My Best Phosphate/Nitrate Readings Ever

[pbnj]

Hey, phosphates/nitrates, who's your daddy?

 

[HighlandReefer]

Beautiful tank.

It feels good if you win once in a while. :lol:

 

[MentalNote]

Nice tank!

What do you do to combat nitrate and phosphate?

 

[pbnj]

• Deltec AP851 protein skimmer
• BRS carbon filter
• No frozen or flake foods (dry pellets and the occasional nori sheet)
• Open aquascape
• Shallow sandbed
• NO TURBO SNAILS! They just die and rot (ever take a whiff of the shell of a turbo snail that died even a year or more prior?)
• Good flow (two Koralia 8's and two Koralia 4's in my 135g)

 

[EnderG60]

Very nice, but do yourself a favor and stop using API test kits.

 

[t4zalews]

FWIW..I had better results and more color when I didn't go crazy with testing. I got a photometer and all the test kits and wanted "perfect" water. In return, I had corals fade with color and eventually some weird stuff happened. I now stick to a KISS technique and judge what I have to do by looking at the tank.

Very nice tank tho

 

[allsps40]

I agree API are not that great at all, I know I use them for quick home tests. The PO4 test is useless with a min reading of .25 and you cant tell 0 from .25 on it. Oh and pellet food is the same as flake just in pellet form.

 

[Psyops]

Poor guy. Just give him some props for his accomplishment. PBNJ you're doing a great job. Even though your test kits suck. Just kidding, your values are better than mine now.

Maybe a snailzilla died in my tank and caused a large Nitrate spike.

 

[pbnj]

Oh and pellet food is the same as flake just in pellet form.

True in some cases, but not always. For example, Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef flakes are about the same as Formula One pellets, but the the phosphorus-to-protein ratios of certain nori-type flake foods can be up to 3x higher.

 

[pbnj]

PBNJ you're doing a great job. Even though your test kits suck.

:lolspin: