Having a hard time trying to lower down NO3 & PO4

HumbleAsianReefer · Nov 24, 2022

its been 3 weeks that i’m struggling with no3 & po4

Range of my parameter for past 3 weeks
salinity - 1.025-1.026
Ph - 8.0
Nh3 - 0
No2 - 0
No3 - 10-20ppm
Po4 - 0.1-0.25
Kh - 7-8
Ca - 400-430
Mg - 1300-1400

AIO 10g nano, running with protein skimmer. Fish feeding twice a week, roids once a week (a teeny tiny amount like only 1/3 of my pinky fingernail)

corals seems fine & healthy but i’m worried about getting a tank full of GHA. Is there anything i can do to solve this? Is NoPoX really worth it for such a small tank? Thank u. Any suggestion will be appreciated

Auquanut · Nov 24, 2022

First off, gotta say that you have a beautiful tank. Corals look awesome. You must be doing something right. Not sure if I would go with NOPOX myself.
Just a thought. Sounds like you're not feeding too heavily. Looks like you don't have a whole lot of surface area in the tank. do you have any biomedia in the back chamber to help process nutrients? Of course, regular water changes help, but I like to have as much surface area as possible. Just a thought.

Tired · Nov 24, 2022

Those numbers are perfectly fine. Gorgeous tank, happy corals, no algae problem- you're good on parameters. If you're really concerned, just increase the size of your water changes a bit, but I say don't worry about it. It's imbalance that leads to algae issues, not "nutrients are technically a bit high".

You really should feed the fish more, though. They need to eat daily, at minimum. You wouldn't underfeed a dog to reduce the amount of poo you have to clean up, and the same concept applies to fish.

HumbleAsianReefer · Nov 24, 2022

Auquanut said:
First off, gotta say that you have a beautiful tank. Corals look awesome. You must be doing something right. Not sure if I would go with NOPOX myself.
Just a thought. Sounds like you're not feeding too heavily. Looks like you don't have a whole lot of surface area in the tank. do you have any biomedia in the back chamber to help process nutrients? Of course, regular water changes help, but I like to have as much surface area as possible. Just a thought.

I do have biomedia at the back sump of my tank. Using Brightwell xport biocube. I do 10%-20% wc every week. Agree with not enough surface area but i’m really not into sand type, i prefer barebottom, & i clean detritus on every WC

LARedstickreefer · Nov 24, 2022

You could try out some marine snow (KZ or diy) to lower phosphates.

HumbleAsianReefer · Nov 24, 2022

Tired said:
Those numbers are perfectly fine. Gorgeous tank, happy corals, no algae problem- you're good on parameters. If you're really concerned, just increase the size of your water changes a bit, but I say don't worry about it. It's imbalance that leads to algae issues, not "nutrients are technically a bit high".

You really should feed the fish more, though. They need to eat daily, at minimum. You wouldn't underfeed a dog to reduce the amount of poo you have to clean up, and the same concept applies to fish.

Ohh, okay. Thanks for the suggestion. I will try to feed a little amount everyday. I’m really worried about the numbers since thats what lead to GHA which makes few of my friends decom their tank. Will keep learning & improving. Thanks again for ur suggestion. Thumbs up

Tired · Nov 25, 2022

Underfeeding your fish to try and avoid algae isn't kind or effective. You should feed your fish as much as they want to eat every day, for their health. Reef fish are meant to be eating constantly, as they have high metabolisms, so once a day is minimum.

If that increases your nutrient levels too much, you should increase the size and/or frequency of water changes, or add nutrient-decreasing measures like chaeto.

Green hair algae comes from an imbalance of nutrients, an immature tank, and lack of cleanup crew to take care of the algae. It's very rare for it to result from pure "nutrients a bit high", and when it does, it's easy to handle; fix the nutrients and ensure cleanup crew is present.