NO3 and PO4

[fishlips]

Have not checked NO3 and PO4 in awhile. Its through the roof. NO3 is unreadable on red sea test,over.75.API shows .80 PO3 is .36 Im in a panic. Im running ro water to do a 30 gal WC.How often can I do WCs.My coral aren't looking bad, but now that I know, its probably going to change. I'm wondering why it got out of hand. The move. I used all the same water but 30 gal of new. Its a total of 145 gal total volume. Then Im thinking, maybe feeding to heavy, also have 16 fish, some large.Any recommendations.

 

[aquaworld75]

I had similar problems with nitrates/phosphates.. Water changes are best bet. I also dosed NoPoX from Red Sea.


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[civics14]

Why panic if everything looks okay


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[porpoiseaquatics]

I'd ask how old is the RO/DI membrane?

 

[Adam]

Is your NO3 75~80ppm or .75 to .80 like you said? If it's just point seven five then work on getting the PO4 down.

 

[fishlips]

anit77;1103795 wrote: Is your NO3 75~80ppm or .75 to .80 like you said? If it's just point seven five then work on getting the PO4 down.

Well, Now that you said that, Red Sea test kit only reads to 0.75 It was over that. I got a API as well. But its out dated by 10 yrs Maybe its not as bad as I think.

 

[fishlips]

porpoiseaquatics;1103790 wrote: I'd ask how old is the RO/DI membrane?

They afew yrs on them. But TDS reads 0.

 

[fishlips]

After I do my WC, Can I put my GFO reactor on line.

 

[Adam]

After the water change the GFO is a good idea but don't drop the PO4 too quickly. Start with 1/4 to 1/2 the normal amount of GFO.

Also cutting the photo period and intensity temporarily may help avoiding an algae outbreak while you drop the PO4 down.

 

[fishlips]

Thanks, After testing again with the 2006 API kit, NO3 reads between 20 and 40.Not sure its accurate or not. As far as algae, Don't have anything growing but a little patch of bright green on glass in afew spots.

 

[Adam]

I would trust the Red Sea kit over a 10yr old API.
The instructions for the RS kit show you how to dilute the sample with RODI water to get higher resolution.

 

[fishlips]

anit77;1103812 wrote: I would trust the Red Sea kit over a 10yr old API.
The instructions for the RS kit show you how to dilute the sample with RODI water to get higher resolution.

I seen that, going to test it that way in the morning after WC. Thanks for the help.I hoping it will read under 5.

 

[fishlips]

I'm tired. Started making ro/di water last night. Got 30 gal mixed up ready to go at 10:30 this morning. Changed 30 gal out of 140 or so.Going to test in afew hrs. Should out wait to tomorrow to add gfo on line, or go ahead and do it tonight.
For my tank ,it calls for 2 cups of aqua forest gfo. Was thinking of starting out with 3/4 or 1 cup. My PO3 was 0.36.

 

[fishlips]

Meant po4

 

[jennm]

Firstly - do not panic.

Secondly - don't do anything drastic, especially if nothing looks poorly in the tank.

Thirdly - I'd trust a 10 year old Red Sea kit over a brand new API one every day of the week. Having said that however, get yourself some reliable test kits and verify that there is a problem - and test regularly so you don't get a rude surprise next time.

Fourthly - Have you been lazy about maintenance? Missed some water changes, or not testing to make sure your maintenance regimen matches the tank? This is a good reminder to all, that it's too easy to get complacent, and either skimp on maintenance and/or skimp on testing. Neither one ends well.

If you do find out for sure there is a problem, you are better off doing a series of small, but frequent water changes to correct the problem, instead of one or two big huge ones, that will throw everything out of ionic balance, and you'll end up with a diatom bloom after the fact.

NOTHING good happens fast in an aquarium - that includes correcting an issue that grew over time, in too sudden a fashion.

