Hey all, I've got a series of unknowns and I guess I'm just looking for confirmation on steps toward solving some of them and actions in the mean time. I've got a tank that has remained nice and stable, zoanthids, a few softies, acans, and euphyllia have been and seem content, so I had stopped testing routinely as nothing has shown any sign of change. Just out of sheer curiosity I decided to test today and received some potentially baffling results. Using salifert tests, my nitrates showed under 2ppm and phosphates under 0.05ppm, but Hannah Low Range phosphate checker showed 0.51ppm phosphate and I do not have the nitrate checker. The salifert tests are good until next year, but the hannah reagents expire this month. I have a bit of bubble algae and a few patches of bryopsis that I've been slowly chipping away at with success with an emerald crab and gradual manual removal. I've got a skimmer running 24/7 and use filter floss plus a bit of activated carbon in my sump. I do about 2 8% water changes per week. I did double check against user error for both testing methods, including following the instructions to a tee with timers. My fish bioload in a 50 gallon tank (plus 12ish gallon sump) is two small clownfish one maybe 1.5 inches and the other 1 inch. Two helfrichi firefish, a yellow halichores wrasse, and a lawnmower blenny. I feed three times per day. About half of a cap full of small TDO pellets twice per day, and maybe 3/4 of a cube worth of LRS frozen foods (flat pack that I break chunks off of so I'm not sure for certain)
I'm not hugely concerned, but I'm hesitant to make changes while I have no idea where my parameters are at. Is the solution to get a third testing method to see which is the problem? The first step I've taken is getting new reagent for the checker and turned my skimmer off. I could buy either that the phosphates are high given that I do have algae, or that the algae is sucking up all of my nitrates/phosphates and the levels are really low. Given that everything is fine and happy, I'm more concerned about overzealously adjusting.
Assuming that the nitrate test was accurate, I'd actually like to raise that up a bit, but don't want to go adjusting until I'm sure of what the phosphate is at.
Any sage advice?
TLDR: Conflicting test results. Either very high nutrients or low. Don't want to zero them out by chasing after the high result or increase them assuming the low. Algae is present but under control and managed. Presence of algae could validate the high nutrient claim, or the low.
I'm not hugely concerned, but I'm hesitant to make changes while I have no idea where my parameters are at. Is the solution to get a third testing method to see which is the problem? The first step I've taken is getting new reagent for the checker and turned my skimmer off. I could buy either that the phosphates are high given that I do have algae, or that the algae is sucking up all of my nitrates/phosphates and the levels are really low. Given that everything is fine and happy, I'm more concerned about overzealously adjusting.
Assuming that the nitrate test was accurate, I'd actually like to raise that up a bit, but don't want to go adjusting until I'm sure of what the phosphate is at.
Any sage advice?
TLDR: Conflicting test results. Either very high nutrients or low. Don't want to zero them out by chasing after the high result or increase them assuming the low. Algae is present but under control and managed. Presence of algae could validate the high nutrient claim, or the low.
