P always rising; N always undetectable
My 12 year old 600ltr mixed reef is doing OK, but only just OK. Coloration in LPS is great. It's just good enough in SPS. The only issue I have with the tank that my phosphate is always on the rise, whilst my N is always below detectable. And I can't figure out why that is.
I run a Mini Bubble King 200. And an algae reactor that gets good growth, but only if I constantly add nitrates manually, so the algae can consume the excess P and the artificially added N. If I don't do that, there's no N and the algae dies.
So, I have an imbalance that I correct almost daily. I need to understand why this imbalance keeps returning. I feed frozen mysis and artemia daily. And sometimes switch that around with dry food and algae leaves for my surgeons. I assume these all have N and P in normal naturally balanced levels.
What else can it be? Stored in my rocks? How can I check that? Do I just need to keep balancing this out until all P reserves are gone?
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