Phosphate question regarding nano tank

[Mac8128]

Water quality question, here are my readings from today.
SG 1.027
Temp 78.8
pH 8.1
dKH 9.4 (First time using a Hannah Checker)
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
Calcium 460
Phosphate .5 (according to my wife, I think it's closer to .25) using the Salifert PO4 test kit. I need to get a Hannah Checker as our opinions on the color result don't seem to agree)

Tank: 13.5g Fluval Evo, TBS live rock and live sand. Has been running about 2 months

At this time I am not feeding any fish, I have a mandarin that eats pods and I dose pods every other night and some Phyto every few days to feed the pods in the tank & refugium. I'm thinking that is a main source of the Phosphate??? I give my Peppermint Shrimp two small pellets of New Life Spectrum Marine Life every week.

I have a little bit of green algae growth on the tank glass and a decent amount of coralline on my TBS rocks. I have no other concerns in regard to any "uglies".

I have a refugium in the middle chamber of the return section and Chaeto is growing well. I harvest about 1/3 every ten days. I also have small bags of Purigen and Nano Blue in the media cage in chamber 1. I have a piece of filter floss at the top of the media cage that I replace every other day.

How concerned should I be about the phosphate? I am continuing to do weekly 1.5g water changes but apparently that hasn't kept the Phosphate from creeping up. Should I add a small bag of GFO? Do I shorten the time between water changes? Would changing the filter floss every day help? After one day is is slightly brownish, after two days it's noticeably brown.

Quick info, I only have two pieces of coral in my tank. About 8 heads of Eagle Eye zoas and a 2"x3" piece of raja rampage chalice. The Eagle Eyes are opening fully and are very colorful. The chalice color is stunning and appears that the edges of where it was fragged have all healed and possibly a little bit of growth. Not sure if this additional info helps answer my questions above but...........



Any comments and thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[exnisstech]

I would just keep an eye in the tank if it looks good. I like to let newer tanks settle in to what I call a state of normalcy without input from me and see where N and P levels end up. If they settle in at higher levels than some prefer but the tank looks good I roll with it. I have several tanks some with N and P levels what some consider too high and I have others that run N and P at or near zero when I dose to raise them. IME I find low levels to cause problems but not higher levels. Every tank I've had with a nuisance algae issue has been a low nutrient tank. I use test results to help with consistency not to reach some number that may or may not even matter.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I would not overly worry about phosphate, but I'm also not sure how it got elevated.

 

[Mac8128]

So, I think I will stay with my normal 1.5g per week water change and change out my filter floss every night and I will keep an eye on the phosphate to see if if continues to climb.

I guess for the time being my wife and I will both grade the color and we will consider the results right in the middle. Hopefully the phosphate stays at or below where we think we are right now. I can see a Hanna Phosphate Checker in my foreseeable future

 

[Mac8128]

Randy, sorry I didn’t answer your question. I’m thinking the nitrates / phosphate might have come from a medium sized sponge that died a few weeks after I set up the tank.

Well got the Hanna Phosphate checker and the first test split the uprights! As I said, my wife thought we were at .5 and I thought closer to .25 on the color scale. The Hanna Checker says .374

So 10 years ago I would be very worried about nitrates around 20-30 and phosphate in the 3.x range. But the reading I’m doing sounds like folks are much more comfortable with readings such as these…..

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So 10 years ago I would be very worried about nitrates around 20-30 and phosphate in the 3.x range. But the reading I’m doing sounds like folks are much more comfortable with readings such as these…..

Yes, your phosphate value is not necessarily a problem. :)

 

[DexterKarin]

The salifert test for phosphate is impossible for me to read. Get a Hanna for that element in particular.

 

[Mac8128]

The salifert test for phosphate is impossible for me to read. Get a Hanna for that element in particular.

Agreed, I have only used it once but I am definitely a fan!

What are the opinions on the Hanna Nitrate checker? Is it as accurate as the Phosphate checker?

 

[RoanokeReef]

Agreed, I have only used it once but I am definitely a fan!

What are the opinions on the Hanna Nitrate checker? Is it as accurate as the Phosphate checker?

It is and I like it, basically same testing process at their Phosphate checker. I also like the ALK checker as it's an easy test. I use Salifert for the Calcium and Magnesium. No need to test Nitrite and Ammonia if you're still testing those.

 

[Mac8128]

Agreed, I have only used it once but I am definitely a fan!

What are the opinions on the Hanna Nitrate checker? Is it as accurate as the Phosphate checker?

