Phosphate /Nitrate?

jpontier212 · May 17, 2016

Guys another learning curve needed. I thought phosphate and nitrates went hand in hand. I have phosphates at 0 and my nitrates are at between 20 and 40 ppm. Could that be possible? I have API testing kits. Both reef and saltwater. Also can my ph be 8.2 and my akilinity at 14 dkh? My calcium is 480 I'm wondering if that's wrong also. What should i do? I do have a digital ph meter that is on point. My salinity is 1.026

shornik · May 17, 2016

Some of those things are related to each other, but I'm not expert so I'm not going to try to explain and make a mistake but overall each of those parameters can fluctuate independently and that's what you are seeing. I do know (correct me someone if I'm wrong) that Nitrates and Phosphates are not related, nitrates are end result of the nitrogen cycle, various ways to lower them but first you need to figure out why they are high (over feeding is what gets me all the time), are you skimming? Are you running anything like carbon (vodka/vinegar), running biopellets? All those things can help reduce nitrates. Alkalinity is hight but I I use to get that also when my tank was fairly new, how new/old is your tank, what kind of rock do you have in it. I'm sure others will chime in but I hope that helps a little.

jpontier212 · May 17, 2016

shornik said:
Some of those things are related to each other, but I'm not expert so I'm not going to try to explain and make a mistake but overall each of those parameters can fluctuate independently and that's what you are seeing. I do know (correct me someone if I'm wrong) that Nitrates and Phosphates are not related, nitrates are end result of the nitrogen cycle, various ways to lower them but first you need to figure out why they are high (over feeding is what gets me all the time), are you skimming? Are you running anything like carbon (vodka/vinegar), running biopellets? All those things can help reduce nitrates. Alkalinity is hight but I I use to get that also when my tank was fairly new, how new/old is your tank, what kind of rock do you have in it. I'm sure others will chime in but I hope that helps a little.

So my tank started on Jan 29th and cycled by beginning of March. I have a piece of live Rock in my sump that's about 6lbs and i have 40lbs of dry rock in my DT. I guess i have overfed since i lost 2 fish i haven't really fed them any different

shornik · May 17, 2016

How big is your tank? When you say live rock was it really live (i.e. covered with life) and it it was is it still? If you have live rock usually most of the stuff on it will die and that can lead to a nitrate spike but also as pike in Ammonia and nitrites so if those are ok then it's probably just what your feeding, or how much to be more precise.

c-horse · May 17, 2016

Sound like you need to add some phosphate to help reduce nitrate if using bacteria or algae to control your nutrients. Living things need various nutrients in some ratio. If some nutrient is missing, the living organism can not make use of the other nutrients as effectively. If you are using resins/media to remove phosphate you may want to cut back or feed food that has more phosphate.

jpontier212 said:
Guys another learning curve needed. I thought phosphate and nitrates went hand in hand. I have phosphates at 0 and my nitrates are at between 20 and 40 ppm. Could that be possible? I have API testing kits. Both reef and saltwater. Also can my ph be 8.2 and my akilinity at 14 dkh? My calcium is 480 I'm wondering if that's wrong also. What should i do? I do have a digital ph meter that is on point. My salinity is 1.026

PatW · May 17, 2016

If you used ammonia to cycle your tank, the ammonia would be converted into nitrites then nitrates. No phosphates would have been added.

My dry rock leached out phosphates when I was cycling my tank. I detected it with a Hanna checker. But since then, even with the Hanna, I get a 0 ppm reading. I had a series of algal blooms: diatoms, cyano and hair. I think the algae sucked up all of the phosphates in the tank. I got the levels down by running GFO, doing water changes and running chaeto in a refugium. Currently, I don't have any problems with nuisance algae in my DT.

dakoop · May 17, 2016

If you doubt any of your readings or if they don't make sense have a lfs double check your water, just to be safe. Phosphates and Nitrates get lumped together because overfeeding and poor maintenance can lead to both of them building up.
Phosphates and Nitrates are important but if this was my tank I would try and get the ALK down before anything else

Kungpaoshizi · May 17, 2016

Alk is a bit high, try for around 10. If your salt is that high, I would switch salt. Otherwise be glad for the higher nitrate than phosphate, usually it's the other way. Carbon dosing is what you should investigate (nopox is my vote) but it will utilize more nitrate than phosphate, but still some phosphate, in working to reduce both, in addition to utilizing the carbon source. You have a lot of reading to do, but that's the gist.

Sorry for the loss of fishes.