Nitrates and phosphates - Red Sea NO3:PO4-X
 

Contrary to my previous results and thanks to using expired test kits, I discovered that my nitrates and phosphate levels are actually sky high.
In an effort to reduce levels, for the past 5 weeks I have been doing 50% water changes and nitrates are still steady at 40 ppm and phosphates at .08. My skimmer is a Vertex IN180 and is working well.

I am considering trying Red Sea NO3:PO4-X and was wondering if anyone else has used it with success?

after 5 weeks of %50 water changes and your nitrates are still sky high i would be looking at what the source is not an easy fix , a healthy system should drop nitrates after one or two water changes.

have you figured out where they are coming from??


where did you get your live rock and what kind is it

This tank is 90 gallons and has been up and running for almost 4 years, actually 5 when you consider the system was moved over from a smaller 40 gallon tank. I suspect that the live rock may be part of the problem but shouldn't the levels eventually drop after doing large water changes?
I really don't think I am over-feeding either.

How many fish and what's your feeding shcudule
What do you have for clean up crew.

Not if that problem liverock is leaching dissolved nutrients back into your tank.

So won't doing large water changes eventually deplete all of the stored nutrients from the live rock?

Over time but if your over feeding than you still adding to the water colomn

no because as the left over nutrients rot more they produce more nitrates, the quality of your liverock has alot to do with it too, if its base rock or not pourous its not going to be as effective as rock that is more pourous.


how long have you had nitrate issues


have you considered carbon dosing

Fish in this tank:

- Box fish
- Hippo tang
- Sailfin tang
- Kole tang
- Lawnmower blenny
- Royal Gramma
- Clown fish
- Matted file fish
- Leopard eel

The morning feeding is either a 2" square piece of nori or a New Era grazer.
The evening feeding is a couple of pinches of NLS pellets.
The eel gets a couple of 1/4" chunks of shrimp every 3 days.
I also feed the tank a small chunk of mysis once a week.

THE CUC was reduced to a couple of larger turbo snails until last week when I added a fresh crew consisting of about 22 hermits and 1/2 dozen snails.

Are you on a canister filter or a sump

It is good liver rock and some of it is very porous.
I am not sure when the nitrates actually got to this level because I stopped testing for a few months when the tank seemed happy, and it still is happy. Algae is not a huge problem, but I did add a couple of SPS which I never tried before. The tank was previously stocked with mainly LPS which were/are doing good. I added a monti and an acro which are showing good growth, but the colors are not.
Red Sea NO3:PO4-X.

Running about 25 gallons in a sump. Also running GFO and carbon in a couple of TLF reactors.

After further consideration, perhaps vodka dosing should be tried instead of spending money on fancy alternatives. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!

another option is bio pellets as well:)

go slow if you go VSV find out what you need and work slowly to it , dont expect results over night , since its carbon dosing it needs to be handled slowly and monitored closely over time youll find your sweet spot and how much you need.


cheers!

denny