High nitrates low phosphates help?

[SaltyB24]

I tested my water 24 hours after a 15% water change and realized my nitrates were around 50 and phosphates between 0 and .03- testing with the Salifert kits. I will admit I have been a little lax on water changes lately due to life happening. I have no skimmer but do have a refugium that run about 10 hours a day and grows pretty well. Over the last two weeks I have done two 15% water changes but not really sure where to go from here. I dont want to strip the phosphates but the nitrates being so unbalanced isn't ideal. I have anthias so I have an auto feeder that feeds BRS pellets (small amount) twice daily and I feed small amounts of frozen 2-3 times a day as well.

 

[Reeferbadness]

I've had the opposite problem - with Phos hovering between .08 and 1.0 - and sometimes inching higher while Nitrates were undetectable for some time. I ended up dosing NeoNitrate to raise them. The reason for such low nitrates was the macro algae in my refugiums (i have 2 x 200g tanks) was sucking up all the Nitrates. If your tank/sump is big enough and you don't have a refugium, this is something you might want to consider.

 

[SaltyB24]

I've had the opposite problem - with Phos hovering between .08 and 1.0 - and sometimes inching higher while Nitrates were undetectable for some time. I ended up dosing NeoNitrate to raise them. The reason for such low nitrates was the macro algae in my refugiums (i have 2 x 200g tanks) was sucking up all the Nitrates. If your tank/sump is big enough and you don't have a refugium, this is something you might want to consider.

I do have a refugium that runs approximately 10 hours a day and produces a consistent amount of algae. That's why I am stumped as to why nitrates are so high because its absorbing the phosphates really well

 

[Dburr1014]

I tested my water 24 hours after a 15% water change and realized my nitrates were around 50 and phosphates between 0 and .03- testing with the Salifert kits. I will admit I have been a little lax on water changes lately due to life happening. I have no skimmer but do have a refugium that run about 10 hours a day and grows pretty well. Over the last two weeks I have done two 15% water changes but not really sure where to go from here. I dont want to strip the phosphates but the nitrates being so unbalanced isn't ideal. I have anthias so I have an auto feeder that feeds BRS pellets (small amount) twice daily and I feed small amounts of frozen 2-3 times a day as well.

Maybe try feeding pellets more and frozen less while still doing water changes.