Never had a NO3/PO4 reading in 5 years (10g nano)

[Michel]

In 5 years my tank has gone trough so many phases.
Most of the time my aquarium looks great, but also a lot of times it didn't.

Ive had times with dino's, cyano, a lot of gha and I ALWAYS read 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates.
I have tried dosing. After dosing I did get the expected reading but the next day it's back to 0.

Right now I have a bit of green cyano again.
Cyano is absolutely no problem in this tank because I just put a filtersock in, blow all the cyano of and remove the filter sock a few hours later (benefit of a 10g nano).

Right now my glass stays clean for a few days, but i've also had days that I had to clean the glass EVERY DAY with 0 nitrates/phosphates.

I just cant understand how other people run their tanks with like 10-20 ppm nitrates when in my tank the algae already shows up at 0 nitrates.

And yes, I have tried different test kits. And i've also got it tested at my lfs with the same results.

I feed flakes about 2 times a day, and I do 10-20% water changes monthly.

What can I do differently to get no3/po4 readings above 0 without getting all the dino/cyano/gha problems?

Picture of the tank (yes, it does need a bit of cleaning ;Playful) :

Front--------------------------------------------------side

 

[Nano sapiens]

Since your system is mature (5 years), you feed frequently, your corals and others are alive, have color and possibly growing/reproducting, then in reality your system doesn't have '0' phosphate and nitrate. The test kits don't register these elements because they are being utilized/sequestered quickly by all the living organisms that are present in the system (nothing left over to be measured in the water column). When you see systems with measurable PO4 and NO3 levels, that means excess is available (which is kind of like a 'safety net', of sorts).

My 12g is 13 years old now and for most of it's life it had undetectable PO4 and ~0,5 - 1.0 NO3. When I tried to increase PO4 to 0.05 or higher, I'd get major hair and bubble algae issues despite an adequate CUC present. My system currently runs '0' PO4 and ~4 NO3 (for the last 6 months or so) and since everything is doing fine, I find no need to fiddle with the numbers.

My takeaway is that each system is different as there are so many different variables. Trying to make a system conform to a 'reef aquarium nutrient standard' may not always be the best way to go.

 

[Michel]

Since your system is mature (5 years), you feed frequently, your corals and others are alive, have color and possibly growing/reproducting, then in reality your system doesn't have '0' phosphate and nitrate. The test kits don't register these elements because they are being utilized/sequestered quickly by all the living organisms that are present in the system (nothing left over to be measured in the water column). When you see systems with measurable PO4 and NO3 levels, that means excess is available (which is kind of like a 'safety net', of sorts).

My 12g is 13 years old now and for most of it's life it had undetectable PO4 and ~0,5 - 1.0 NO3. When I tried to increase PO4 to 0.05 or higher, I'd get major hair and bubble algae issues despite an adequate CUC present. My system currently runs '0' PO4 and ~4 NO3 (for the last 6 months or so) and since everything is doing fine, I find no need to fiddle with the numbers.

My takeaway is that each system is different as there are so many different variables. Trying to make one conform to a 'reef aquarium nutrient standard' may not always be the best way to go.

thats a really nice looking tank you have there!

And I completely agree with you, everything is doing great and is growing a lot!
But its just really annoying that once in a while a get a cyano/dino outbreak because my no3/po4 are 0 or not in the right ratio.

And when I try to get them up by dosing, I get a lot of algae.

 

[BanjoBandito]

What's the livestock in that tank? I see the clown goby chillin....anything else? Fish are nitrate factories.

 

[Michel]

What's the livestock in that tank? I see the clown goby chillin....anything else? Fish are nitrate factories.

1 yellow clown goby, 2 clownfishes in the anemone, 2 turbo snails, 5 nassarius snails and a lot of babies, one sea urchin and a peppermint shrimp.

 

[Nano sapiens]

thats a really nice looking tank you have there!

And I completely agree with you, everything is doing great and is growing a lot!
But its just really annoying that once in a while a get a cyano/dino outbreak because my no3/po4 are 0 or not in the right ratio.

And when I try to get them up by dosing, I get a lot of algae.

Thanks

Better to think of these two 'nutrients' in terms of a number value within a range (something like 0.03 PO4 and 5 NO3, for example).

The challenge (some say 'art') of reef keeping is in finding (and maintaining) that balance where both cyano and algae is minimized and the other organisms do well. An effective cleanup crew along with few available areas for algae to attach to (lots of coral cover) helps a lot in the long run. Cyano is fueled primarily by excess nutrients (your bio load for such a small volume of water indicates that your system is actually nutrient heavy, despite your test kit '0' readings), so consider frequent manual removal of the cyano (a form of sequestered nutrient export), more frequent water changes and regular detritus/uneaten food removal.

 

[BanjoBandito]

1 yellow clown goby, 2 clownfishes in the anemone, 2 turbo snails, 5 nassarius snails and a lot of babies, one sea urchin and a peppermint shrimp.

Well, you are definitely making nitrate....I'm with the others, it's prob being consumed/stored. Your tank looks great btw.