High No3 zero Po4 in new tank

[Kenpro]

@Tim@Triton

My tank has been running for a month full triton method and Nitrate is high and phosphate is 0 almost since start.

The algaebed is growing and a yellowtang and a yellow wrasse is in the tank since 9 days.

I dont have sand in my tank wich I can put in if there is a possiblity for better denitrification other then a No3 reactor i dont have any ideas for balance this out more then to add po4

I have send a water sample to Triton and thinking of putting in a bunch of acropora when all parameters are right

 

[Tim@Triton Verified Sponsor]

How old is the tank?

How high is high? (NO3)

You should really have sand in the tank for the yellow wrasse.

 

[Kenpro]

A month, no3 around 10, not superhigh but want to get it down and have traceble po4 before I put in aussie acros

My fish store fooled my with the wrasse, i try to get him out.

Do you think sand will help in this case?

 

[Kenpro]

@Tim@Triton

 

[Tim@Triton Verified Sponsor]

Your tank is still very young and may still be going through a phase of the cycle, I would suggest patience at this point and let the system mature. Let the algae do it's thing, as long as the NO3 does not go above 25ppm as it may inhibit the algae growth.

 

[Kenpro]

How long can this high numbers stay for? And what about putting in acros without any po4?

 

[Tim@Triton Verified Sponsor]

I cannot tell you how long your tank will take to mature as it is down to so many factors, I would not even think about adding any acros until your system is stabilised.

The NO3 will start to drop as the algae grows, if you are using any PO4 media then reduce the amount you use. If you want to reduce the NO3 quicker then carry out some water changes to get it down.

 

[Kenpro]

The funny thing is I have a feeling that there are some kind of imbalance due to little denitrification since the parameters have been like this from start, isnt right that No3 will not go down if Po4 is zero. I dont use any Po4 remover at all. I check nitrate with redsea kit and phosphate with hanna url checker.

 

[Lasse]

A young tank - are you sure that you do not have nitrite in the tank. Nitrite will giva a false Nitrate reading. 0.1 in nitrite will for some of the test kits been read as 10 in nitrate - even if the real concentration is 0.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Kenpro]

I will measure it once again, i havent had nitrit in since two weeks. I have cycled fresh live rock in a can with some waterchanges for 10 weeks before startup to get rid of the chance of getting ich in the tank from lr. Also cycled it with redsea mature kit so quite positive that nitrite is 0. Thanks for the tip and I will look it up tonight

 

[Kenpro]

No Nitrite deceted with new Salifert test, seems like phosphorus or and carbon is the missing link to balance things out. Dosing phosphorus and see if Nitrate goes down otherwise add some vsv and be patient