Should I dose both at the same time to try to get them in range or should I focus on raising and then the other? Also read that does nitrates may reduce phosphates?
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Show pics in white lights if you canI already have something but can’t tell if it dino or diatoms. This is the reason why I am wanting to dose and get these out of zero and get the good bacteria to out compete them.
Look to me from your pics is you may have cyano . Cut back the intensity and time length of your lighting . Add microbactor 7 daily until it clears up , do manual cleaning by using a siphon gravel cleaner , run a UV light if you have one , increase flow in the tank . It will take a few weeks or so to clear this up be patient and keep your parameters as stable and correct as you can . plus don’t let your phosphates or nitrates ever zero out . Try to keep phosphates between 0.05 and .1 and nitrates between 10 to 15 ppm . Patience and consistency is king . Good luckHere are pictures and video. Hope this helps.
Should I dose both at the same time to try to get them in range or should I focus on raising and then the other? Also read that does nitrates may reduce phosphates?
uhh,,, so you went zero to 0.3ish ppm in one day?
That's fairly aggressive.
EDIT -- What did you dose and how long did it maintain that level?
I'm trying to work my way up from 0.01 (occasionally 0.02) just to stay "above zero" so interested.
I think I am going to over shoot on mine also. The max phosphate I was dosing was 0.08 ppm and nitrate was 2 ppm.
Not sure if you already said this tank's substrate background/history so I apologize in advance:24 hours later and phosphates are back to zero.
Agree! Tank is 7 months old. Mostly dry rock and live sand. Pretty sure the dry rock is sucking up the phosphates.Not sure if you already said this tank's substrate background/history so I apologize in advance:
Seems like the conventional wisdom is that new/dry rock (and even sand) can suck up phosphate for some amount of time.
I'm in the same boat -- I went with half dry rock when I did a tank transfer last Oct/Nov and I still can't get my phosphates up,,, but I haven't resorted to dosing phos yet,,, just keep OVER-FEEDING massively,,, which my soft corals and algae seem to enjoy.Agree! Tank is 7 months old. Mostly dry rock and live sand. Pretty sure the dry rock is sucking up the phosphates.
I'm in the same boat -- I went with half dry rock when I did a tank transfer last Oct/Nov and I still can't get my phosphates up,,, but I haven't resorted to dosing phos yet,,, just keep OVER-FEEDING massively,,, which my soft corals and algae seem to enjoy.
My nitrates don't seem to fluctuate at all, oddly -- pretty much 8-9 ppm for a long time now.
So far so good.Curious, any sign of dinos or cynos? Wondering since you are doing good in the nitrates area with a po4 deficit.
So far so good.
Got GHA pockets forming on my one rock structure that was dry/white and I just keep pulling it manually (when I have ambition).
My other rock structure that was (allegedly) "aqua-cultured live rock" and was in my last tank for 7-ish months prior -- never gets a speck of algae.
EDIT -- oh yeah,,, maybe bad interpretation of one of your previous pics but,,, do you ever syphon/vacuum your sand? (That's pretty much my main drive to do water changes,,, but I guess that's a personal preference)