Still having issues getting NO3 vs PO4 where want it...input thanks Randy?

[Sagecritter4life]

Im a newbie and still confused....chuckle...

Okay dosing NO3 using Refine (food grade nitrate) and dosing PO4 via NeoPhos but levels arent coming up at dosages on bottles? Are they countering each other maybe...?

Randy Ive been following your advice from our last convversation and kept dosing but am I offsetting one by dosing the other ? seems like if only dose the neophos I do get a reading of .02 the next day but then No3 drops to 2ppm or less. If I only dose NO3 my phos drops back to zero.....chasing my tail lol kinda confused.

When dose together 24hr later my No3 runs 3-4 kinda on color with red sea test but PO4 stays undetectable with MI412.

Was trying to get up to 5ppm on NO3 and .02-.03 on PO4 at least

90 gal water volume so dosing the 1.2 ml supposed to raise .015 ish but have even tried 2.5 up to 3ml which should be .025 and still get a zero on meter 24 hrs later ? Have checked in other tank (QT) where all corals look awesome (bare bottom/No rock just marine pure block/HOB/one nano powerhead) and shows .20 on PO4 5ppm on NO3 so pretty sure meters testing correctly.

Is my rock and sand (started dry reef saver and carib sea aragonite live sand 6 months ago) absorbing everything im putting in? E260 with only 7 small zoa frags and one lone duncan so far...so where the heck is it going? very little algae mainly diatoms I think is what it is...could it be taking it? thought they used silicates?

Lone pair of clowns so not much fish food going into system just reef roids and LPS pellets spot feed once per week.

CONFUSED lol ;-) your expertise would be appreciated for sure

 

[CodyRVA]

I'll chime in... i'm no expert, but I've read this post several times and each time I can't help but think you're simply over complicating it. If you have low nutrients why not cut your filtration back or feed more. I think you're going about it from the wrong direction, just my .02

As far as why does one go up vs the other based on what you dose, haven't a clue, but as mentioned, I would eliminate this entire issue, by keeping things as simple as possible. Sorry for the lame answer.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The nutrients are "cancelling" each other, they are just being taken up by organisms (assuming you are dosing enough to detect). All photosynthetic reef organisms will use what you are adding.

How many ppm of nitrate and phosphate are you dosing each day? I couldn't quite understand.