Need some advice on what to do next!!!

[Ckane2]

So I finally had my water tested for the first time after running the same live rock/system for years now. I’ve never had serious problems and my system is so small I knew my weekly water changes were doing the work for me. The results of the tests that I’m concerned about are barely detectable nitrates, phosphates of 0.11 ppm, and SG of 1.027.

Im looking for advice on how to raise nitrates without jacking up my phosphates, and whether or not I should slowly lower my salinity. I’m skeptical about the salinity because my Hanna salinity tester has always been calibrated and worked well for me, but my LFS is saying sometimes they read low, in my case it always reads 1.025. Should I start mixing my water to 1.024 on my Hanna tester, giving me a SG of 1.026?

Other info that might help, it’s an IM Nuvo 10, I do weekly 25-50% water changes, and have started feeding more flake food once daily and using reef roids twice weekly to try and increase nitrates. Filter floss is changed out about once weekly. Only using ceramic rings and floss, no chemical filtration.

 

[Ippyroy]

Tank looks amazing, so I wouldn't fix anything that's not broken. Reef Roids are notorious for increasing PO4.

 

[Crustaceon]

Invest in a refractometer and get it calibrated. Also, if you want to raise nitrates, do it slowly by doing smaller water changes. But honestly, if you’re feeding your corals anyways and aren’t seeing dinos, I would’t fret any detectable nitrate reading. Your tank looks great and I’d be hesitant to change things.

 

[Ckane2]

Tank looks amazing, so I wouldn't fix anything that's not broken. Reef Roids are notorious for increasing PO4.

This was my option C, not change anything, which I am a big fan of so I’m glad to hear it.

Invest in a refractometer and get it calibrated. Also, if you want to raise nitrates, do it slowly by doing smaller water changes. But honestly, if you’re feeding your corals anyways and aren’t seeing dinos, I would’t fret any detectable nitrate reading. Your tank looks great and I’d be hesitant to change things.

Luckily I have a refractometer and calibrating solution that I forgot about so that’s next on my list for this morning. Only other small change I’m considering is feeding frozen every once in a while I’ve read that can increase nitrates. But like I said before, I like the idea of not changing anything. Thanks for the replies

 

[Ippyroy]

This was my option C, not change anything, which I am a big fan of so I’m glad to hear it.

Luckily I have a refractometer and calibrating solution that I forgot about so that’s next on my list for this morning. Only other small change I’m considering is feeding frozen every once in a while I’ve read that can increase nitrates. But like I said before, I like the idea of not changing anything. Thanks for the replies

I've gotten 2 different bottles of calibration solution that were off, both confirmed by the supplier. Here is a link to making your own. It is so cheap and easy you can remake it if it doesn't seem right to you.

DIY Salinity calibration solutions

Randy, In light of another post on calibrating a conductivity meter, I decided to give it all a shot on my own system. I read through your article on DIY salinity calibration (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rhf/) and have a few questions for my simple brain. 1. Is the Brand MORTON...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[sfin52]

This was my option C, not change anything, which I am a big fan of so I’m glad to hear it.

Luckily I have a refractometer and calibrating solution that I forgot about so that’s next on my list for this morning. Only other small change I’m considering is feeding frozen every once in a while I’ve read that can increase nitrates. But like I said before, I like the idea of not changing anything. Thanks for the replies

Looks amazing why change whats not broken

 

[Dkmoo]

Some more into to help you make a decision - as other said, if it looks good then yiu must be doing something right and "chasing numbers" is not as important, and not the same, as "understanding whats happening" in your tank.

The problem with chasing numbers, esp for no3, is that keep in mind the stuff that shows up on the test kits is only whats left in yiur water after the tanks biological processes completes. It doesn't tell you how well the various processes are working. We make educated guesses based on our own research and observations of the tank.

With regards to reef roids - its not that it has "high phosphate", it's just high relative to what tank consumes. The main ingredient of reefroid is plankton, which generally has N to P ratio of 16:1. Corals and algae, on the other hand, absorbs at a ratio of about 20 to 22N to 1P. This doesn't mean 16:1 is high P bc that's the avg of the ocean. It just means that the tank is not diverse enough bc things like pods, bacteria, fish, etc, takes up more P than coral and algae (something like 5:1 for fish). This doesn't mean that either Reefroid or your tank is bad, its just a functionof what's in your tank and how much N it consumes vs what you put in.

With regards to increasing N with out increasing P, then logic suggest that you can achieve by either increase overall feeding and adding more P consuming organisms adding more biodiversity like pods and detrivores. Or putting in "high N low P" foods like dosing amino - amino acids are simple peptide chains of C O H and N, no P.

 

[Ckane2]

Some more into to help you make a decision - as other said, if it looks good then yiu must be doing something right and "chasing numbers" is not as important, and not the same, as "understanding whats happening" in your tank.

The problem with chasing numbers, esp for no3, is that keep in mind the stuff that shows up on the test kits is only whats left in yiur water after the tanks biological processes completes. It doesn't tell you how well the various processes are working. We make educated guesses based on our own research and observations of the tank.

With regards to reef roids - its not that it has "high phosphate", it's just high relative to what tank consumes. The main ingredient of reefroid is plankton, which generally has N to P ratio of 16:1. Corals and algae, on the other hand, absorbs at a ratio of about 20 to 22N to 1P. This doesn't mean 16:1 is high P bc that's the avg of the ocean. It just means that the tank is not diverse enough bc things like pods, bacteria, fish, etc, takes up more P than coral and algae (something like 5:1 for fish). This doesn't mean that either Reefroid or your tank is bad, its just a functionof what's in your tank and how much N it consumes vs what you put in.

With regards to increasing N with out increasing P, then logic suggest that you can achieve by either increase overall feeding and adding more P consuming organisms adding more biodiversity like pods and detrivores. Or putting in "high N low P" foods like dosing amino - amino acids are simple peptide chains of C O H and N, no P.

Thanks I truly appreciate the biochemist-esque explanation! I’ve actually considered adding some more pods to my tank to increase biodiversity, and I do have brightwell aminos that I don’t really use.. I’m a huge believer in the eye test and for now, I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing!

 

[Ckane2]

Update - after calibrating and testing salinity via refractometer I got a SG of ~1.026... putting my average across the 3 tests at 1.026, which is right about where I want it anyways. I’ll keep mixing my water to 1.025 per Hanna tester to ensure stability, for QC I’ll check random batches with the refractometer from now on, easy enough