Phosphate stable but nitrate keep climbing.

[mnsean]

Why would PO4 be stable but Nitrate be going up?

So long story short I made some mistakes (vibrant caused cyno, jump the gun too fast with chemiclean, pretty much reset my biome), and had to go through cycle all over again. Been dosing several different types of beneficial bacteria for past 6 weeks. Been testing twice a day.

PO4 - stable .08 every test
NH3 - .02 stable
KH - 9 (dropping about .3 a day
Ca - 520 (stable dropping about 3-5 a day)
Mg - 1420 (stable)
pH - 8.3
Salinity - 1.26

NO4 - rising 7-10 a day, goes back down to about 2 once I do more beneficial bacteria. So last night it was 2, this morning 10.4, added microbactor 7, and clean, will check tonight. Been alternating (Microbactor7, clean, seachem pristine, prime, turbo start, sludge)

Why would PO4 be stable but Nitrate be going up?

Thank you

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

Sounds like there isn't anything there to use the nitrate. I know MicroBactor7 states it will lower nitrate.

I'd stop with all of the chemicals and let it level out. It''s kind of hard to pin something down when it's bouncing.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Above is good advice, let the tank go back to baseline then figure it out.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Yep, yep. It's a waiting game at this point. How old is your tank?

 

[Lavey29]

Nitrates at 10? That's where you want it why are you trying to decrease?

 

[GARRIGA]

WWC runs at 20 ppm. Having said that, carbon dosing how I normally lowered it until going back to growing algae although latter hard to maintain a specific range with.

 

[KrisReef]

. Been testing twice a day.

NO4 - rising 7-10 a day, goes back down to about 2 once I do more beneficial bacteria. So last night it was 2, this morning 10.4, added microbactor 7, a

Why would PO4 be stable but Nitrate be going up?

The simplest answer is that your nitrate test is sensitive to detect the changes that are occurring and the phosphate test is not that robust at the values present in your tank.

Or

Why would you expect other values from the ones that you are measuring?

In time it may settle in with stability in all parameters. Currently you are not there yet.

 

[mnsean]

Sounds like there isn't anything there to use the nitrate. I know MicroBactor7 states it will lower nitrate.

I'd stop with all of the chemicals and let it level out. It''s kind of hard to pin something down when it's bouncing.

Makes sense thank you.

 

[mnsean]

Nitrates at 10? That's where you want it why are you trying to decrease?

No it’s going up by about 10ppm per day. So by day 4-5 it’s above 50… I don’t feed much either. And weekly water change 30%.

I did have major algae issues that’s been going away, maybe it’s nutrients from dying algae?

 

[Lavey29]

No it’s going up by about 10ppm per day. So by day 4-5 it’s above 50… I don’t feed much either. And weekly water change 30%.

I did have major algae issues that’s been going away, maybe it’s nutrients from dying algae?

Oh ok, yes dying corals can raise it to

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Do you use hob or canister filter? These are the so-called 'nitrate factories'. If you use these, they should be cleaned every few days, at least once a week. They hold rotting food until you remove it, so the rotting food will increase the nitrates.

 

[mnsean]

Found the issue I think. Back sump had corner full of dead chaetos.. cleaned up, water changed.

 

[Formulator]

I can’t help but think of this thread

Thread 'The All-Pharmaceutical Tank (Satire. Please don't do this.)'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-all-pharmaceutical-tank-satire-please-dont-do-this.992915/

@mnsean, stop with the chemical warfare in your tank! Rarely do they do anybody any good and you end up in a chain reaction of more problems.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Why would PO4 be stable but Nitrate be going up?

IMO, one possibility involves the strong buffering of phosphate concentrations as it binds to rock and sand. That can make phosphate move far more slowly when adding or removing it, unlike nitrate which has no buffering mechanisms.

Thus, if you add 1 ppm phosphate and 100 ppm nitrate to a reef tank, especially a new one with bare calcium carbonate surfaces, nitrate will always rise 100 ppm but phosphate may rise less than 0.1 ppm.