High Nitrate zero Phos

[robinmprn]

have a 55 gallon tank with a 20 gallon sump 2 clowns, 2 cardinals, a wrasse and a goby. Several clean up crew. My issue is that I have zero or very low phos and high nitrate reading 75 on the Hannah reader I have been vinegar dosing and doing water changes wondering if my issue is actually no phosphates. Any suggestions what I can do to regulate chemistry. Currently running a octo skimmer on the system..

I dosed Brightwell Neophos last night an on the bottle it says If after 24 hours phos has not gone up to use another product called Biofuel before dosing phos again does anyone have experience with these products? And what should I do can’t get the nitrate down and phos is non existent

 

[tbrown]

You may have to dose daily for a few weeks or months before your rocks soak up enough to equalize and you start having detectable levels of phosphates. I dosed NeoPhos for 3 weeks before I was able to drop the amount I was dosing daily.

 

[robinmprn]

So I should continue to dose daily, even though the bottles weird about how it talks about adding another product

 

[tbrown]

I did. I didn't use Fuel. My tank was consuming it.

 

[Second Shot]

They mean to use bio fuel if the phosphate you dosed as well as the nitrate present in the system doesn’t go down. That would mean it needs the carbon dose to help the bacteria break it down. If your phosphate went down then dose again.

 

[robinmprn]

I did. I didn't use Fuel. My tank was consuming it.

They mean to use bio fuel if the phosphate you dosed as well as the nitrate present in the system doesn’t go down. That would mean it needs the carbon dose to help the bacteria break it down. If your phosphate went down then dose again.

I have no phos at all so I will continue to dose until it shows up on my Hanna reader

 

[tbrown]

I have no phos at all so I will continue to dose until it shows up on my Hanna reader

Just dose double the amount you're looking to have (I was dosing 2.5 times) and check.

Example: you want 0.10 ppm, dose 0.20 (preferably half in the morning, half in the evening) and then check again tomorrow. If you're good, cut your dose in half and dose 0.05 morning, 0.05 evening and check again tomorrow.

 

[tbrown]

Keep as close of an eye on it as you can though and once readings start staying level or creeping up, skip a couple of days and check again to see what your daily usage averages.

With no corals or low coral load it may not use much - only the algae and skimmer will be depleting it basically.

I got mine up to 0.55 and let it go for 4 days. Found out I was using 0.14 daily and dialed in my dosing from there.

 

[jda]

Is this tank new(er)? If so, then just let it go. Anything that you do to interfere will just set things back.

In the mean time, you can read about how aragonite binds po4. Also, how anaerobic bacteria can grow in low-oxygen places in the tank to turn no3 into N gas.

 

[robinmprn]

Is this tank new(er)? If so, then just let it go. Anything that you do to interfere will just set things back.

In the mean time, you can read about how aragonite binds po4. Also, how anaerobic bacteria can grow in low-oxygen places in the tank to turn no3 into N gas.

The tank is a year old

 

[jda]

What are you using to test po4?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I dosed Brightwell Neophos last night an on the bottle it says If after 24 hours phos has not gone up to use another product called Biofuel before dosing phos again does anyone have experience with these products? And what should I do can’t get the nitrate down and phos is non existent

I do not believe that Brightwell statement makes sense. If phosphate is undetectably low, dosing it is appropriate and easy. I recommend food grade sodium phosphate, but the Brightwell product can also work.

 

[Mppp]

Tropic Marin Phosfeed worked great for me to get my phosphates levels up a bit, Brightwells didn't work for me at all and if I'm not mistaken I believe I read somewhere on forum they've diluted their formula or at least it's now thought to be diluted. I was hesitant in trying the Tropic Marin product as I believe it's relatively new (and kind of pricey), but it works although it's a bit more work stirring product up in a cup first instead of just dumping a liquid, but again it works just take it slow as my phosphate levels took about 4 days to show any increase on my Hanna checker.