I have a 55 gallon tank with a 20 or so gallon sump. I have a protein skimmer rated for 120g tank, dragons breath macro algae, 2 4" filter socks I change twice weekly in addition to 20gallon water changes weekly. I have a moderate amount of rock and I also use xport bio and xport no3. I have been battling high nitrates for a while, but it's gotten really bad and all my interventions have failed thus far. Adding bacterial supplement hasn't impacted it and for the last couple weeks I have been vodka dosing with an algorithm I found online but it doesn't seem to make a dent. My question is what else should I try to do to remove nitrates? Also, my phosphates read 0 on my red sea test kit (not the pro), could that be limiting my nitrate uptake in the nitrogen cycle? How should I move forward from here?
Current water parameters:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.05
Nitrate 50 on redsea, 60 on API
Phosphate 0
Calcium 420
Alkalinity 10.5
pH 8 redsea, 7.8 API
Spec. Grav. 1.025
Thank you for the continued help all at reef2reef, also I'm happy to answer any other questions that may help in the diagnosis of my issue.
Current water parameters:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.05
Nitrate 50 on redsea, 60 on API
Phosphate 0
Calcium 420
Alkalinity 10.5
pH 8 redsea, 7.8 API
Spec. Grav. 1.025
Thank you for the continued help all at reef2reef, also I'm happy to answer any other questions that may help in the diagnosis of my issue.