Hi everyone. I have a 200g tank and am some problems with phos and nitrates. Since the tank started phos has been at 0 despite feeding and dosing. Nitrates are always at 50 and I’m unable to bring it down. We were dosing nopox but decreased the dose to see if phos would come up to help nitrates come down. Phos went up temporarily to 0.03 but nitrates reached close to 100. My corals were open and happy when phos was 0 but but now some won’t open and have started to die. The only think I can think of was the slight increase in phos. It’s now back to 0 with nitrates of 50. So is it ok to leave phos at 0 as long as everyone Is happy or do I need to bring it up? Also how can I bring down nitrates? I’ve tried water changes, nopox and have a refugium. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
Nitrates, PO4
- Thread starter Samira Waters
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Waters
"...in perfect isolation, here behind my wall."
Are you testing your replacement saltwater water for nitrates? If you are doing water changes, and it still isn't coming down, I would suspect your new saltwater. Is this a reef tank or fish only tank? 0 phosphates and 50 nitrates are fine for fish. If you do have a reef, and coral all look fine, I wouldn't worry about changing the numbers.
Samira Waters
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The replacement saltwater is ok. It is a reef tank and everything looked great a couple of weeks ago when phos was 0 with nitrates of 50. Last week phos was 0.03 and now my plate coral, goni and 2 lobos aren’t opening and the tissue started to recede on the lobos. I don’t know if it’s because of the po4 and nitrates or something else.
