What would be your recommendation for NO3 / PO4 levels for a softie dominate mixed reef with no SPS. also if I'm having trouble maintaining detectable no3/po4 in my tank what would you recommend for maintaining those levels. I had this problem a couple of months ago. At the time I just ran my skimmer about 50 % of the time and stopped using filter socks. But... I overshot and ended up with no3/po4 levels too high. had some algae outbreaks. now I'm back to bottoming out. Im trying for stability but so far not so good
beating undetectable nutrients
- Thread starter JKDMan
- Start date
- Tagged users None
How big of a tank, rock, sand, refuge?
With new tank and varying livestock can have swings, but aside from that should be manageable with how much you feed, verse- skim, size of refuge, algae scrub, carbon dose, etc
With new tank and varying livestock can have swings, but aside from that should be manageable with how much you feed, verse- skim, size of refuge, algae scrub, carbon dose, etc
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2018
- Messages
- 7,571
- Reaction score
- 7,962
The straightforward approach is test and dose, adding NO3 and PO4 as needed.
The other way to import NO3 and PO4 is my dosing organic matter, like fish food, letting bacteria digest it and generating NO3 and PO4. There is a lag time between adding food and seeing a NO3 and PO4 increase. Also, you are at the mercy of the food’s relative amounts of PO4 and NO3. If you only want to add PO4 and no NO3, adding food is not a useful option.
lelandmarine
Well-Known Member
Agree with Dan P. i dosed for the first time recently to bring up undetectable levels. I made a diy stock solution for nitrate and phosphate. was scared the first time i added chemicals to the tank but it worked very well. Good luck! Picture of a post from RandyH-F
Randy Holmes-Farley
Reef Chemist
Staff member
Super Moderator
Excellence Award
Expert Contributor
Article Contributor
R2R Research
My Tank Thread
Feeding more is also very easy.
