove any food, etc that's caught in it.

You didn't mention mechanical filtration like socks, floss, etc, but cleaning/changing that more often can also help.

Oh I see. Maybe it's not the nitrate then. But I do have some SPS, so I do want to lower it a tad.

I was under the impression, the bigger the chaeto, the more nitrate/phosphate it would remove. So I try not to trim often, maybe once every month, or two.

For mechanical, I use filter floss + filter sock. But filter floss is on top of the sock, so sock never gets dirty. I replace floss weekly after waterchange.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · May 27, 2023

Emira_Reef said:
I was under the impression, the bigger the chaeto, the more nitrate/phosphate it would remove. So I try not to trim often, maybe once every month, or two.

In my experience with other refugium microalgae (caulerpa), trimming it back makes it grow faster -- probably because the light doesn't penetrate as well with a large mass.

Dave1993 · May 27, 2023

How are the G2 tanks guess they have not been out long enough to tell if they have the seam fails i want rid of my red sea tank

jda · May 27, 2023

You cannot skip a cycle even if some self-important folks seem to think so. The end of the nitrogen cycle is when your tank develops anaerobic bacteria to turn no3 into nitrogen gas. These will develop, but it takes more than three months. This could take care of all of your nitrate, or just a good part of it, but it will be a while.

If you are going to worry about po4 too much, then Hannah is the only tool to have. I hope that is what you ordered. Once you get a number, then hollar. po4 binds to rock and sand at a high rate, so even if you no3 is climbing, the po4 could just be binding and the water level amount is still low.

legionofdoon · Jun 4, 2023

Thread 'Poor Man's Nutrients Control - Donovan's Nitrate Destroyer' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/poor-mans-nutrients-control-donovans-nitrate-destroyer.302685/

MrGisonni · Jun 4, 2023

I had success with Brightwell export N03 blocks in a plastic jar with limited flow in my sump. They worked so well they stripped my nitrates to zero. Then I got dinos. Now I stand by ready to dose if they get too low or increase water changes if they get too high. My sweet spot seems to be around 20-25 ppm in my mixed reef.

GARRIGA · Jun 4, 2023

Perhaps run refugium 24/7 and if possible maximize light intensity. Carbon dosing what I’d try next but shouldn’t be needed with an efficient properly sized Fuge.