Very High phosphates and very low nitrates

[One Reefing Boi]

So I have a dilemma. My phosphates tested in at 0.5 (yes 0.5, not 0.05) using a brand new Hannah Tester (did the test twice) and Nitrate at 0.8 (again new hannah). Other major elements (Alk/mag/Calc) are stable from my dosing pump (8.3, 1310, 420 respectively). I use the triton approach and really don’t do a lot of water changes (maybe 10% every 2-3mo) also trying to get my nitrates up as I have read phosphates don’t really drop with water changes. I also does Fuel 2x a week for some aminos and trace elements for the coral.

For about 3-4 weeks now the tank has been fallow dealing with Flukes that didn’t respond to Prazi. Since then, my torches have all lost a lot of color (still open and look ok, but my dragon soul and I do gold have virtually no gold and are just purple tentacles with green/blue tips). My acros though are doing well, colored nicely still and growing steadily

not sure what my nitrate and phosphate was before the fallow as I am of the mindset that the coral will tell me when something is wrong and everything looked great.

my question is: how can I get nitrate up a bit and phosphate down a bit? I’m not one to chase numbers but assume the lack of nitrate from my fish/feeding is causing my torches to lose color.

also, I don’t have any algae problems. It’s an AIO so no fuge, but the tank is pretty clean from nuisance algae (no cyano, diatoms, hair, Bryopsis etc..)

thanks!

 

[dadnjesse]

Which Hanna Nitrate tester do you have? There is a High range and a low range. I have both and prefer the HR tester. Also the low range is more complicated with several steps.

 

[One Reefing Boi]

Which Hanna Nitrate tester do you have? There is a High range and a low range. I have both and prefer the HR tester. Also the low range is more complicated with several steps.

High range. I had the low range and didn’t even get through one test before I said nope lol.. same with the phosphate checker (high range)

 

[Pntbll687]

Just dose some nitrates to get them up. Brightwell, seachem, and bunch of others make good nitrate products. You can DIY your own for cheaper using dry nitrates from amazon, then mixing at home.

Getting the nitrates up will actually help the phosphates come down a little bit, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. Do corals have good color and are growing? Then keep doing what your doing.

 

[One Reefing Boi]

Just dose some nitrates to get them up. Brightwell, seachem, and bunch of others make good nitrate products. You can DIY your own for cheaper using dry nitrates from amazon, then mixing at home.

Getting the nitrates up will actually help the phosphates come down a little bit, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. Do corals have good color and are growing? Then keep doing what your doing.

Yeah I was looking into some products while the tank is fallow at least. Acros look great, torches lost all their gold/yellow’s. Growth is fine though, just no color.

 

[One Reefing Boi]

Just dose some nitrates to get them up. Brightwell, seachem, and bunch of others make good nitrate products. You can DIY your own for cheaper using dry nitrates from amazon, then mixing at home.

Getting the nitrates up will actually help the phosphates come down a little bit, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. Do corals have good color and are growing? Then keep doing what you’re doing.

Any idea on products you might recommend?

 

[Pntbll687]

Any idea on products you might recommend?

I use this seachem one. If you put in the your tank gallons in the calculator and use current level as 0ppm and desired as 1ppm this will give you the amount you need to raise the level by 1ppm. Whatever answer it gives, divide this by 5 to get the "nitrate equivalent". If you remember the answer to this, it's super easy to add nitrates by simply multiplying the answer by whatever you need.

Example
I have a 180g system. To raise from 0ppm to 1ppm, it gives me 45ml, divide by 5, that gets me 9ml. I rounded that to 10 to make my life easy. So if I need to add nitrates after testing, I just add multiples of 10ml to get where I need to be.

Seachem - Flourish Nitrogen

www.seachem.com

 

[One Reefing Boi]

I use this seachem one. If you put in the your tank gallons in the calculator and use current level as 0ppm and desired as 1ppm this will give you the amount you need to raise the level by 1ppm. Whatever answer it gives, divide this by 5 to get the "nitrate equivalent". If you remember the answer to this, it's super easy to add nitrates by simply multiplying the answer by whatever you need.

Example
I have a 180g system. To raise from 0ppm to 1ppm, it gives me 45ml, divide by 5, that gets me 9ml. I rounded that to 10 to make my life easy. So if I need to add nitrates after testing, I just add multiples of 10ml to get where I need to be.

Seachem - Flourish Nitrogen

www.seachem.com

Awesome thanks, will look into grabbing some