Help with Water Chemistry Nitrate and Phosphate

[Nathaniellund17]

Hello All,

I’m trying to figure out my tank issues. My tank has been running for about 1 year, and I’m not having very high coral growth. I think the main issue is my nitrate and phosphate. Right now my tank (200 gallons) is sitting at about .2 ppm phosphate, and between 5-10 nitrate with salinity at 1.026 and temp at 78.4. Over the weekend I checked my ammonia, and I was getting elevated levels of ammonia (I checked it again this morning, and it appears to be close to zero again.) My sandbed get's really ugly between water changes - I think this is Ciano bacteria. My understanding is that this appears when Phosphate and Nitrate are not in sync.

I’m thinking this is mainly due to feeding. However, I cut back my feeding dramatically over the last two weeks, to essentially be a half a cube of mysis shrimp, and a quarter of a page of nori. I don’t think I’m overfeeding – the food is gone within 30 seconds after I feed the fish. I’ve even skipped feeding a few days this last week. How much would you feed a tank with 4 Tangs, 3 Wrasse, 2 clown, 2 Blenny’s, 1 Goby?

Maybe there’s something else completely different going on?

I did a 30 gallon water change yesterday, and this morning I’m finding the ugly gunk on my sandbad already (I think it’s Ciano).

 

[blaxsun]

What's your alkalinity, pH, calcium and magnesium at? Your nitrate and phosphate are elevated a bit, but not off the charts by any means. Two other things that you could look at are lighting and flow. Do you have any wavemakers? What kind of lighting do you have and have you ever checked the PAR level?

 

[vetteguy53081]

With cyano presence, it’s likely high
My best success with no3 and po4 has been addition of chemipure elite which will lower them and keep them in check And remove any toxins if present
Lower white intensity a few days and add 1.5ml of liquid bacteria such as micro bacter XLM per 10 gallons during the day for one week

 

[Nathaniellund17]

What's your alkalinity, pH, calcium and magnesium at? Your nitrate and phosphate are elevated a bit, but not off the charts by any means. Two other things that you could look at are lighting and flow. Do you have any wavemakers? What kind of lighting do you have and have you ever checked the PAR level?

Hi Blaxsun,

Thanks for the reply. I just finished measuring the other levels, and here are all the stats:

KH – 8.6

Ca – 490

Mg – 1470

NO3 – 5-10

PO4 – .22

As to lighting, I have 2 Ecotech XR30s. PAR seems to be reasonable with everything low around the sandbed around 50-100. Everything towards the top of the rock is around 200+.

For flow I have 4 MP40s that are running the Reef Crest template.

I’ve attached a picture so you can see the entire display set up.

In my sump, I’m running a protein skimmer and algae scrubber. I’m running the skimmer 24/7, whereas I’m running the scrubber for 12 hours at night. I’ve also got a UV sterilizer, but I’m using that for protozoa, so don’t think that would impact water chemistry.

The only thing I can think of is how much I’m feeding the tank. Feeding a half a cube of mysis shrimp and a quarter a sheet of nori every day doesn’t seem like it would cause problems – I’ve been doing this now for about 2 weeks. Prior to that, I was feeding a whole cube, and a whole sheet of nori per day. Let me know if you have any other thoughts.

 

[blaxsun]

@vetteguy53081 has some excellent suggestions, so I'll merely expand on them. I'm assuming you don't have a refugium (which is fine). You can put the ChemiPure Elite in the sump (post filter sock) or place it in a media cup in place of a filter sock. I like to give it a good rinse prior.

Long term using some kind of GFO and carbon works well. You can either use the ChemiPure Elite bags or something like Red Sea or Nyos carbon. I prefer Nyos Phosi-Ex over RowaPhos for GFO.

 

[Spare time]

I would put the scrubber on 24/7 and the skimmer on at night. The reason being that skimmers remove bacteria from the water column that could otherwise compete with cyano and algaes.


You are not over feeding. Your nitrate is fine. Phosphates are high but that wouldn't slow down growth (it might make stony things more brittle


Which test kits are you using?


I also would recommend a pH test (I know a great pH meter if you are interested)

 

[vetteguy53081]

@vetteguy53081 has some excellent suggestions, so I'll merely expand on them. I'm assuming you don't have a refugium (which is fine). You can put the ChemiPure Elite in the sump (post filter sock) or place it in a media cup in place of a filter sock. I like to give it a good rinse prior.

Long term using some kind of GFO and carbon works well. You can either use the ChemiPure Elite bags or something like Red Sea or Nyos carbon. I prefer Nyos Phosi-Ex over RowaPhos for GFO.

Elite contains GFO

 

[blaxsun]

Elite contains GFO

Yes I know. I meant either ChemiPure Elite -or- carbon and GFO separately.

 

[Nathaniellund17]

Really appreciate the comments. Regarding the scrubber, I thought that if you ran the scrubber 24/7 it will burn out the algae that's collecting in the scrubber. Will that not happen?

Also regarding test kits I'm using the following:
KH – Salifate

Ca – Salifate

Mg – Salifate

NO3 – API

PO4 – Hanna

For PH, I have an Apex Fusion. Sorry I didn't post this previously. Right now I'm running 8.0 to 8.1.

I'll have to look for Chemipure. I have been using Phosphate Rx, not sure if anyone else has used this. I've heard that phosphates are easily kept in check with Phosphate Rx. I'm thinking that Phosphate Rx is good as a one time solve for phosphate, but it doesn't help cure the source of Phosphate? I'm thinking the Chemipure would do more to bring the tank in balance?

 

[Pistondog]

You are not feeding too much.
Add some gfo to maintain po4 below 0.1ppm.
Dose some vinegar to encourage the bacteria to outcompete the cyano.
(some reefers also think carbon dosing helps coral growth by making po4 uptake easier via bacteria consumption.)
Make sure the tank is not getting any sunlight, or indirect light.
Add 1ml/10gallons of 3% hydrogen peroxide at night for a week.
Make sure to siphon the cyano.
Good luck, it may take a few weeks.

 

[|sCRIBe|]

I used ChemiClean in powder form and blacked out my tank for 72hrs. Lost a few fish in the process but it got rid of all that cyano, rocks and sand look great. Dosed some bacteria and keeping the bacteria fed is also good practice using vodka and or vinegar.