Solutions for <No3 and <P04 Help!

[waqas_01]

Honestly, everything looks fine. I would adjust anything. I regret trying to bring down phosphates and nitrates. I had the best colour when they were really high. Unless if it is absolutely climbing out of control maybe then look at reducing feedings or do a mild carbon dose (like tropic marin or aquaforest) to keep things in check. Otherwise I'd let it coast and find equilibrium. Don't change anything drastically as it will upset the system that is already growing amd colouring up your corals.

 

[00W]

I've given some advice and hope that helps.
I'm really with you here because after having a tank for years we get used to things and know when things are different.
My only other advice is it's easier to maintain your target nitrate with a smaller scrubber and water changes than a big scrubber. If you stay at your current bioload and feeding regimen.
Also reef octopus makes neck extensions for almost all their skimmers. I run 2 on my regal 150s and it really makes a big difference.
Phosphate is another topic so hopefully you've gotten some help here.
Any other questions fire away.
Peace
Joel

 

[Dan_P]

Hello,

I have a 2 year old 160g mixed reef and No3 and Po4 starting rising and can't get it back down. I do biweekly water changes and test the water before it goes in to make sure its free of these. I recently installed a ReefMat which is working great and has been helpful in lowering a little. I have been running biopellet reactor and GFO for awhile but still cannot lower my current numbers down to what they should be. Should I be considering something like a algae scrubber?

Parameters
No3 - 26
Po4 - .27

pics of my reactor and sump, also include a video for the livestock.

There doesn’t seem to be a reason for not being able to reduce and control PO4 with GFO other than not changing it often enough, which could be a pain. Nitrate is not so straightforward.

I assume the amount of nitrogen going into the aquarium (feeding) hasn’t increased which means removing nitrogen has decreased. It is not going into biomass (something stopped growing, e.g.) or it is not being removed (e.g, the biopellet reactor effectiveness is declining). How long has the biopellet reactor been running?

 

[gcarcher59]

Honestly, everything looks fine. I would adjust anything. I regret trying to bring down phosphates and nitrates. I had the best colour when they were really high. Unless if it is absolutely climbing out of control maybe then look at reducing feedings or do a mild carbon dose (like tropic marin or aquaforest) to keep things in check. Otherwise I'd let it coast and find equilibrium. Don't change anything drastically as it will upset the system that is already growing amd colouring up your corals.

Thanks, I will try adding some brittle stars and step up the water changes. I also turned my inside the tank pump to move the water behind the rocks around. In general everything is happy

I've given some advice and hope that helps.
I'm really with you here because after having a tank for years we get used to things and know when things are different.
My only other advice is it's easier to maintain your target nitrate with a smaller scrubber and water changes than a big scrubber. If you stay at your current bioload and feeding regimen.
Also reef octopus makes neck extensions for almost all their skimmers. I run 2 on my regal 150s and it really makes a big difference.
Phosphate is another topic so hopefully you've gotten some help here.
Any other questions fire away.
Peace
Joel

i also have a bio pellet reactor so carbon dosing is in place. It may be I don't have enough pellets?

There doesn’t seem to be a reason for not being able to reduce and control PO4 with GFO other than not changing it often enough, which could be a pain. Nitrate is not so straightforward.

I assume the amount of nitrogen going into the aquarium (feeding) hasn’t increased which means removing nitrogen has decreased. It is not going into biomass (something stopped growing, e.g.) or it is not being removed (e.g, the biopellet reactor effectiveness is declining). How long has the biopellet reactor been running?

hey Dan, the reactors been up for months, added more pellets about 5 weeks ago, the old pellets looked exhausted as you may see in the pic. I've got a lot of fish and coral but when I noticed the change was after I added the moorish idol. That fish eats seaweed non stop, also loves certain corals I wasn't expecting Once I was able to catch him I moved I'm into another tank, I was expecting some levels to drop after he and a wrasse got pulled out together but still hitting 25 to 30 No3.

 

[Dan_P]

Thanks, I will try adding some brittle stars and step up the water changes. I also turned my inside the tank pump to move the water behind the rocks around. In general everything is happy

i also have a bio pellet reactor so carbon dosing is in place. It may be I don't have enough pellets?

hey Dan, the reactors been up for months, added more pellets about 5 weeks ago, the old pellets looked exhausted as you may see in the pic. I've got a lot of fish and coral but when I noticed the change was after I added the moorish idol. That fish eats seaweed non stop, also loves certain corals I wasn't expecting Once I was able to catch him I moved I'm into another tank, I was expecting some levels to drop after he and a wrasse got pulled out together but still hitting 25 to 30 No3.

Got it.

The biopellets would take awhile to bring down the nitrate because it had only enough bacteria to maintain the system’s nitrate. Maintaining and bringing down nitrate means the biopellets would have needed to become more effective, i.e., the bacteria population would need to have grown in size compared to what it was before. I don’t know how long that would have taken.