Trying to get phosphate under control

[RubyU235]

Can you tell us a little more about the other tank you had?
How long was it running?
Do you have any parameters on it?
Would like to know so we can determine with more accuracy if it is in fact a tank transfer vs a new setup subject to cycling as such.

It was a fluval 13.5 with live sand, 10lbs live rock, and skimmer.

Tank was very stable prior to transfer, almost 1 year old. No po4, solid nitrogen cycle, alk, cal, mag stable.

I’ve had this current tank waiting for a long time to setup, and in anticipation of that i seeded 1litre of ceramic in the Evo for the past 3 months along with some filter foam.

 

[sixty_reefer]

They said 0 on the cycling part but not sure when that was taken in relation to the phosphate levels. But I'm guessing that is probably accurate.

This may mean the op used just new water in the transfer tank, if that’s correct he/she may just stalled the heterotrophic bacteria by limiting the amount of nitrates available in the tank meaning only nitrifying autotroph will be limiting ammonia and some nuisance algae. With the added carbon from the last few days this may turn into a bad experience if those nitrates don’t get to detectable levels soon enough. In addition to the substrate leaching phosphates this will make sense as nitrifying autotroph won’t use much phosphates in comparison to nitrifying autotrophs that will need to assimilate all three nutrients to be able to multiply.

 

[RubyU235]

This may mean the op used just new water in the transfer tank, if that’s correct he/she may just stalled the heterotrophic bacteria by limiting the amount of nitrates available in the tank meaning only nitrifying autotroph will be limiting ammonia and some nuisance algae. With the added carbon from the last few days this may turn into a bad experience if those nitrates don’t get to detectable levels soon enough. In addition to the substrate leaching phosphates this will make sense as nitrifying autotroph won’t use much phosphates in comparison to nitrifying autotrophs that will need to assimilate all three nutrients to be able to multiply.

Lol I didn’t just throw everything into the tank and hope for the best. I’ll amend my original post but I spent these last two weeks ramping things up. Started with a proper dose of seachem prime and just for precaution add prime to all of my produced water, then allowing it to sit for at least 24 hours. I’ve also been dosing seachem stability. And started the tank with some fritz product.

I was fishless for a week, then I started transferring the 3 fish I had in my smaller tank, I waited 72 hours and then added the tangs.

I watched the cycle peak in the first week, then stabilize. I have a nice reef smell coming off the water and the skimmate has not been excessive.

also not running carbon

 

[sixty_reefer]

Lol I didn’t just throw everything into the tank and hope for the best. I’ll amend my original post but I spent these last two weeks ramping things up. Started with a proper dose of seachem prime and just for precaution add prime to all of my produced water, then allowing it to sit for at least 24 hours. I’ve also been dosing seachem stability. And started the tank with some fritz product.

I was fishless for a week, then I started transferring the 3 fish I had in my smaller tank, I waited 72 hours and then added the tangs.

I watched the cycle peak in the first week, then stabilize. I have a nice reef smell coming off the water and the skimmate has not been excessive.

also not running carbon

I would imagine so although it won’t change my observations as long as you have zero to undetectable nutrients the added organic carbon from nopox may raise issues with nuisance algae and bacteria.

 

[RubyU235]

I would imagine so although it won’t change my observations as long as you have zero to undetectable nutrients the added organic carbon from nopox may raise issues with nuisance algae and bacteria.

Agreed, glad I stopped using it for now, I had my reservations about using it so soon and it appears I was right to use caution.

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

Lol I didn’t just throw everything into the tank and hope for the best.

I don't think sixty was criticizing you but just trying to explain why you might have 0 nitrates but high phosphates. In the scenario where someone transferred rock from an existing "mature" system (presumably with a good amount of dissolved nutrients) to a new system but instead of transferring the same water, put freshly mixed saltwater then you could measure 0 nitrates and high phosphates (possibly being leached from the rock which acted as a nutrient sponge in the old system).

also not running carbon

Sixty was referring to the carbon dosing you were doing with the NOPOX. This product reduces nitrates and phosphates by providing a carbon source for bacteria to consume the nitrates/phosphates. Not to be confused with activated carbon (aka activated charcoal).

 

[RubyU235]

I don't think sixty was criticizing you but just trying to explain why you might have 0 nitrates but high phosphates. In the scenario where someone transferred rock from an existing "mature" system (presumably with a good amount of dissolved nutrients) to a new system but instead of transferring the same water, put freshly mixed saltwater then you could measure 0 nitrates and high phosphates (possibly being leached from the rock which acted as a nutrient sponge in the old system).


Sixty was referring to the carbon dosing you were doing with the NOPOX. This product reduces nitrates and phosphates by providing a carbon source for bacteria to consume the nitrates/phosphates. Not to be confused with activated carbon (aka activated charcoal).

Didn’t mean to sound defense although now I understand. I appreciate all the info.

also that clarification of carbon is perfect, hadn’t thought of it that way.

I’m just going to have to keep an eye on it.

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

Agreed, glad I stopped using it for now, I had my reservations about using it so soon and it appears I was right to use caution.

Good luck and keep us updated with how things go!

I am also working on dialing in my nutrients (nitrates/phosphates) right now. When I first started all the research I was doing always said something like "beginner reefers biggest problems when they get started is overfeeding", so I was so worried about having too much nutrients I immediately went for a sump with a roller mat and setup a refugium. I of course researched both but did not realize how good they were at nutrient export until I was feeding pellets several times a day with an automated feeder and frozen foods every evening and even started some intermittent flake foods, just to have week after week of 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates. At some point the phosphates in my tank started to rise but my nitrates were never measurable with my hanna checker. After some more research I found out that foods like pellets, flakes, and powdered coral foods, often raise phosphates quicker than nitrates and that frozen foods are more likely to raise nitrates and not phosphates. Since I prefer to adjust nutrients in my tank more naturally, I decided to raise my nitrates and lower my phosphates by upping my frozen foods and decreasing my pellet and flake foods. So far this has been working for me, nitrates have come up from 0 to 6.0 ppm and my phosphates have stopped rising. My corals seem to be growing faster (especially my softies) and my fish and CUC of course love the frozen foods. I bought a sheet of LRS reef frenzy, reef frenzy nano, and herbivore frenzy and cut them into chunks and put them in ziplocks and feed 1 chunk each every night. These seem to be more nutritious than just mysis shrimp and I like what they are doing with my nutrients. I like the idea of increasing my nutrient export over decreasing my nutrient import as long as that nutrient import is varied and not just processed foods.