No nitrates, climbing phosphates advice

[konatown]

I am suggesting to add a phosphate remover instead.

I’d be scared of having both no3 and po4 bottomed out..

 

[Spare time]

I’d be scared of having both no3 and po4 bottomed out..

What I would do is run the skimmer on a timer, and then add a pinch of GFO. The key here is the small amount. You can even run that on a timer if you have a reactor. Turn the skimmer on at night and off during the day.

My nitrates typically run very low, but I dose a hefty amount of aminos and such into the tank to counter this.

 

[konatown]

I took that as he had a hair algae outbreak in a previous tank.

You are correct here, it was a pervious tank. I used new sand and established live rock from a friends system

 

[Spare time]

Also, couldn't you lower the water level in the skimmer and keep it on (as an alternative to running the skimmer on a timer)? That way it wouldn't skim but would still aerate.

 

[konatown]

What I would do is run the skimmer on a timer, and then add a pinch of GFO. The key here is the small amount. You can even run that on a timer if you have a reactor. Turn the skimmer on at night and off during the day.

My nitrates typically run very low, but I dose a hefty amount of aminos and such into the tank to counter this.

Aminos as in something like reef energy ab+? I have some but I haven’t been using it.

 

[konatown]

Also, couldn't you lower the water level in the skimmer and keep it on (as an alternative to running the skimmer on a timer)? That way it wouldn't skim but would still aerate.

Actually, you’re right and I forgot that I did this. It really hasn’t been skimming much at all for the past couple of weeks. Just the slightest amount of foam that works it’s way up.

 

[sixty_reefer]

You are correct here, it was a pervious tank. I used new sand and established live rock from a friends system

I haven’t realised that it was from a previous system although the information is still correct to avoid a outbreak, all it takes is the right conditions and a algae spore to start growing.

 

[konatown]

I haven’t realised that it was from a previous system although the information is still correct to avoid a outbreak, all it takes is the right conditions and a algae spore to start growing.

This is true. And all of my corals, frags etc that were in the previous system were moved over so there very well could be a spore.

 

[Spare time]

Aminos as in something like reef energy ab+? I have some but I haven’t been using it.

Reef energy is an example (has some other stuff too). I use that and a few other coral foods.

 

[konatown]

I haven’t realised that it was from a previous system although the information is still correct to avoid a outbreak, all it takes is the right conditions and a algae spore to start growing.

Reef energy is an example (has some other stuff too). I use that and a few other coral foods.

So for where I am at now, do you think I should dose a tinyyy bit of nitrates or should I let it ride and continue monitoring

 

[Spare time]

So for where I am at now, do you think I should dose a tinyyy bit of nitrates or should I let it ride and continue monitoring

If you have the nitrate to dose, go ahead and bump it to 5-10ppm or so. The skimmer itself can't remove nitrate.

 

[sixty_reefer]

So for where I am at now, do you think I should dose a tinyyy bit of nitrates or should I let it ride and continue monitoring

If you have the nitrate to dose, go ahead and bump it to 5-10ppm or so. The skimmer itself can't remove nitrate.

I agree with @Spare time the best I see now is to dose some nitrates and interpret how your system reacts, if after dosing, your residual unused phosphates start to stabilise again than you may have to do it as a regular thing until your system stabilise again. You will want to stop once your residual unused no3 stops being depleted, sometimes dosing no3 is just a interim method to help the tank reach a balance again.

 

[konatown]

If you have the nitrate to dose, go ahead and bump it to 5-10ppm or so. The skimmer itself can't remove nitrate.

I agree with @Spare time the best I see now is to dose some nitrates and interpret how your system reacts, if after dosing, your residual unused phosphates start to stabilise again than you may have to do it as a regular thing until your system stabilise again. You will want to stop once your residual unused no3 stops being depleted, sometimes dosing no3 is just a interim method to help the tank reach a balance again.

Tanks for the input. I’ll start slow and see how it goes!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Either dosing nitrate (I do not recommend potassium nitrate unless you know you need potassium; sodium nitrate or calcium nitrate are better options, IMO) or dosing amino acids would be a fine plan, as would feeding more and watching phosphate. Phosphate will only decline if that spurs growth of something that is using substantial phosphate.

if phosphate rises too much with more feeding, one could work on it via any of the various phosphate reduction methods.