New reefer and stressed

[Chela101]

Hello, I consider myself as a beginner even though I know a lot but still get confused easily. So with that being said today I did my test like always.. and my nitrates came out to 25 on my nyos test kit… and then for my Hannah checker for phosphate came out to .84 and there isn’t any algae growing and my corals are all open and fish are all swimming good… and I always do a weekly water changes. I have a 25 gallon tank that is all in one. And when I do my water changes I do about 5 or 10 gallons every week.. so my question is how do I get them low again or will they be good like that? Any tips getting them low

 

[Viking_Reefing]

Ok, so what’s the actual question?

 

[FrugalReefer]

 

[Chela101]

Ok, so what’s the actual question?

How I get my levels low

 

[JoJosReef]

How I get my levels low

Are you sure that's not a misread? What have your levels been before that test? Is that the first test in a new batch of reagents? I'd be worried about testing error first.

 

[FrugalReefer]

If you have no algae and your corals are open and doing good then I wouldn’t worry about it. Just let it ride, don’t chase numbers and concentrate on keeping things stable.

 

[Chela101]

Are you sure that's not a misread? What have your levels been before that test? Is that the first test in a new batch of reagents? I'd be worried about testing error first.

So yea that’s the thing, the Hannah checker is new and you know that the Hannah checker HI713 comes with the powder packs.. so all 4 that I did first within a month and half came out to 0.0 and 0.4 nothing bad but just today I checked and it was that!!

 

[Chela101]

If you have no algae and your corals are open and doing good then I wouldn’t worry about it. Just let it ride, don’t chase numbers and concentrate on keeping things stable.

I have tiny bit brown algae on the sand, but it’s not bad just 2 circles on the sand. But my rocks don’t have anything my glass doesn’t and even my goniopora is happy and my anemones are good

 

[Viking_Reefing]

How I get my levels low

There doesn’t seem to be an issue to fix. One of the most common causes of people running in to issues is trying to fix stuff that isn’t there.
However, nutrients is a simple matter of + and -. Either decrease your addition of nutrients or increase your export. Better skimmer, fuge, water changes etc

 

[JoJosReef]

So yea that’s the thing, the Hannah checker is new and you know that the Hannah checker HI713 comes with the powder packs.. so all 4 that I did first within a month and half came out to 0.0 and 0.4 nothing bad but just today I checked and it was that!!

0.0 and 0.4 is a huge jump in phosphates. And then to 0.8 is a bit wild. Are you using RODI for top-off water or tap water? I'd investigate testing error first before doing something drastic like loading your back chamber with Phosguard (especially if you were trailing near zero for a while--you don't want to invite dinos for an outbreak).

Perhaps get a Salifert test to run in parallel?

 

[Chela101]

0.0 and 0.4 is a huge jump in phosphates. And then to 0.8 is a bit wild. Are you using RODI for top-off water or tap water? I'd investigate testing error first before doing something drastic like loading your back chamber with Phosguard (especially if you were trailing near zero for a while--you don't want to invite dinos for an outbreak).

Perhaps get a Salifert test to run in parallel?

I use RODI water from my LFS and I’m going to see tomorrow where I’m getting a salifert phosphate test. Because I been good the only thing i can think is me feeding my coral with reefroids

 

[Chela101]

There doesn’t seem to be an issue to fix. One of the most common causes of people running in to issues is trying to fix stuff that isn’t there.
However, nutrients is a simple matter of + and -. Either decrease your addition of nutrients or increase your export. Better skimmer, fuge, water changes etc

I have a skimmer on the way a nano one and I’m going to do everyday water changes of 1 gallon or 2 for a week and see what happens

 

[JoJosReef]

Reef roids can do it, but I don't know how much you'd have to have dumped to get PO4 up that high. Regardless, like everyone says, nothing drastic, because that could affect your corals since they are all looking OK, and start the sleuth work to find out what's going on with your test. GL!

 

[KrisReef]

I have tiny bit brown algae on the sand, but it’s not bad just 2 circles on the sand. But my rocks don’t have anything my glass doesn’t and even my goniopora is happy and my anemones are good

If the coral is happy with the numbers then keep the same numbers.

 

[Chela101]

Reef roids can do it, but I don't know how much you'd have to have dumped to get PO4 up that high. Regardless, like everyone says, nothing drastic, because that could affect your corals since they are all looking OK, and start the sleuth work to find out what's going on with your test. GL!

I just tested again and I got .62 I think I’m going to get something else to test. What do you recommend?

 

[Chela101]

If the coral is happy with the numbers then keep the same numbers.

I think my Hannah is broken my numbers just changed so much from .84 to .62

 

[JoJosReef]

I just tested again and I got .62 I think I’m going to get something else to test. What do you recommend?

I'd get a Salifert test in the meantime and also a new batch of Hannah reagent--see if the Hannah reagent is to blame. If the tester is the problem, might want to call customer support. Also make sure there are no scratches or smudges in the cuvettes.

 

[PeterEde]

Just tested my tank. No3 22.5 po4 .17
Been feeding nori multiple x daily for new lemonpeel.
About to try fresh seaweed. I will zap seaweed in microwave first to kill anything that might be on it

 

[thereefhotspot]

If you are ever

Hello, I consider myself as a beginner even though I know a lot but still get confused easily. So with that being said today I did my test like always.. and my nitrates came out to 25 on my nyos test kit… and then for my Hannah checker for phosphate came out to .84 and there isn’t any algae growing and my corals are all open and fish are all swimming good… and I always do a weekly water changes. I have a 25 gallon tank that is all in one. And when I do my water changes I do about 5 or 10 gallons every week.. so my question is how do I get them low again or will they be good like that? Any tips getting them low

If you’re ever in a situation where you get a questionable result, always make sure to wash out your test vials with RODI and test again 2 more times. I say 2 times because then you have more data points to see where you are at. That being said, if your nutrients are really that high, I would look into carbon dosing products . Tropic Marin Reef Actif is a really great product to start with. If you have access to a dosing pump and you are running a protein skimmer, Red Sea NoPox is fantastic as well!! Carbon dosing turns excess nutrients into food for bacteria that is then consumed by the corals or skimmed out. This is a bit of an over simplification but it is the basic process that occurs. Tropic Marin also has a lot of other carbon dosing products available based on what you are trying to do.

 

[Markcw]

Wow water changes every week that makes the hobby more expensive than needed , I only do a small water change every 6-8 weeks and no ill found issues at the moment. Let the live rock do the work.