Where do you keep your nitrates and phosphates?

[WrasseyReefer]

Hi everyone,

Where do you keep your nitrates and phosphates? Do you keep them within a range? Do you keep them perfectly stable? Do you have any algae issues that may be a result of where you keep your nutrients? Do you want to change where you keep your nutrients? Just interested in where everyone keeps their nutrients, as it seems that there are multiple ways to keep a successful reef tank.

 

[Lps_lover12]

mine are pretty low and I have to dose both of them often enough. I hope to have nitrates around 10-15 and phosphate around 0.03 one day

 

[WrasseyReefer]

mine are pretty low and I have to dose both of them often enough. I hope to have nitrates around 10-15 and phosphate around 0.03 one day

Where are they at now?

 

[Lps_lover12]

Where are they at now?

Nitrates sit around 5 and phosphate barley gets about 0.02 usually 0.01

 

[Suohhen]

Phosphate I try to keep around .1 which is pretty easy by balancing dry/frozen food and also algae based vs high protein. Nitrate I have to dose around 1 ppm per day and I try to keep it around 5 ppm.

 

[WrasseyReefer]

Nitrates sit around 5 and phosphate barley gets about 0.02 usually 0.01

Are you having issues at those levels? Phosphates a bit low. Have you tried dosing phosphate?

 

[WrasseyReefer]

Phosphate I try to keep around .1 which is pretty easy by balancing dry/frozen food and also algae based vs high protein. Nitrate I have to dose around 1 ppm per day and I try to keep it around 5 ppm.

Cool, my levels are similar. Just curious, is there a reason you target those values? Have you had issues at different N and P?

 

[Lps_lover12]

Are you having issues at those levels? Phosphates a bit low. Have you tried dosing phosphate?

I did have Dino’s but beat those and yes I dose neophos

 

[WrasseyReefer]

I did have Dino’s but beat those and yes I dose neophos

Yeah, it took a lot of neophos to get mine up as well.

 

[WrasseyReefer]

I did have Dino’s but beat those and yes I dose neophos

Do you carbon dose or do a lot of water changes?

 

[Suohhen]

Cool, my levels are similar. Just curious, is there a reason you target those values? Have you had issues at different N and P?

For nitrate I don't see much difference when I keep it low or relatively high and it can be hard to peg so I just sorta aimed for a high enough dose that I would see an increase. For phosphate I was dosing until I switched from heavy frozen shrimp feeding to mostly auto feeder with a mix of TDO and seaweed extreme. So .1 is just sorta where that switch put me and I don't like to dose anything that isn't needed. I mean i don't mind anything I can mix with the sodium nitrate since I'm already dosing that but sodium phosphate doesn't play nice.

 

[WrasseyReefer]

For nitrate I don't see much difference when I keep it low or relatively high and it can be hard to peg so I just sorta aimed for a high enough dose that I would see an increase. For phosphate I was dosing until I switched from heavy frozen shrimp feeding to mostly auto feeder with a mix of TDO and seaweed extreme. So .1 is just sorta where that switch put me and I don't like to dose anything that isn't needed. I mean i don't mind anything I can mix with the sodium nitrate since I'm already dosing that but sodium phosphate doesn't play nice.

What issues did you have with sodium phosphate?

 

[Lps_lover12]

Do you carbon dose or do a lot of water changes?

Don’t do neither. I want to do a water change but it will just lower them both more

 

[WrasseyReefer]

Don’t do neither. I want to do a water change but it will just lower them both more

Wow, interesting. Are you very lightly stocked?

 

[Suohhen]

What issues did you have with sodium phosphate?

I mix together my sodium nitrate, silicate, and kent iron and apparently the low ph causes silicate to precipitate. Also the potential for disaster with an overdose of phosphate is high whereas I have never seen ill effects from heavy doses of these 3. If I were dosing by hand that would be one thing but auto dosing scares me.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I mix together my sodium nitrate, silicate, and kent iron and apparently the low ph causes silicate to precipitate. Also the potential for disaster with an overdose of phosphate is high whereas I have never seen ill effects from heavy doses of these 3. If I were dosing by hand that would be one thing but auto dosing scares me.

I do not recommend mixing iron and silicate dosing solutions. Silicate is most soluble at high pH and iron is least soluble at high pH.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Do you have any algae issues that may be a result of where you keep your nutrients?

I’d be very wary of believing folks opinions on the relationship between nutrient levels and algae issues. More than almost any area of reefing, this one has a lot of opinions that may not reflect reality.

 

[Waters]

Nitrates around 7 and phosphates around .08

 

[X-37B]

No3 <5 po4<0.1. This has worked well for years. When levels rise above desired levels I adjust.

Whatever levels you run pick a range and focus on keeping them their.

No3 and po4 numbers are what your export system is not removing.

I feed my fish heavy and do not directly feed the corals except some scolys and my nem.

 

[Lps_lover12]

Wow, interesting. Are you very lightly stocked?

Fully stocked as of yesterday. We will see if they can maintain on their own now