Nitrates and Phosphates help?

[Foxchase]

Hello guys, so I have a 20g long tank I'm running into some weird problems with.

So through testing (Red Sea) my tank was showing:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: Maxed out.
Phosphate: .026

Started dosing Nopox a week ago.
Tested an hour ago
Nitrate: still max on test kit
Phosphate: 0

Not sure what to do about it. I'm stumped

 

[Foxchase]

Last test was done after a 25% water change yesterday

 

[UCF Alum]

It’s a new tank isn’t it...

 

[Foxchase]

It’s a new tank isn’t it...

Yes. About 4 months old

 

[UCF Alum]

NoPox takes weeks to start working. You have to skim aggressively when using it. Your phosphates are fine. If nitrates are a problem, do this:
1. Start feeding less
2. Do more frequent water changes
3. You can carbon dose if you want, but I’m going to assume that your tank is new and hasn’t really “broken in.” In that case, I’d completely advise against carbon dosing until your up and running for 6 or so months.
4. There are other measures to be taken for high nitrates such as a sulfur reactor, but I don’t think you’re there yet.

edit- what’s your bio load?

 

[Fishingandreefing]

It took me about couple of months to deal with the high nitrate issue. I dosed vinegar so it’s the same as nopox.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

And next time test before water change not the other way around.

 

[Foxchase]

NoPox takes weeks to start working. You have to skim aggressively when using it. Your phosphates are fine. If nitrates are a problem, do this:
1. Start feeding less
2. Do more frequent water changes
3. You can carbon dose if you want, but I’m going to assume that your tank is new and hasn’t really “broken in.” In that case, I’d completely advise against carbon dosing until your up and running for 6 or so months.
4. There are other measures to be taken for high nitrates such as a sulfur reactor, but I don’t think you’re there yet.

edit- what’s your bio load?

All that's in it is some soft corals, 1 clown, a cleaner shrimp and some hermits

 

[UCF Alum]

Double check that your testing properly. That’s very high No3 for just one clown. It could also be a bad test kit. Try having your LFS double check your results.

 

[Foxchase]

Double check that your testing properly. That’s very high No3 for just one clown. It could also be a bad test kit. Try having your LFS double check your results.

I also tested with the API and it also shows high nitrates. My lfs is closed unfortunately.

 

[SPR1968]

In a tank of that size you can deal with the raised nitrates more effectively with water changes, just increase the schedule little more and see how you get on.

You could continue with Nopox if you want, it will take a while to kick in but just make sure you follow the instructions as it can be very powerful. If you get any bacterial blooms, or slime forming back of a little.

I do however think you would be much safer with the more frequent water changes

 

[Foxchase]

In a tank of that size you can deal with the raised nitrates more effectively with water changes, just increase the schedule little more and see how you get on.

You could continue with Nopox if you want, it will take a while to kick in but just make sure you follow the instructions as it can be very powerful. If you get any bacterial blooms, or slime forming back of a little.

I do however think you would be much safer with the more frequent water changes

I feed very lightly. And do 25% water changes every Saturday. Do you think 2 water changes a week would help lower my nitrates? I'm only doing half the recommended dose of Nopox and it dropped my phosphate to 0 but my nitrates are the same

 

[SPR1968]

I feed very lightly. And do 25% water changes every Saturday. Do you think 2 water changes a week would help lower my nitrates? I'm only doing half the recommended dose of Nopox and it dropped my phosphate to 0 but my nitrates are the same

Yes try it and see what happens. Basically you need to have sufficient nutrient export procedures in place (nitrate/phosphate) to remove and excess from the system so it doesn’t build up. If you can do this with water changes fine. 10% water changes are better long term because they have less effect on the water parameters but you should be fine at 25% if you need to, just check the salinity matches.

If you can’t then you need to follow the Nopox instructions, start slow if you want but half doses probably won’t have any effect.

Nopox is very ineffective at phosphate reduction, and a phosphate target is very low anyway at around 0.03ppm. You do need a very small amount of phosphate in the system for Nopox to work as it’s part of the cell structures, but it’s tiny and bare in mind test kit errors. If my Hanna reads zero I’m delighted because it won’t really be because of my bioload.