Water change question

[Fredrxn]

Sup guys I just have a question should I keep doing water changes.....if my nutrients are at no3 9.0 and po4 0.01....my po4 has not moved for weeks...even with weekly water changes........what would u guys do?...I am doseing all for reef...maybe I should change to bi weekly water changes? I just don't want to make my tank to clean...I am in the ugly phase right now...

 

[Jekyl]

Sup guys I just have a question should I keep doing water changes.....if my nutrients are at no3 9.0 and po4 0.01....my po4 has not moved for weeks...even with weekly water changes........what would u guys do?...I am doseing all for reef...maybe I should change to bi weekly water changes? I just don't want to make my tank to clean...I am in the ugly phase right now...

Is algae growing readily? Even though you're only testing 9 nitrate, that could be the result of the algae consuming some. Mayne skip a week and test again. Depending on result go from there.

 

[Derrick0580]

Phosphate being 0.01 is really good, you don’t want it being 0, personally I like to see mine 0.03-0.05 to be safe. My nitrates bottomed out and hair algae grew like crazy so had to start dosing nitrate just to raise it to 1

 

[Fredrxn]

Is algae growing readily? Even though you're only testing 9 nitrate, that could be the result of the algae consuming some. Mayne skip a week and test again. Depending on result go from there.

There is algea on rocks and back glass but not really bad

 

[Jekyl]

There is algea on rocks and back glass but not really bad

Hard to give exact advice on this. The water change a week thing isn't necessary. I haven't changed water in months. Between testing and the growth of the algae you'll just have to find your happy medium. Skipping a week won't be an issue though. Just test while it's happening and note the effects.

 

[Tired]

You should change water if you need to remove nutrients, excess dissolved organics, or toxins, or add trace elements that's in your salt. If none of that needs doing, don't change water.

If there's algae on the glass, scrape it. If there's excessive algae on the rocks, beyond what's normal (because you cannot have a reef tank with no algae), you might need more cleanup crew. Don't drop your nutrients trying to kill algae- you'll kill corals, too, and set yourself up for dinos.

You probably don't want your phosphate below 0.03ppm. Nitrates between 5 and 10ppm are generally considered to be good, but some people run up to 20 with perfectly happy corals.