I hate sps

[Flippers4pups]

Op needs a N03 reading.

 

[road_runner]

Op needs a N03 reading.

+1 to that. 100%
Best advice here is to be aware of the system and no3 is missing from the picture...

 

[jda]

.02p and 9.0 alk is not a huge issue to me. This is still considerably more than NSW and nowhere near an Ultra-Low situation. Although I do like to keep all of my parameters around NSW levels, I have not found NSW alk a necessity unless people are driving N and P down with GFO, organic carbon, LC, etc. I do think that it could be fine-tuned down a bit, but IMO this is not the reason for any death or ill growth.

I keep most parameters as recommended here. This is not a popular narrative for some people today:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/

 

[Ike]

Looking at the skimmer, the rockwork, and the overall feel of the tank I feel like the OP could really benefit from a better skimmer and running some GAC for a week. This absolutely doesn't look like a system that's suffering from too low phosphate or nutrients despite the concerningly low reading for PO4. I'd like to know the NO3 (I suspect it's a little elevated) and have the PO4 and salinity confirmed

 

[Balz3352]

Balz - I skipped ahead when the semi thread takover started arguing about phosphates, but did you ever get a feel for Nitrate?

.02 P is fine and about 4x more than seawater. It is higher than where I keep mine. I would not worry about this nor chase it up or down.

Have you calibrated your refractometer? Checked your temp probes? All of the basics?

You're the jda from MASC right?

 

[jda]

The same.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

You're the jda from MASC right?

What’s MASC?

 

[Shirley Weller]

What’s MASC?

marine aquarium society of colorado

 

[Balz3352]

Forgot I had an api kit that came with my CA kit

 

[Ike]

Some API test kits are fine (KH, calcium mainly). Nitrate isn't one of them IMO, at least not when you're trying to determine if you are at 0, 5, or 10 ppm...

 

[bellasdad0911]

PO4 must be around .08-.1 min to keep the balance happy and keep the bacteria load alive. .5 in nitrates is good too, but the PO4 is the key. You can dose using freshwater PO4 additives.

 

[hotdrop]

I’m really surprised to see 5ppm of nitrate and .02ppm phosphate. When mine was that low nitrates were equally low around 1-2ppm

 

[Ike]

I’m really surprised to see 5ppm of nitrate and .02ppm phosphate. When mine was that low nitrates were equally low around 1-2ppm

With that test kit, that could be 0/ND, API is really tough to read on the low end and is one of their most difficult to read kits. Either way, the nitrate certainly isn't too high. From the appearance of the rock and the corals I'd say it's not a "nutrient" starved tank. People need to keep in mind that just because PO4 and NO3 are low it doesn't mean that the corals are starved for nutrients. However, the corals look like they could have been damaged, perhaps from too low nutrients or something that caused a great deal of stress.

 

[Balz3352]

Bumped my feeding a touch and waiting for a tropic Marin test to come in.