Very high NO3/PO4 but no coral issues ..?

[scoopsthedog]

So I have a Red Sea total water volume 82G. The tank is mature-ish. 3 months but the coral and rock were moved from an established tank of 2 years. Anyway I can’t seem to reduce my N03 or PO4 but the coral seem to be fine. The leathers are thriving, mushrooms are good and my RBTA is doing well. But the parameters are NO3 - 32PPM and PO4 - .78PPM. I ordered NO3-PO4x and will began dosing this week.

Am I playing with fire? Should I bring levels down slowly? Any advice-
Skimmer
Carbon- Chempure Elite
Bacto Reef Balls

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

If it looks fine it probaly is.


This guy finally got his Po4 down, from 3.0 to 1.77.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-home-tank.296635/#post-3626579

 

[KrisReef]

I think soft corals like dirtier water. Your values are high but not astronomic.

An algae scrubber or fuge might be s gentler way to lower your levels over time?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I think soft corals like dirtier water. Your values are high but not astronomic.

An algae scrubber or fuge might be s gentler way to lower your levels over time?

Check out the tank i linked.

 

[DarkSky]

How are you measuring your levels? Have you double / triple checked to make sure you're testing correctly?

If you're not having any I'll effects, leave it at those levels.

 

[Reefahholic]

Depends on the tanks age and what corals are in the system.

 

[Larry L]

There are soooo many stories on R2R about people with tanks that had "no issues" but ended up causing problems by chasing numbers...

This guy finally got his Po4 down, from 3.0 to 1.77.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-home-tank.296635/#post-3626579

He also wrote this: http://packedhead.net/2014/skeptical-reefkeeping-ix-test-kits-chasing-numbers-and-phosphate/

 

[scoopsthedog]

I appreciate everyone’s replies - I do have a algae reactor and the thing is I barely have any algae build up on the glass. I am going to slowly try and bring numbers down a bit to see if that helps increase my Zoa and LPS growth (they have stagnated - not died but not doing much either). I’ll keep this thread updated as I dose and test (also yes I am double testing with Red Sea and Hanna so digital + chemical read outs).

 

[scoopsthedog]

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Funny how we doubt the imerical evidence before our eyes that says it’s fine.

 

[srusso]

I'd say, you should start to suspect the testing as a possible issue here. Double check your results, ask to test a friend's tank to make sure your kits are still accurate.

 

[kinetic]

The other extreme is you could get a huge imbalance of NO3/PO4 and end up letting something like dinoflagellates run rampant and kill everything.

I wouldn't call a 3 month tank with 2 years old stuff matured. There's still plenty of time for it to stabilize. Nopox is pretty dang effective quickly, you could do it but try to ease into it. Not sure what your needs are, everything looks great. Use it only if you have way too much nuisance algae or something isn't healthy.

 

[Katrina71]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[scoopsthedog]

I’m gonna ease into getting it slightly under control only to see if that helps with the LPS and Zoas as the leathers seems to thrive on any conditions (my green polyp softball mitt started out the size of a tennis ball).

 

[tehmadreefer]

Your tank is full of softies and lps, so naturally they will thrive in dirtier water conditions.

Put a couple of sps frags besides the easy/cheap ones and I bet they rtn overnight!

 

[Larry L]

Your tank is full of softies and lps, so naturally they will thrive in dirtier water conditions.

Put a couple of sps frags besides the easy/cheap ones and I bet they rtn overnight!

Or, they might look like this: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-home-tank.296635/#post-3626579

 

[jda]

If you are happy, then leave it alone. There are all kinds of corals that will do fine with those numbers. If you want to start to keep some of the ones that suffer with those kind of numbers, then you might have to change. The Ross tank is a great example of sticking with what works if you want to have high numbers.

There are plenty of SPS that will do fine with N and P high... stags, MBP&S, etc. ...not all of them will, but you can avoid these.

 

[tehmadreefer]

Or, they might look like this: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-home-tank.296635/#post-3626579

Perhaps but look at how old his tank is and how long he has been in the hobby...

In addition he does and has access to things the majority of the general refer does not.

A tank can can thrive with good or bad water quality as long as it’s stable.

 

[scoopsthedog]

The test kits are new and even if they are of by 10-15% they still show a range higher than “normal”. My canary in the coal mine is algae - glass and sand. Does that start to quickly build up? Recently i only clean the glass every 2-3 days and it’s a light dusting of algae. Sand is clean by the next day thanks to CUC. I also look at my Duncan’s and RBTA as they are the most sensitive (in my tank) and can give me indicators of problems.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Your tank looks great. I'd say leave it alone.