I've had nitrates as high as 100 ppm in my DT (100g), and phosphates around 1.0. Surprisingly my softies and a few LPS survived just fine, and some downright thrived. Last spring, I got my nitrates down to around 10 and phosphates as low as .28. This is with using bio pellets and MB7.
Unfortunately, I let things go a bit during the summer months, with fewer water changes, and let my bio pellets run low. By Oct, my nitrates were back up to 50 and my phosphates at .82. So I started changing my water more often (every 2 weeks vs 1 or 2 months), and started dosing with MB7 again.
In Nov, I filled my reactor with 1000 ml bio pellets, and within 3 weeks, my nitrates came down to zero, which is the lowest I have ever had. Then I changed my GFO, and now my phosphates are also down to zero, which is the first time I have seen that as well.
But would definitely rate a skimmer as essential.
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