how to lower nitrates and phosphates?

[codydemmel4]

Hey Cody,
I can only speak about my tank - how I tackle my nutrients issues.
These are my fish list in my redsea 525XL.
1 x large purple tang
1 x large yellow tang
1 x large sailfin tang
1 x large gold-rim tang
1 x blue eye bristle nose tang
1 x large blue face angel
1 x large magnificent fox face
1 x large gold spot rabbit fish
3 x adults clown fish
1 x large 6 line wrasse
1 x large matted file fish

They are fed 4 times a day on auto feeder and 1 time night hand feed.

I have ULNS sps dominated tank.
Running 4 basket of siporax, 1 x bag of macropore (purigen equivalent), 1 bag of activated carbon and 1 x protein skimmer in my sump.
Dosing my own traces elements, amino acids, fatty acids, and vitamins with your usual Alk, Cal, Mag, Potassium.

I don't run macro or gfo or carbon dosing (pellets or liquid)
but I have lots of siporax and lots of sps corals to absorb all the fish waste. :lmao:

This is something I would like to look more into, you have a very good bioload and obviously your export can take care of that which is what I want as I think and have seen from other systems that gives the best colors and growth as it is pretty much how it is in the wild. However how I get to the high export is what I am trying to figure out as that is the point I am stuck on now.

 

[Geeray]

This is something I would like to look more into, you have a very good bioload and obviously your export can take care of that which is what I want as I think and have seen from other systems that gives the best colors and growth as it is pretty much how it is in the wild. However how I get to the high export is what I am trying to figure out as that is the point I am stuck on now.

Reread the last sent of Slavetonets post "œlots of sps corals to absorb the fish waste"

Don't discount this last sentence it's a huge part of the equation. A tank full of sps is a very effective nutrient reducer. This is what you're missing right now until everything fills in. You need to balance nutrients in with nutrient export and sps load is a huge part of the export equation. I can tell you I've had to double my feeding in the last year because of the growth in my tank. For now I would cut feeding to reduce nutrients some and slowly raise feeding as the sps grow. Just for perspective honestly I think a tank full of sps pull the nutrients down at least as efficiently as my 8" cone skimmer.

 

[IdahoCindy]

Following.

 

[codydemmel4]

Reread the last sent of Slavetonets post “lots of sps corals to absorb the fish waste”

Don’t discount this last sentence it’s a huge part of the equation. A tank full of sps is a very effective nutrient reducer. This is what you’re missing right now until everything fills in. You need to balance nutrients in with nutrient export and sps load is a huge part of the export equation. I can tell you I’ve had to double my feeding in the last year because of the growth in my tank. For now I would cut feeding to reduce nutrients some and slowly raise feeding as the sps grow. Just for perspective honestly I think a tank full of sps pull the nutrients down at least as efficiently as my 8” cone skimmer.

I do agree with this and I stated this earlier in this thread too about when my SPS gets larger I will be able to remove whatever extra export system I am doing now.

I will look into feeding less but it is not like I am feeding an insane amount. I am feeding a frozen ice cube of my own homemade fish food, which is probably around 3-4 cubes of regular frozen food a day.

 

[Diana A]

....We both are using ESV Reef Essentials+. Nitrates & Phosphate levels have dropped & continue to do so. Within a few weeks there are differences.....

where are you purchasing this? ESV website doesn't list this as one of their products.

 

[acesq]

Don't get too caught up in chasing numbers. You said your SPS are doing great. Why change anything?

Your tank is only 9 months old. So long as you are not massively overfeeding (and it doesn't sound like you are), you have enough surface area for bacteria to colonize, you have a properly sized skimmer and are running chaeto then your NO3 and PO4 will stabilize by itself over the next few months, especially if your SPS continue to grow.

I would caution against making any significant changes. Dose a little carbon and bacteria perhaps, add a little siporax perhaps, but don't worry too much if your only problem is having to clean the glass every day.

 

[codydemmel4]

Don't get too caught up in chasing numbers. You said your SPS are doing great. Why change anything?

Your tank is only 9 months old. So long as you are not massively overfeeding (and it doesn't sound like you are), you have enough surface area for bacteria to colonize, you have a properly sized skimmer and are running chaeto then your NO3 and PO4 will stabilize by itself over the next few months, especially if your SPS continue to grow.

I would caution against making any significant changes. Dose a little carbon and bacteria perhaps, add a little siporax perhaps, but don't worry too much if your only problem is having to clean the glass every day.

Yes this makes a lot of sense but I know my colors could get better with lower nitrates, obviously I do not want to get to 0 but I would like them closer to 5 then over 64. for all I know is my nitrates are 100, I just know theyre a darker purple then the red sea test kit allows in the high range. Whatever I decide to do will be very slow and gradual but I am leaning towards siporax and probably do half of the recommend value and see what happens in the next couple weeks.

