Nitrate and Phosphate question (again)

JoeSchmo45

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Unfortunately, I have another question about nitrate and phosphate. I appreciate all the experienced, smart folks on here! My tank is an almost 6-month old reefer 170 that was started with dry rock and live sand. I did a small water change just now and tested everything:

Temp - 78
Sal - 1.025
amm - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 1.5-2
phos - 0
cal - 400
alk - 9.2
mag - 1400

About a week ago I dosed some neophos and neonitro because my nitrates and phosphates were flatlined. I posted in an earlier thread that my phosphate readings were a bit confusing. I see now that my phosphates really do disappear very quickly. I dosed last night to get from 0 to a reading of .03. Today they are 0 again. Since dosing these things, I've had a big increase in algae on the glass. I wipe it off with a magnet and it's back in an hour. Some of my zoas don't seem thrilled either. I was hoping they'd be happy with a little nitrate. They don't seem to be.

I'm not confident enough in what I know to make a decision here. Should I let things be and not dose? Is it typical when starting to dose nitrate and phosphate to see an algae bloom? Does algae suck up phosphate like that? If you have any wisdom to share, I would sure appreciate it!

Thank you!
Joe
 
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JoeSchmo45

JoeSchmo45

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Thank you all for the advice!

You can actually up your dose. Your zoas will be happy with some more phosphates. I would not worry about algae on the glass at the moment.
What filtration /export are you running ?

My only form of filtration/export right now are a filter sock, skimmer, and weekly 10% water changes. Should I keep dosing until the phosphate doesn't go away in 24 hours? My target right now is about 5 nitrate and .02 or .03 phosphate. The nitrate has stayed pretty stable at around 2, but the phosphates disappear in a day. Thank you again for the help!

Thanks,
Joe
 

Deep

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Thank you all for the advice!



My only form of filtration/export right now are a filter sock, skimmer, and weekly 10% water changes. Should I keep dosing until the phosphate doesn't go away in 24 hours? My target right now is about 5 nitrate and .02 or .03 phosphate. The nitrate has stayed pretty stable at around 2, but the phosphates disappear in a day. Thank you again for the help!

Thanks,
Joe
You can target upto 0.08 Phosphates. And no harm going higher with a single dose. You can also feed more.
 

Ippyroy

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I would turn off the skimmer and remove the filter sock. you can also skip a couple of water changes. There is no reason to remove the NO3 and PO4 if you don't have enough in your tank to begin with. It is true that algae will use them to grow, tying them up until they are removed or die. If it dies in the tank it will release it back into the tank. I don't worry about algae in the tank personally. I keep my NO3 around 5 and my PO4 at .05. i try to keep them under 10 and .10
 
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JoeSchmo45

JoeSchmo45

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You can target upto 0.08 Phosphates. And no harm going higher with a single dose. You can also feed more.

I appreciate it, thank you!

I would turn off the skimmer and remove the filter sock. you can also skip a couple of water changes. There is no reason to remove the NO3 and PO4 if you don't have enough in your tank to begin with. It is true that algae will use them to grow, tying them up until they are removed or die. If it dies in the tank it will release it back into the tank. I don't worry about algae in the tank personally. I keep my NO3 around 5 and my PO4 at .05. i try to keep them under 10 and .10

That's a good idea. I'll give the skimmer a rest. I dosed both again this evening and tested about 2 hours later. The nitrates came up to 3. The Hanna ULR said zero again (just 2 hrs after dosing). I tried the test a second time just to be sure and got 0.08. I'm starting to think that tester is an expensive paperweight. I certainly don't trust it. Thanks you for the advice!

Thanks,
Joe
 

blasterman

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I would turn off the skimmer as well and see if it helps keep nitrate up a bit. Skimmers pull a bit of phosphate but not nearly as efficiently as they strip nitrate.
 

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Hi I’m having similar issues. My tank has been going for a year. My PO4 is usually 0.02 and my NO3 is always 0. I’ve been running a chaeto reactor and a skimmer since initial setup. Also 2 floss cups and 35 gallon water changes every other week - tank is 100g with a 30g sump. I’m growing GHA under and between my rock and just started getting cyano. I started dosing NO3 a few days ago and today got NO3 at 0.13. I know if I have GHA I must have nutrients but I need to do something because the GHA is getting worse and now I have cyano too.
I turned down the light timer for the chaeto reactor, pulled the GFO, but I didn’t realize the skimmer might be what is reducing my NO3 so much. I don’t want to make too many changes at once. Any advice appreciated.
 

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