Continued ex high Nitrate zero phosphate?

[Pelagikos]

Hi just as the title says I am continually running a 100 plus nitrates and cannot seem to lower them. My phosphates constantly read zero or near zero. Any guesses as what might be going on here, or what I can do differently?
I've included a picture of the API test but my salifert also gives me the same basic results for both parameters. Rodi water used, afraid to do more than 10%wc at a time for stability. Using Bright well NeoMarine.
All other levels:
Ph 8
Calc 450
Alk 8.5
Mag 1335
Am 0-.25
(Cannot seem to eliminate it using microbacter7 and nopox)
ANY HELP WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED ‍

 

[Pelagikos]

One more question... Aside from doing daily water changes can I use Seachem Prime to help neutralize the nitrates until I can get them down? Or does this product bind phosphates and make them unusable?

 

[dvgyfresh]

One more question... Aside from doing daily water changes can I use Seachem Prime to help neutralize the nitrates until I can get them down? Or does this product bind phosphates and make them unusable?

Not sure really lol , call me crazy but I would stop dosing nopox and only dose neophos - phosphate is the limiting factor for yr nitrate consumption not bacteria. Honestly no clue if it would change anything but possibly- I’m just against dosing nopox as it makes my anemones mad haha

 

[October Sky]

What's your RODI setup? What's your TDS out of it? And can you do a nitrate test of just pure RODI that you use?

 

[Pelagikos]

What's your RODI setup? What's your TDS out of it? And can you do a nitrate test of just pure RODI that you use?

5 stage with added sediment prefilter, 50 gpd. (I'm on well water which is pretty clean, good sandy aquifer) I've tested all parameters coming out of the system. My TDs is 0 or near zero constantly and all others read undetectable.

 

[Pelagikos]

Not sure really lol , call me crazy but I would stop dosing nopox and only dose neophos - phosphate is the limiting factor for yr nitrate consumption not bacteria. Honestly no clue if it would change anything but possibly- I’m just against dosing nopox as it makes my anemones mad haha

Yeah, that makes complete sense! Maybe I'll give that a try after I run this for a week... see what my results are. I'm dosing really low amounts of
Nopox just for a little bit of carbon.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

One more question... Aside from doing daily water changes can I use Seachem Prime to help neutralize the nitrates until I can get them down? Or does this product bind phosphates and make them unusable?

That won't do squat. Ignore Seachem's wild speculations based on customer comments about helping with nitrate.

 

[Pelagikos]

That won't do squat. Ignore Seachem's wild speculations based on customer comments about helping with nitrate.

Wow, really?? :0
Ok. So what do I do to prevent nitrate damage while waiting for my phosphates to rise and nitrates to fall in line?

 

[Pelagikos]

dang.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Wow, really?? :0
Ok. So what do I do to prevent nitrate damage while waiting for my phosphates to rise and nitrates to fall in line?

I'm not sure there is much damage from 100 ppm nitrate , but if there is, there's nothing you can do that I know of aside from lowering it (say, water changes, increased consumption, etc.).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

dang.

Sad that so many reef products do not do what they claim.

 

[Pelagikos]

Sad that so many reef products do not do what they claim.

I really appreciate your reply.
I have been keeping aquariums for about 25 years and never realized that prime did not do what it said about nitrates/ nitrites.
I appreciate you opening my eyes and I hope someone else reads this!!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I really appreciate your reply.
I have been keeping aquariums for about 25 years and never realized that prime did not do what it said about nitrates/ nitrites.
I appreciate you opening my eyes and I hope someone else reads this!!

Most reefers would benefit from a skeptical eye on product claims.

Happy reefing.

 

[Pelagikos]

Okay I'm back again finally getting my nitrates down to about 25 still having a problem keeping my phosphates more than zero without dosing everyday, now I'm dealing with this? Any input seriously would be appreciated. I could sample it for a microscope that I could get out of storage, but I really wouldn't even know how to sample it and what I'd be looking for. When my nitrates were still skyrocketing this stuff would disappear at night and come back during the day now it is staying full force... :/

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The red is cyanobacteria. Golden brown mixed in looks like something else, but could be more cyano, diatoms, or dinos.