Question on nitrate/phosphate ratio

[Jam12]

Hello, I'm new to reef2reef so I'm not sure if I'm posting correctly. Nitrates 40 pmm, phosphate 4 pmm, salinity 1.023
I was wondering if my ratio of nitrate to phosphate was ok. Also what I could do to fix it if it's not.

I work at a fish store on the weekends with a 180 gallon saltwater display with a ~20 gallon sump which runs carbon, filterfloss, bio wheel, UV sterilzer, and a protein skimmer. since I only work weekends when it's most busy I don't really have time to do to many water changes and can only change out 35 gallons at one time.


It is a very well established tank its been running for about 20 years I believe. We mostly keep a variety of damsels, anemone, a few zooanthid fragments, snails, shrimp, and a couple other smaller fish. I would consider the tank just barely overstocked since we sell and get new fish in weekly.

 

[Garf]

Hello, I'm new to reef2reef so I'm not sure if I'm posting correctly. Nitrates 40 pmm, phosphate 4 pmm, salinity 1.023
I was wondering if my ratio of nitrate to phosphate was ok. Also what I could do to fix it if it's not.

I work at a fish store on the weekends with a 180 gallon saltwater display with a ~20 gallon sump which runs carbon, filterfloss, bio wheel, UV sterilzer, and a protein skimmer. since I only work weekends when it's most busy I don't really have time to do to many water changes and can only change out 35 gallons at one time.


It is a very well established tank its been running for about 20 years I believe. We mostly keep a variety of damsels, anemone, a few zooanthid fragments, snails, shrimp, and a couple other smaller fish. I would consider the tank just barely overstocked since we sell and get new fish in weekly.

I hope you've got a pic of this tank to post. I wouldn't worry about the ratio between "a little high" and "very high" personally.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I agree that the ratio is not a pertinent question, rather than whether either is in a desirable range. If 4 ppm is accurate for phosphate, it is the highest I’ve ever seen reported and is an experiment in its own right.