It is and I like it, basically same testing process at their Phosphate checker. I also like the ALK checker as it's an easy test. I use Salifert for the Calcium and Magnesium. No need to test Nitrite and Ammonia if you're still testing those.

I also have the Hanna Alk checker. So it looks like I will be buying a Hanna Nitrate checker here shortly.

My biggest concern is that as I’ve gotten older my eyesight and color perception isn’t what it used to be. So eventually I think that I will probably get to the point where many of the parameters will be measured digitally.

 

[CHSUB]

So it looks like I will be buying a Hanna Nitrate checker

Salifert is better for no3 imo, unless you get the Hanna LR No3 Checker; which is a very good piece of equipment.

 

[Mac8128]

So it looks like I will be buying a Hanna Nitrate checker

Salifert is better for no3 imo, unless you get the Hanna LR No3 Checker; which is a very good piece of equipment.

My problem is that I went to the Salifrrt phosphate tester because it was supposed to be better and more readable than the API test kit. Got the Salifert test and my wife and I couldn’t agree on the results. So we wound up buying the Hanna checker.

My concern is, I buy a Salifert Nitrate test kit and have the same issues…..

 

[RoanokeReef]

My problem is that I went to the Salifrrt phosphate tester because it was supposed to be better and more readable than the API test kit. Got the Salifert test and my wife and I couldn’t agree on the results. So we wound up buying the Hanna checker.

My concern is, I buy a Salifert Nitrate test kit and have the same issues…..

You will since it's a color based test. The LR Hanna only reads to 5ppm which most reefers keep their tank above that, so you need the HR Hanna. The only Hannas I don't recommend is the Calcium and Magnesium as they're a pain to use and the color change on Salifert is pretty clear.

 

[Mac8128]

My problem is that I went to the Salifrrt phosphate tester because it was supposed to be better and more readable than the API test kit. Got the Salifert test and my wife and I couldn’t agree on the results. So we wound up buying the Hanna checker.

My concern is, I buy a Salifert Nitrate test kit and have the same issues…..

You will since it's a color based test. The LR Hanna only reads to 5ppm which most reefers keep their tank above that, so you need the HR Hanna. The only Hannas I don't recommend is the Calcium and Magnesium as they're a pain to use and the color change on Salifert is pretty clear.

Yea, I’m gonna go with the HR Nitrate checker. Good info on the Calcium and Magnesium Salifert tests

 

[CHSUB]

Yea, I’m gonna go with the HR Nitrate checker. Good info on the Calcium and Magnesium Salifert tests

You don’t need a precise measurement for no3 unless your running a properly set up natural reef system. If your running a current fad high nutrient system any high number is fine: 10, 20 or higher doesn’t matter.

Here is what Hanna says about the two checkers, note they basically call the HR junk:

The HI782 was designed to quickly and easily measure nitrate levels for aquarists with higher-than-average nutrient levels. This includes saltwater aquariums that are fish-only or have corals that can tolerate elevated levels of nitrate at 30 ppm or more.

Very low levels of nitrate are critical for many saltwater reef aquariums, as nitrate can cause damage and possible death to certain delicate corals and invertebrates. For this reason, the HI781 offers unmatched precision in the measurement of very low levels of nitrate (0.00 to 5.00 ppm). For freshwater samples, Hanna Instruments recommends using the HI97728 Nitrate Portable Photometer.

 

[diverjm]

I don't know if i'd agree that the HR is junk. It might not be as precise as the LR but its WAAAY easier to use in my opinion.

 

[CHSUB]

I don't know if i'd agree that the HR is junk. It might not be as precise as the LR but its WAAAY easier to use in my opinion.

Haha, yes not junk..

 

[Mac8128]

The thing is with me, I can’t tell the difference between 20 and 40 or higher using colors thru a test tube. I would assume that if I had a HR nitrate checker that it should get me a heck of a lot closer to actual versus my eyesight. If it reads 20, I can be pretty comfortable that it’s within a few points of 20, not wondering if it’s actually 40 or more.

 

[diverjm]

I currently use the Hanna HR and like it a lot. I had no detectable nitrates when I started using it and now have 6ppm due to calcium nitrate dosing. It’s shown me results as low as 0.2 all the way up to the 6ppm that I currently have. I compared the Hanna results with my Salifert kit for the first 10 or so tests and they seemed extremely similar. The digital readout is so much easier than color guessing, even if it does have an error of margin of up to 2ppm.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don't know if i'd agree that the HR is junk. It might not be as precise as the LR but its WAAAY easier to use in my opinion.

I use the HR and like it, but I am not targeting the low levels that CHSUB is. :)