Controlling nitrates and phosphates.......
- Thread starter Gwitness
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Sure you can control with proper husbandry. Water changes, protein skimming,reduced feeding, gfo etc. Water change are probably the most important. You do not have to have any fancy equipment to control these issues. Make sure you are using rodi water with zero tds and don't overstock your tank with fish.
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Gwitness
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right now I have a 180 mixed reef with 21 fish!! I have an ASM G4+ skimmer that does great and a TLF reactor with phosguard in it, and I have a spectra pure RO/DI unit....my phosphates and nitrates read 0 but I know it they are just getting used up so quick that it isn't reading....I do weekly water changes of 15 gallons, but before every water change I turkey baste the rocks and I have a crazy amount of detritus....I was trying to get this under control without using all of this other stuff .....I have an mp40 and 2 RW 15s in there, so I know I have enough flow in there! Just not sure what else to do really.....
Huge Sump with Macro Algae, or a big enough Algae Turf Scrubber would take care of all that for you.
I can blow off my rocks every few days and get lots of detritus.... That is normal in my opinion and should not be a issue. Sounds to me your levels are okay. Best judge is how your corals are doing. When water quality diminishes they react and then you know you have problems. That is a lot of fish what kind are you housing?
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Gwitness
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I have 4 tangs, 1 magnificent foxface, the rest are anthias, cardinals, gobies, etc. That is good to know about the detritus though...I thought it was a huge issue for some reason....
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Gwitness
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Biggest sump I can fit is my 40 breeder I have, I wish I could do a huge refugium with macro in it!!! What does an algae turf scrubber do?? Does it have any cons to it?
Randy Holmes-Farley
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I'm not sure I understand the goal.
Why do you feel you need to do more? Do you have an algae problem? Or are you trying to stop the phosguard?
Why do you feel you need to do more? Do you have an algae problem? Or are you trying to stop the phosguard?
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Gwitness
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Well I guess maybe I don't know what my issue is then! I just assumed it was phosphates and nitrates.....I dose kalk through my ATO and it keeps my parameters very steady so I know that is not the issue....My Acros just don't seem to color up like they should or grow that much and only conclusion I can come up with is that my nitrates and phosphates are too high!! I do not have an algae issue but I do have a little cyan on some spots of the rocks. I also have these small air bubbles that show up throughout the day on the back glass and outtake pipes, but there is no GHA or anything like that....I use salifert for nitrates and that reads 5 or lower all the time and I use Hannah phosphate checker and that ALWAYS reads 0, but there is no way it is 0! I also have a lot of detritus whenever I turkey baste my rocks off and I just thought that wasn't good either! haha .... As for flow and lights...I have an mp40 and 2 RW 15s and my lights are ATI 8 bulb fixture.....
Bad Company
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I built a waterfall algae scrubber. I use tap water, WC about 5% a month (I only have small corals so they aren't depleting trace elements quickly), and clean the glass once a week. Total weekly maintenance is about 30 minutes. I haven't bought any chemicals for my tank outside Prime and a ph buffer. My nitrates stay at zero.
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Randy Holmes-Farley
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Which Hannah checker are you using for phosphate?
What is the nitrate level?
What is the nitrate level?
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Gwitness
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I use the regular phosphate one... Not phosphorus.... And my nitrates read 5 or lower every time I check, but like I said detritus is crazy whenever I blow off rocks
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So the detritus may contribute to the values, but by itself shouldn't be hurting corals.
it is possible the phosphate is higher than you think (based on the uncertainty of the checker), but elevated phosphate is not necessarily the issue. It may actually be too low, from the phosguard, which also leads to poor coloration and growth of corals.
IME, phosguard can also cause some corals (especially soft corals) to close up to to released aluminum, but that seems to not be your problem.
Lighting can also impact coloration a lot, and growth is certainly impacted by calcium and especially alkalinity.
Are you feeding anything like amino acids? I don't, but some people find it helps coral coloration, especially when nutrients are low.
it is possible the phosphate is higher than you think (based on the uncertainty of the checker), but elevated phosphate is not necessarily the issue. It may actually be too low, from the phosguard, which also leads to poor coloration and growth of corals.
IME, phosguard can also cause some corals (especially soft corals) to close up to to released aluminum, but that seems to not be your problem.
Lighting can also impact coloration a lot, and growth is certainly impacted by calcium and especially alkalinity.
Are you feeding anything like amino acids? I don't, but some people find it helps coral coloration, especially when nutrients are low.
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Gwitness
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I will take off my phosguard then! And I have tried aminos before, even cutting the recommended dose in half and the second I do it, I have algae take off! So it made me think I was borderline on high nutrient side but I honestly have no idea.... Alkalinity, calcium, and MG are always in range and pretty consistent.. Especially alkalinity and salinity.... Lights are 8 bulb t5 so I know those are good..
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Amino acids will supply nitrogen, and depending on how it is formulated, maybe other stuff as well. So if it increases algae, that may not be the best plan.
beaslbob
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+1
Additionally by balancing out the system with plant life (macro algae or truf algae) the system has more stablity and is more forgiving of operator errors. The algae will consume directly ammonia if something goes bump in the night. Preventing dangerous spikes and possible crashes.
Algae also consumes co2, returns oxygen, and provide fish food in the form of pods and algae.
my .02
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Gwitness
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And I was looking today and I do have spots of cyano on my rocks and back wall....Not all over, but I do have some.....I only feed once a day also! Some of the spots with this very dark maroon cyano is on some rocks where they are getting drilled by flow, which makes no sense to me also...
