High Phosphate and Nitrate: Sanity Check

mattyams

mattyams

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IM25 mixed tank. Skimmer, UV, Roller filter, etc.
Pretty sure this was caused by overfeeding. Tank looked a little droopy yesterday and today which prompted the tests.

PO4 was 0.90 yesterday. 0.82 after a 5g water change.

NO3 was at 28.3 today.

Added a little bit of NoPoX. Will check levels in the AM.

Zoa Colonies are open looking pretty.
Multiple acan colonies are open and puffy, except one which caught my eye and started this investigation.
I have multiple chalice corals that started to bleach before I left for Japan last month but they have rebounded wonderfully.
Florida and Yuma's look great.
Scolys are nice and poofy.
Everything eats, fish included.
My RBTA did split about 2ish weeks ago, I don't see a connection.

Question: Keep with water changes every few days? Stop NoPoX?
 
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Yes to the water making. 6 stage RODI, 20g brutes. Tested this morning and PO4 is at 0.23 and NO3 is at 27.9....so yay?
 
I did the WC on Sunday. So it could have been a combination of things. Yesterday, I cleaned the UV chamber, trimmed up/cleaned the chaeto chamber, added a small dose of NoPoX and repositioned a media bag that has a purigen/carbon blend in it.
 
Yeah those numbers just look like overfeeding, and unless you have an algea issue its not a problem. Since the tank is so small, just do larger water changes and maybe add some GFO. Dont panic and dont bring it down to 0.

When we just started learning about phosphate mine was about 1.5 nitrates at 40-50, everything was growing like crazy and doing great. Until I got bryopsis, then it became a problem.
 
Plot twist, water is a little cloudy. Didn't notice it until the lights came on. Suggestions? Worry? Leave it be?
 
mattyams said:
Plot twist, water is a little cloudy. Didn't notice it until the lights came on. Suggestions? Worry? Leave it be?
Click to expand...

civics14 said:
When did you do the nopox dose?
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It's probably from the cleaning and nopox dose yesterday. What's "a small dose", how many ml?

With a 25 IM you probably have 17 to 20 gallons. Call it 18.5.
A 5 gallon water change is 27% of the volume. This is the effect it will have on you parameters:
PO4 0.23 x 0.73 = 0.17 (Rounded up) NO3 27.9 x 0.73 = 20.4
Unless you take out more than 5 gallons at one time (Not recommended) just use that 0.73 multiplier to get then new result after a water change.

With curtailed feedings those aren't bad numbers at all. I would hold off on the Nopox entirely and just do the water changes. The numbers may still go up a little bit in the short term but with weekly changes you should be able to hit the 10's target in a couple weeks.
 
civics14 said:
When did you do the nopox dose?
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Last night, 2ml and this morning, 1ml.

Adam said:
It's probably from the cleaning and nopox dose yesterday. What's "a small dose", how many ml?

With a 25 IM you probably have 17 to 20 gallons. Call it 18.5.
A 5 gallon water change is 27% of the volume. This is the effect it will have on you parameters:
PO4 0.23 x 0.73 = 0.17 (Rounded up) NO3 27.9 x 0.73 = 20.4
Unless you take out more than 5 gallons at one time (Not recommended) just use that 0.73 multiplier to get then new result after a water change.

With curtailed feedings those aren't bad numbers at all. I would hold off on the Nopox entirely and just do the water changes. The numbers may still go up a little bit in the short term but with weekly changes you should be able to hit the 10's target in a couple weeks.
Click to expand...
No more nopox, keep numbers in check and do water changes...easy peasy.

Thanks everyone!
 
civics14 said:
In a 25g system, I would just do water changes. Nopox will mainly help with nitrates and minimally impact phosphates.
Maybe do like a 10g water change a week and dial back some feeding a bit?
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I would second that. I have a Waterbox Cube 20 and a good 25% water change will do wonders. Feed less too.
 
Cool. I have to say, the phosphate and nitrate numbers you had at the peak would have sent my SPS into an open rebellion, but then I suppose the biggest issue is the swing from what they are used to, not absolute numbers. And yes, one awesome thing about a smaller tank is that relatively small amounts of water changes take care of so much, so quickly and efficiently. I personally do not mess with nopox any more (did several years ago, all kinds of havoc ensued), and rely instead on biopellet reactor, simple algae scrubber and Seachem Phosguard to keep nitrates at about 6.0 and phosphates at about 0.12. If my nitrates go above 20, SPS discoloration ensues, and if not addressed within a week or so, full bleaching and dying. My SPS are like a nitrate warning badge.
 
I was able to get my phosphates in check and everything seems to be alright with the exception on one button scolys that is receding when it used to be nice and puffy. Any suggestions or just leave it be?
 
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