High no3

[Kfactor]

I have a 60 g tank total volume system running for around 9 months now amd my no3 is pretty steady at 18 ppm . My po4 on the other hand is always zero so I have been micro dosing it with very little change . Every time I try to bump it higher the coral I have don’t seem to like it . I want to get in to sps and would like to lower my no3 to around 10 or a little lower and try and get my po4 stable any advice would be awsome

 

[Spare time]

If you don't want to dose phosphate, a lot of people like to feed reef roids as a substitute. Water changes, carbon dosing, and refugiums all will lower both (but water changes are not super effective with lowering phosphate)


If you dose phosphate, just dose to something like 0.03ppm or 0.05ppm and keep doing so until done.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

I run nitrate @ 25 and high phos in a mixed reef. My acro and other sps are happy. Acro growing. Many of my acro came to me brown, but colored up quickly.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I agree with Spare Time. Dosing is cheap and easy (cheaper than a new food), but if you do not want to go that route, there are some foods that apparently have a fairly high P:N ratio, such as the reef roids.