No3:Po4 eliminates nutrients? Or keeps it controlled?

[jayteerq]

I’m getting this purple like algae on my sand and back wall heavy every day. Glass gunks up fast within a day. My nitrates are pretty high somewhere between 30 and 50. My phosphate is getting a little high at 0.12.

My question is does this No3o4 control the nutrients at a healthy level? Or does it eliminate the nutrients completely?

On top of that I’m going to reduce my feeding a smidge to see if I can get nutrients down to a healthy level. Is there any other advice that I can take to keep nutrients at bay? Thanks in advance!

 

[Lavey29]

A simple water change reduces nitrates. How old is the tank?

 

[VintageReefer]

Nitrate control is easier than phosphates and can be done with water changes and reduced feeding; or switching to a food that’s lower in phosphate. Not sure what food you use, or if that’s contributing. Just generalizing

I’ve not used this product so can’t offer any relevant advice to the question at hand. I would expect it is a reducer vs an eliminator, managed by dosing amount

 

[jayteerq]

A simple water change reduces nitrates. How old is the tank?

Coming up on 6 months. I’m doing weekly 20% changes

 

[jayteerq]

Nitrate control is easier than phosphates and can be done with water changes and reduced feeding; or switching to a food that’s lower in phosphate. Not sure what food you use, or if that’s contributing. Just generalizing

I’ve not used this product so can’t offer any relevant advice to the question at hand. I would expect it is a reducer vs an eliminator, managed by dosing amount

Yeah thank you. I’ve been feeding heavy due to having zero phosphate levels for weeks. But now that im detecting high levels on both, I’ll probably cut back feeding and continue water changes to see if things balance out. I’ll hold off on the algae management dosing for now.

 

[Lavey29]

Coming up on 6 months. I’m doing weekly 20% changes

Your numbers aren't high just slightly elevated. 6 month tank is still unstable with parameters. Overall how are your corals doing?

 

[VintageReefer]

There is another thread right now on “polluted tanks” asking people to show their successful reefs with high numbers. I’m in it. My nitrates are 6-10 but phosphate ranges from .38-.48

Take a look and see that these numbers are really not the most important thing. A lot of nice tanks with high phosphates - much higher than yours and mine

I wouldn’t worry about them, go by the coral health and appearance, and the tanks overall look

Do a few water changes and reduce feeding, find a middle ground

I was at zero for both and increased fish count, increased feeding, spiked to .98 phosphate, realized it’s was higher than I wanted, reduced feeding, and now hover .38-.48 and I’m happy and tank looks good

 

[jayteerq]

Your numbers aren't high just slightly elevated. 6 month tank is still unstable with parameters. Overall how are your corals doing?

The corals has its days. Some days they look great. Other days they’re tucked away a little.

 

[VintageReefer]

I say it looks good!

 

[jayteerq]

I say it looks good!

LOL awesome!! Sorry new to reefing. Been doing this 6 months. I get a little overly worried for no reason sometimes. The algae management has been stressful

 

[jayteerq]

There is another thread right now on “polluted tanks” asking people to show their successful reefs with high numbers. I’m in it. My nitrates are 6-10 but phosphate ranges from .38-.48

Take a look and see that these numbers are really not the most important thing. A lot of nice tanks with high phosphates - much higher than yours and mine

I wouldn’t worry about them, go by the coral health and appearance, and the tanks overall look

Do a few water changes and reduce feeding, find a middle ground

I was at zero for both and increased fish count, increased feeding, spiked to .98 phosphate, realized it’s was higher than I wanted, reduced feeding, and now hover .38-.48 and I’m happy and tank looks good

Honestly I get it! I think for me it’s just trying to find out how to minimize the algae growth. I’m battling some dark red purple like algae that grows on my sand and back wall. Then I have a lot of green turf/green hair algae on my rock that I’m trying to combat. So automatically as a noob I blamed my nutrient levels lol

 

[Lavey29]

The corals has its days. Some days they look great. Other days they’re tucked away a little.

That's normal for a 6 month tank. After a year you will see a big change much more stable and predictable if you do your part. LPS like dirty water.

 

[VintageReefer]

My Goni and many other corals look better after bumping up levels.

I was 0-1 nitrates phosphates .01 for about 14 months. I had good growth and color. I had some Goni issues, who doesn’t ?

I decided to try bumping up my nutrient numbers, and the gonis all did better, and many other corals just look healthier - some have better color and others are plumper. It depends on the species. Some had no reaction. But overall I would say I’m happier with the tank after increasing feedings and bioload

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'll make a few comments here...

1. Purple on the sand is cyanobacteria, not a normal algae.

2. Cyanobacteria are often promoted by organics, so organic carbon dosing like NOPOX are not typically desiralbe in cyano situations. Cyano can be deterred by higher flow, lower organics, manual removal and in bad scenarios, antibiotics.

3. Lowering nutrients is not typically the best way to deal with actual algae because you end up having to starve corals to also starve the algae. Herbivores are a far better approach.

4. Organic carbon dosing (including NOPOX) is a good way to reduce nitrate, and is generally less effective at lowering phosphate for several reasons, including denitrification of nitrate driven by the organic matter, and the fact that so much phosphate can be released from rock and sand as nutrients try to decline.

 

[jayteerq]

I'll make a few comments here...

1. Purple on the sand is cyanobacteria, not a normal algae.

2. Cyanobacteria are often promoted by organics, so organic carbon dosing like NOPOX are not typically desiralbe in cyano situations. Cyano can be deterred by higher flow, lower organics, manual removal and in bad scenarios, antibiotics.

3. Lowering nutrients is not typically the best way to deal with actual algae because you end up having to starve corals to also starve the algae. Herbivores are a far better approach.

4. Organic carbon dosing (including NOPOX) is a good way to reduce nitrate, and is generally less effective at lowering phosphate for several reasons, including denitrification of nitrate driven by the organic matter, and the fact that so much phosphate can be released from rock and sand as nutrients try to decline.

Wow thank you so much this was very helpful! I had a gut feeling that chemical wasn’t going to do anything for me lol so I never tried it. I think for starters I will just try to limit my feedings and maybe dial my skimmer up a bit.

I did notice the cyano build up tends to be in the dead flow areas. I can’t really do much about that because the way my aquascape is. It was actually worst before. I had to remodel and recycle. Eventually I’ll add an extra pump somewhere on the back wall.