Help. High N03 low P04.

[greengeco82]

I have been unable to get detectable amount of P04 despite my heavy feeding. My Hanna checker shows 0. My nitrates are around 30. I don't want to continue heavy feeding due to high N03. I don't understand the relationship between the 2. If I manually add phosphates, will my nitrates drop? I am thinking of adding neophos.

[Reefable]

Which Henna Checker test kit r u using. I would suggest using a ULR one.


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[tvu]

You can start off with water changes to reduce nitrates. Feeding a carbon source such as nopox or biopellets works well reducing nitrates. It's far easier to reduce nitrates than phos in my experience. Good luck.


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[JUNBUG361]

A THREAD FOR THE SAME(I THINK) ON HERE MIGHT HELP NO3:PO4-x conversion to vinegar

[bertoni]

You can buy food-grade sodium triphosphate on Amazon. It can be used to dose phosphate, if you are sure you want to go that direction. Are all the animals okay? What's in the system? 30 ppm of nitrate is fine for a wide range of animals.

[greengeco82]

All of my fish are happy. There are 12 heavily fed fish in my 190. My SPS, are growing at a decent rate. I have been concentrating on color of the SPS. Color is just OK. I am using an Ultra Low Hanna and have never been able to detect PO4. I do 20% water changes every 2 weeks with Reef Crystals. I borrowed my neighbors Hanna, and still undetectable.

I began reading about a potential relationship between PO4 and NO3, that suggested higher levels of PO4 will drive down NO3 numbers. Does this make any sense to anyone? Maybe something else about Phytos(?) eating NO3 and somehow raising PO4. If I sound uneducated, its because I am.

My goal is to lower NO3 some (between 5 and 20ppm), while raising PO4 to some detectable amount. All help is greatly appreciated.

[greengeco82]

A few coral pics. Note how the SPS are not very vibrant.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2896/32733899744_8176726f29_m.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/RSzMXN)2017-03-21_02-26-50 (https://flic.kr/p/RSzMXN) by
[url=https://flic.kr/p/Ta5WKM]https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3720/33577008275_9f90bef921_m.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145255365@N08/)2017-03-21_02-25-52 (https://flic.kr/p/Ta5WKM) by
[url=https://flic.kr/p/RSzQ65]https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2862/32733906894_59b5dd419d_m.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145255365@N08/)2017-03-21_02-27-16 (https://flic.kr/p/RSzQ65) by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/145255365@N08/]

[Vdubin00]

Your probably thinking of the relationship between calcium and alkalinity , I don't know of any relationship between nitrate and phosphate maybe I'm wrong ,, but both are vital to keep low ,, any algae blooms ?


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[Vdubin00]

Also what nitrate test kit are you using


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[bertoni]

In some tanks, if the phosphate level drops low enough, carbon dosing has trouble reducing the nitrate level because the bacteria become phosphorus limited, or, more accurately, that's the theory. In this situation, I'd consider carbon dosing or a nitrate reactor to drop the level. Water changes seldom help when there's an underlying issue because the nitrate level can jump back up very quickly.

[ReefKeeper64]

Your corals look fine so the issue may actually be your tester or the solution.

Get a sample of salt water from someone else's system that has a known level of PO4 and test it with your tester. If you tester shows zero, you know the root cause of your problem. :-)

[greengeco82]

Also what nitrate test kit are you using Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Both API and Red Sea. API shows between 16-32 NO3 and Red Sea shows 20-40. As for the Phosphates, I have used API which shows 0. I have also used my Hanna checker- ultra low, and my neighbors Hanna checker- ultra low, just to make sure mine was working.


In some tanks, if the phosphate level drops low enough, carbon dosing has trouble reducing the nitrate level because the bacteria become phosphorus limited, or, more accurately, that's the theory. In this situation, I'd consider carbon dosing or a nitrate reactor to drop the level. Water changes seldom help when there's an underlying issue because the nitrate level can jump back up very quickly.

I believe this is the connection I was reading about. Its confusing. So, if I raise my phosphates, would this allow me to lower my Nitrates. I am looking for a balance between NO3 and PO4. Also, you mentioned "sodium triphosphate." Did you mean "sodium polytriphosphate?"

[bertoni]

If you want to use carbon dosing, you might need to add phosphate. We can't predict exactly what will happen. It's also possible that adding phosphate would help reduce the phosphate level without explicit carbon dosing, because it might help bacteria use what organic carbon is available to export phosphate. There are very few guarantees in reef tanks.

There are lots of forms of sodium phosphate. Any food-grade product should be fine. I saw monosodium phosphate and trisodium phosphate available in food grade on Amazon, but there might be some food-grade polyphosphate, as well. I saw only technical grade, which probably is safe enough, but I'd spring for food-grade, personally.

[Vdubin00]

In some tanks, if the phosphate level drops low enough, carbon dosing has trouble reducing the nitrate level because the bacteria become phosphorus limited, or, more accurately, that's the theory. In this situation, I'd consider carbon dosing or a nitrate reactor to drop the level. Water changes seldom help when there's an underlying issue because the nitrate level can jump back up very quickly.



That makes sense ,, my apologies ,, but I think we're talking on a very very small scale,, now remember the the Hanna check URL reads in PPb is is +/- 5 and 5% ,, so there is a conversion !! Watch this video
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/video/view/brstv-investigates-phosphate-or-phosphorus-which-is-best/
I think you should get a bio pellet reactor don't does phosphates because you probably have enough but at an undetectable level ,, remember your only using hobby grade test kits ,, however I could be dead *** wrong and I usually am ,, just my 2 cents
+1 vote for bio pellets / nitrate reactor



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