Nutrient Deficient Tank Help

[mdb_talon]

I am a fan of feeding more personally because i am a huge proponent of overfeeding, but also understand why people would rather just dose the nutrients. I think the most important thing is to get the nutrients in there whichever way works for you.

If I were you I would make a fresh 5g batch of saltwater and then test the N/P to get a baseline(which is hopefully zero or nearly so). Then I would dose your N/P in the bucket up to what should be a significant and easily detectable amount and test again. If the numbers come out close to what they should based off your dosing this can rule out bad kits or user testing error as well as conform your N/P additives are not the issue.

 

[Jbone1228]

I am a fan of feeding more personally because i am a huge proponent of overfeeding, but also understand why people would rather just dose the nutrients. I think the most important thing is to get the nutrients in there whichever way works for you.

If I were you I would make a fresh 5g batch of saltwater and then test the N/P to get a baseline(which is hopefully zero or nearly so). Then I would dose your N/P in the bucket up to what should be a significant and easily detectable amount and test again. If the numbers come out close to what they should based off your dosing this can rule out bad kits or user testing error as well as conform your N/P additives are not the issue.

ok cool ill try that, ill take my water to a local shop to. this is very frustrating, corals were growing like crazy them BAM!

 

[Jbone1228]

ok maybe i need a new test kit or something, there should be no reason i see cyanobacteria with 0 phosphates.

 

[MarshallB]

Tank is still working itself out. I ran into the same situation with my tank. Reading 0 0 for months. I started over correcting then a few months later both phosphate and nitrate skyrocketed which lead to gha in which I'm still fighting. I would keep the skimmer off but keep the socks on. Instead of overfeeding at once feed the normal amount then feed a smaller amount later in the day.

Eventually they will rise once the biome in the tank figures itself out.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

ok maybe i need a new test kit or something, there should be no reason i see cyanobacteria with 0 phosphates.

Yes it can because your not truly 0 no tank is absolute 0 that has fish w/food. Cyano is just an imbalance showing up as that particular bacteria, it can grow in high flow too, algaes and cyano fuel off low amounts of nutrients that tests can't detect, and corals couldn't survive in.

 

[Jbone1228]

well went threw a whole bottle of neo phos, still no change and cyano is really starting to settle in. Skimmer has been off for awhile, not even running it at night . Really frustrated with everything, any ideas what to do now ha.

 

[Jbone1228]

Yes it can because your not truly 0 no tank is absolute 0 that has fish w/food. Cyano is just an imbalance showing up as that particular bacteria, it can grow in high flow too, algaes and cyano fuel off low amounts of nutrients that tests can't detect, and corals couldn't survive in.

went through a whole bottle of neo phos, no results and skimmer has been off for a week. Cyano is really trying to take over now, zoanthids still not coming out. lost!