Newbie reefer NO3 and PO4 question

[jamiemc]

Hi All,

Looking for some advice.. Ive been runing a mixed reef RS Nano tank for just over a year now and a couple of months ago I changed out the skimmer to a ICE CAP K1 and i added a TMC Reef 50 nano bio pellet reactor using DD Nutri-Fix NP bio pellets.

The tank looks fine fish and coral look good, plus recently i dont seem to get that annoying algea growing on the glass, but ive noticed NO3 and PO4 is realy low due to the recator doing its job !

I know the test kits only test for inorganics but should i worry about low NO3 and PO4...

The talk Parameters are:

Salinity: 1.025
Cal: 450
Alk: 8.4
Mag: 1200
PO4: 0.02 > 0.03
NO3: 0.75 > 1

Cheers
Jamie

 

[StlSalt]

To me your PO4 looks okay. I like my nitrates to be between 2-5ppm, but if the corals look good I'm not chasing tiny differences like a couple of ppm of NO3. If your corals look good I'd leave it alone, adding stuff and chasing numbers usually leads to more problems.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

I would just keep doing what you are doing. Many people run their tanks at those levels with no problems. Since your tank has been running for a year and everything looks good, don't go chasing numbers.

 

[Gtinnel]

I agree completely with StlSalt with where I like to keep my parameters, but ultimately if they aren't 0 then being low shouldn't be an issue. If I were you I wouldn't worry about those levels.

 

[jamiemc]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your comments, i read bad and good stuff on the net about low nitrates and phosphates...I will keep doing what Im doing .

Cheers

All the best ..Stay safe