I also want to lower nitrates as I have a bad outbreak out aiptasia that I have been battling for awhile and the berghia will not do good with this high nitrates is what I have been told from the websites that sell them. I was advised to not even buy the berghia till I can lower my nitrates

 

[lynchmob3000]

50 percent wc. Corals will thank you. Aptasia on the other hand I like to get a full size angel or a copperband. Copperband will make quick work of it. He might swim around it for a couple weeks but then you will wake up one day with zero aptasia


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[acesq]

Yes this makes a lot of sense but I know my colors could get better with lower nitrates, obviously I do not want to get to 0 but I would like them closer to 5 then over 64. for all I know is my nitrates are 100, I just know theyre a darker purple then the red sea test kit allows in the high range. Whatever I decide to do will be very slow and gradual but I am leaning towards siporax and probably do half of the recommend value and see what happens in the next couple weeks.

I also want to lower nitrates as I have a bad outbreak out aiptasia that I have been battling for awhile and the berghia will not do good with this high nitrates is what I have been told from the websites that sell them. I was advised to not even buy the berghia till I can lower my nitrates

Don't worry about volume on the Siporax, you can't over-do it since it is nothing more than a substrate for bacteria to settle on. Their numbers will be determined by the food source. If you are substrate limited, that will help with the nitrates and phosphates, but expect it to take a good 2 -3 months to see results especially if you don't kick start it with bacteria and carbon dosing.

Will the berghias survive your fish? I've never been successful with berghias in a well stocked tank. I have had great luck eradicating aiptasia with a copperband and now a Tinkeri. Your copperband doesn't have a taste for them yet?

 

[Geeray]

I do agree with this and I stated this earlier in this thread too about when my SPS gets larger I will be able to remove whatever extra export system I am doing now.

I will look into feeding less but it is not like I am feeding an insane amount. I am feeding a frozen ice cube of my own homemade fish food, which is probably around 3-4 cubes of regular frozen food a day.

For perspective I feed 8 standard frozen cubes per day in my 180 and it's 3/4 full.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

https://premiumaquatics.com/search?search=esv

Try the small bottle. There are 2 products, 1 for above 5PPM Nitrates & 1 for below.

 

[PingG25]

For me I've used the JBL Bio NitrateEx. Outstanding results and Nitrate now maintained at 5. Does nothing for phosphates.


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[codydemmel4]

50 percent wc. Corals will thank you. Aptasia on the other hand I like to get a full size angel or a copperband. Copperband will make quick work of it. He might swim around it for a couple weeks but then you will wake up one day with zero aptasia


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Don't worry about volume on the Siporax, you can't over-do it since it is nothing more than a substrate for bacteria to settle on. Their numbers will be determined by the food source. If you are substrate limited, that will help with the nitrates and phosphates, but expect it to take a good 2 -3 months to see results especially if you don't kick start it with bacteria and carbon dosing.

Will the berghias survive your fish? I've never been successful with berghias in a well stocked tank. I have had great luck eradicating aiptasia with a copperband and now a Tinkeri. Your copperband doesn't have a taste for them yet?

my copperband is going after the small aiptasia but the copperband is only around 3 inches so its not touching the bigger ones and seems like it will take a long time for this copperband to get rid of the aiptasia.

 

[slavetonet]

Don't worry about volume on the Siporax, you can't over-do it since it is nothing more than a substrate for bacteria to settle on. Their numbers will be determined by the food source. If you are substrate limited, that will help with the nitrates and phosphates, but expect it to take a good 2 -3 months to see results especially if you don't kick start it with bacteria and carbon dosing.

Will the berghias survive your fish? I've never been successful with berghias in a well stocked tank. I have had great luck eradicating aiptasia with a copperband and now a Tinkeri. Your copperband doesn't have a taste for them yet?

That is correct, you can't over do the siporax.
My tank is 500L tank. I have enough siporax in the tune of 30L equivalent of treating 6000L, if you follow their guideline.

I am dosing amino acids and phosphate in the 22:1 ratio to maintain balance ULNS. Each tank is different with the N ratio as these variable can affect it.
Type of fish food, frequency, type of corals, lighting and flow.

All you need is start from a known base and tweak it to suit your tank.
I have helped many reefers in Brisbane to achieve colours and growth in their home aquarium.

 

[mike810]

Hello!

The only problem about the fish feeding is I work all day till around 6pm and the lights are only on till 9pm so only 3 hours I could feed unless I have my auto feeder going again but I really do not want to do that as that is when I had excess algae.

Why don't you simply change the time on your lights to suit your schedule/viewing time?