GHA and Nutrient

keatonmjenkins · Oct 15, 2022

Quick question for those advanced reefers. I have a good amount of hair algae in my system, corals are growing and don’t seem bothered.

My question is if I test for nutrients and I’m at 7 nitrates and .07 phosphates are these the real nutrient levels or are my nutrients higher but the hair algae is throwing it off?

Timfish · Oct 15, 2022

Total nitrogen includes different forms, particulate, dissolved organic and dissolved inorganic forms. The same goes for phosphorus and carbon. So the numbers you have are don't include everything. Unfortunately we can't test for everything yet. :/

keatonmjenkins · Oct 16, 2022

So should I assume that my nutrient levels are actually higher than what my test show?

Waters · Oct 16, 2022

Those tests are a snapshot in time of where your nutrients are right now........so no, technically they aren't higher. Yes, algae is consuming, but there is always something consuming available nutrients in a healthy reef tank.

Garf · Oct 16, 2022

And without actually seeing a picture of your tank, you would need a lot of algae to make any measurable difference. Fact is that hair algae can thrive in low nutrients, in the ocean for example.

92Miata · Oct 20, 2022

Garf said:
And without actually seeing a picture of your tank, you would need a lot of algae to make any measurable difference. Fact is that hair algae can thrive in low nutrients, in the ocean for example.

Yup. I don't know why this is so hard for people to come to grips with - so much damage is done to tanks trying to push down nitrates and phosphates when they weren't the problem in the first place.

Especially new tanks, where this stuff is normal and expected.

keatonmjenkins · Oct 20, 2022

92Miata said:
Yup. I don't know why this is so hard for people to come to grips with - so much damage is done to tanks trying to push down nitrates and phosphates when they weren't the problem in the first place.

Especially new tanks, where this stuff is normal and expected.

I’m not trying to drive nutrients down. I was making sure that the tests I’m reading are as accurate as they could be. I didn’t know if GHA could throw a measurement since it’s also up taking nutrients.