Nutrient imbalance with red sea Reef energy,

[Jdeleon]

Im a bit confused, about 2 months ago my 46 gallon was 0 nitrates, .02 phosphates and started dosing Reef Energy to get nitrates up a bit. dosing 2 ml from each bottle and once sometimes twice a week I will throw in just a pinch of reef roids. I had a great coral response as far as growth and coloration, Zoa dominant tank, About 5 weeks in I get a phosphate spike it is at a solid 3 now but nitrates are still 0, Started now dosing nopox for about 3 weeks 4 ML a day and still consistent with the reef energy, my phosphates are still stuck at 2-3, nitrates still 0, and I can see the growth in my zoas slow down and how open they were now closed a little, I can tell they are not as happy as they use to be and I also started getting red slime cyano,
where is my imbalance, what dosing should I stop or just cut back. I want to bring nitrates to about 2 ppm and phosphates @ .25 or lower if possible.

46 gallon - rock @ 44 gallons.
zoa dominated
alk, 7
mag 1420
cal 420
carbon bag, is this stripping my nitrates?
weekly water changes

all my fish are small,
2 clowns
2 dragonets
2 small gobys
1 clown goby

when I try to feed solids a little heavier to bring nitrates up my phosphates go up instead.

run a PP-4 but I just purchased an MP 10 to help with flow and that may help with some nutrients getting left behind,

any input is appreciated., I tried to research as much as I could but I don't see many with this same type of issue that I cant bring my nitrates up.

thanks guys for any feed back.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Can you clarify the phosphate level?

3 ppm?

0.3 ppm?

 

[AdamNC]

I've found NoPoX is great for No3 but not as much for Po4. For that I use a bag of Purigen and Reef Spec Carbon in my filter. In my tank I'm dosing 4ml/day of Part A and B and my No3 and Po4 hover close to 0.

 

[Jdeleon]

Can you clarify the phosphate level?

3 ppm?

0.3 ppm?

yes 3 ppm, I wish .3

 

[Jdeleon]

I forgot to mention I do have a skimmer running, I don't want to turn it off and allow nitrates to go up because im afraid phosphates will creep up even more,

 

[Jdeleon]

are my zoas consuming all my nitrates faster than they are being added, but not consuming phosphates?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

are my zoas consuming all my nitrates faster than they are being added, but not consuming phosphates?

All organisms take in a lot more N than P. A reef tank can get skewed toward excessive phosphate due to denitrification, but I'm not sure why or how your P could get so high.

Are you using tap water?

 

[Jdeleon]

All organisms take in a lot more N than P. A reef tank can get skewed toward excessive phosphate due to denitrification, but I'm not sure why or how your P could get so high.

Are you using tap water?

no sir, RODI and weekly water changes, I can force it and do water changes to lower it and see if it stays stable, I just wanted to see if it would naturally lower on its own, I am still dosing nopox should I stop?