Low nutrients but LPS look good?

[paphater]

My ATI results came back and everything looked good except my nutrients were way lower than I expected. Admittedly I'm pretty lazy when it comes to testing for nutrients. I usually just keep an eye on the tank. I run a DIY algae scrubber and carbon dose with vinegar with a sub par skimmer. My nitrates came back at .44 mg/l and my phosphate at .03 mg/l. The strange thing is for whatever reason my LPS look great? Are they feasting on all of the bacteria that my skimmer is failing to pull from the water? Or I guess maybe the skimmer isn't working all that well since there isn't much to pull? I'm dosing about 60 ml a week on 190g system.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Those values seem like they could be plenty to me, especially phosphate,. Also, nitrate is not the only source of N. Ammonia may also be consumed.