Yeah the title sums it up. Phosphate was 0.7 so I used GFO and nopox to get it down to zero. Got dino, let the tank dirty out for months fed food, skimmer offline. Dino went away and now I have 25 nitrate and zero phosphate. Luckily I only have a couple of softies in the tank so nothing too delicate. Now I plan to dose seachem flourish phosphorus to get phosphate up. Considering my nitrates are 25 I'd like to get them to 10, for that I'll need phosphate to be 0.62 as per redfield ratio. So over how many weeks should I raise the phosphate? Is 0.2 per week a good number? 0.2 per 8 days means I'll have to dose flourish 3ml per day. Is that safe?
Phosphate and Nitrate out of balance. Help needed, stupid reefer here.
motortrendz
2500 Club Member
I'm not sure if od go by that ratio. I believe I saw a post where @randysaid it's not where you actually want your parameters.
Now i would use normal nutrient export, skimming, water changes to get the nitrates down below 10ish. (I'm never super crazy about the actual numbers, I go more by what my corals looks like and tell me) and you can put a little flourish into the water. I have to do this every once in a while too, sometimes just 1ml is enough to get you to .04-.08 just to keep them off zero will help from nusance algae/bacteria growths.
Now i would use normal nutrient export, skimming, water changes to get the nitrates down below 10ish. (I'm never super crazy about the actual numbers, I go more by what my corals looks like and tell me) and you can put a little flourish into the water. I have to do this every once in a while too, sometimes just 1ml is enough to get you to .04-.08 just to keep them off zero will help from nusance algae/bacteria growths.
thanks for replying. I don't think I can use any other methods of export until I get phosphates up? I'm no expert but I guess bacteria need po4 to process no3 so I think I'll absolutely have to dose po4 for my nitrates to go from 25- 15or 10. My question is if I'm dosing flourish is a 0.1 ppm po4 increase per week a bit too much for softies ? Should I go slower?
motortrendz
2500 Club Member
I would just get the po4 up enough off zero. After 1 dose it should be detectable. As you lower your nitrates keep an eye on po4 and just maintain them. Dont they to bring them up to a crazy number just to lower them again. It's to many swings and ups and downs for the system.
If it was me, I would dose enough to get them to read on my meter (i have a hanna so it gives a digital read out. ) and start manual export of nitrates( water changes, mostly) your not all that bad where you are at ) it shouldn't take much time to get them balanced and low.
If it was me, I would dose enough to get them to read on my meter (i have a hanna so it gives a digital read out. ) and start manual export of nitrates( water changes, mostly) your not all that bad where you are at ) it shouldn't take much time to get them balanced and low.
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