How should I fix this?

[Jayreef23]

Hey everybody , so some of my parameters look a little off I was wondering if you could help me fix them.I use Salifert test kit.


Nitrate 50 (API: 40)

Phosphate 0.5

Calcium 430

Alkalinity 9.3

PH 7.7

Salinity 1.025

Temp 78

 

[Seymo44]

Water changes would be your best bet for fixing the parameters.

However you need to address what is causing your nitrates and phosphates to rise. Also your PH is a bit low.

Give us some details on your system. Volume, bioload, filtration, sandbed, etc.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Tell us about your tank. The age, inhabitants, the maintenance schedule and what you at dosing if any.

 

[Jayreef23]

I have a Red Sea Reefer 250….I had it up for a little more than a year…have 7 fish…and coral…some of the coral is not happy…I try to do water changes every week but sometimes every 2 weeks and I feed mysis shrimp everyday one tablet

 

[LeftyReefer]

less import, more export

feed less, filter more.

 

[Uncle99]

I would carbon dose that N down to say 10-15ppm slowly over time and SLOWLY GFO that phosphate down to say .05-.1ppm.
All others look good.
PH forget, but you can increase that if you want by:
Bring in fresh air to skimmer, keep flow up, scrubber…..

 

[Jayreef23]

I also have a refugium with macro algae and a Reef Octopus Classic 110 int and I dose Calcium(15ml)and Alkalinity (7ml)

 

[Rmckoy]

Everything looks ok other than the nitrates being high .

 

[Jayreef23]

less import, more export

feed less, filter more.

How much should I feed? I’ve heard one tablets day, half tablet a day, and every other day

 

[Rmckoy]

How much should I feed? I’ve heard one tablets day, half tablet a day, and every other day

Depends how many fish .
And filtration to export .
The longer the food and waste sits in the system it naturally needs to break down .
nitrates being the last stage . Larger water changes will lower the numbers .

example : if you have a 100 gal system
And let’s say you have 50ppm nitrates .
if the water source is 0ppm nitrates and perform 10 gal water change the absolute best you will get is 10% decrease IF nothing is added to the system to contribute to nitrates .
your new nitrate test results will be 45ppm

 

[Jayreef23]

Depends how many fish .
And filtration to export .
The longer the food and waste sits in the system it naturally needs to break down .
nitrates being the last stage . Larger water changes will lower the numbers .

example : if you have a 100 gal system
And let’s say you have 50ppm nitrates .
if the water source is 0ppm nitrates and perform 10 gal water change the absolute best you will get is 10% decrease IF nothing is added to the system to contribute to nitrates .
your new nitrate test results will be 45ppm

I’ve done 15 gallon water change on an approximately 60 gallon system (including sump) do you think I should do more water change?

 

[Rmckoy]

I’ve done 15 gallon water change on an approximately 60 gallon system (including sump) do you think I should do more water change?

More and larger is the key to lower and calculate what’s needed to maintain those levels .

Once it matures you will notice water changes are required less .
My system sits at 5ppm and barely ever need to do water changes

 

[Julbra]

As others have stated, N is a bit high. Apparently some great systems run at 50ppm but from what I heard 5-10 is the more generally accepted maximum.

First call is to look at your mechanical filtration.

Do you use filter socks? If so
* Does all your flow go through the socks or do you have another media basket next to one sock?
* How often do you change your socks?

As soon as the socks start overflowing you need to swap them.

What's your refugium photoperiod? You could try and increase this to get more N and P out.

Do you ever broadcast feed powder coral foods like reef roids? These can really up the N and P quickly.

10% weekly water changes should be enough to keep these in check but if you had a spike you can do a couple of 15-20% changes to bring N down a bit.

Ultimately if all else is in check there is just too much food going in.

 

[juniorgomez708]

More and larger is the key to lower and calculate what’s needed to maintain those levels .

Once it matures you will notice water changes are required less .
My system sits at 5ppm and barely ever need to do water changes

Why is it that as the tank gets older, less water changes are required?