Jenn

 

[fishlips]

Thanks Jenn. The Red Sea is up to date. I was just seeing if the old API would read the same. Not missing any, water changes.I just moved over 30 miles moving tank.I think what happened, is taking livestock out in morning, placing in tubs with pumps and heaters. 16 fish, over 30 sps colonies and frags.There was about 5 to 6 tubs of a 120 gal total. Had to go set up tank, go back over 30 miles. Get fish and coral.Mind you it was when we had the cold spell. Place all live stock in tank.By t,his time, its 3:30 am. The next day, all I could do is set lights over tank. It took me 3 more days to get the sump going. Now looking back, after the large fish setting in tubs for hrs, then sitting in a tank without sump for afew days. Almost forgot, custom stand fell of the back of the truck going 60 mile an hr. This move has been a nightmare.
Well, I'm still reefing. Did a WC, this morning, put 1/3 of gfo on line.Here is a bad pic.Keep in mind, when I moved my frag tank, with all that going on, I didnt set it up ,Through the frag rack in the DT
All fish lived, Only lost one colony, Red Dragon, (I fraged a piece).Im almost afraid to say this, but the WD must be some hardy coral. It not only survived, but is branching nicely. Poor color though.

 

[fishlips]

No3 - 32.00 ppm
Po4 - 0.16
Bringing it down.

 

[terry]

Dont be surprised if you lose color on your corals. I did the same thing, moved, let my po4 creep up to .08. I freaked out even though my corals looked good I did a big water change and started GFO. Brought my numbers back to right but lost a lot of color on my corals. Been a couple weeks and the color is just now starting to show some recovery. Wish I could say that my WD is looking good and starting to branch "maybe you could sell me a frag ".
I'll go much slower next time.
Glad to hear your move went well, mine was bad, real bad. If I move my tank again I'll ask ARK for help and not have a moving company do it.

 

[fishlips]

Terry;1104008 wrote: Dont be surprised if you lose color on your corals. I did the same thing, moved, let my po4 creep up to .08. I freaked out even though my corals looked good I did a big water change and started GFO. Brought my numbers back to right but lost a lot of color on my corals. Been a couple weeks and the color is just now starting to show some recovery. Wish I could say that my WD is looking good and starting to branch "maybe you could sell me a frag ".
I'll go much slower next time.
Glad to hear your move went well, mine was bad, real bad. If I move my tank again I'll ask ARK for help and not have a moving company do it.

Oh no, The move was terrible. I was ready to get out of the hobby. It was the worse thing ever happened since I started in 2007. I just hope the worst is over.

 

[terry]

I hope the worst is over for you too. I ended up losing over half my fish and 80% of my coral. The moving company said they could move my tank if I bagged my stuff. I started at 7am bagging because the movers were gonna be there at noon. Well, at 6 pm they showed with 2 guys short. Packed up my house with the tank in last. When we got to the new house only 2 guys made it there, 3 had bailed. It was 10pm then. They unloaded the tank and I had to help bring it down 2 flights of steps into my basement. 2 guys just couldn't do it. I got the fish and coral in. It was midnight by then and the movers said they would have to be back at 8 in the morning. After they left I discovered my equipment didn't get unloaded. So I had a tank, fish, water, coral and live rock. No skimmer, pumps, lights, heaters nothing to move water or air. I tried to call the movers but got nothing, so my coral and fish had been in bags for 18 hours when I started putting them up. A half dozen fish were already done. The movers showed back up at noon the next day and threw my furniture off the truck in the garage stating they had went over contract time. Might be because I told them my lawyer was gonna contact their company. When the smoke cleared I like you thought about posting on arc for members to come salvage what they could. I am addicted so that didn't happen . It will take at least a year to get back to where I was and a couple thousand more dollars. My butt still hurts when anything happens in my tank and it brings it back home how delicate the reef tank is. My biggest loss in coral was beach bum Montipora and a nice 6 inch colony of red dragon.