How do YOU lower your Nitrates and Phosphates?

[ScubaSteve]

So for the past while I have been using an experimental reactor I created (I'll post the details of it one day... ain't like nothin' you've seen before) to keep the 'trates and 'phates at bay. It's been working like a charm and nitrates have never gone above 1 ppm since the reactor has been online... that is until Saturday night when my HOB filter crapped out and caused all sorts of ruckus.

After the filter fiasco my nitrates hopped up to 10 ppm. At this time I am considering rebuilding the reactor to make some improvements and trying out a new method to bring the nitrates back down just for comparison purposes.

So... I want to know what you all are doing to lower nitrates and phosphates!

I would appreciate the input! I also must say that I am not going the zeovit route; I simply don't trust any method where I can't know the ingredients going into my tank. But I'd still like to see who is using it just the same.

[christyf5]

Currently I'm running ultralith but I only dose every 3 days and frankly I'm not seeing much action from that. To lower phosphates I run phosban and to lower nitrates I do weekly waterchanges. My phosphates run about 0.015ppm (Deltec kit) and nitrates 2.5ppm (Salifert kit)

[Delphinus]

I've done Zeovit in the past and it worked OK, so I voted that I use it but it's not a "I use it currently" situation.

Had to also add "Other" in there because I run the solid-vodka pellets. Wasn't sure if that fit under "Other" or "Other Carbon dosing (vinegar, sugar, etc.)".

But I've also run sulfur reactors as well in the past. So that too counts as an "other". I was never happy with that. They were hard to set up and .. well, they just didn't work all that well anyhow.

Also ran a remote DSB. Also was not happy with that.

Pellets have been a good balance of "automated thing I can run in a reactor" and "does not require too much effort on my part". It's not been a perfect magic bullet, I still need to watch how much I feed and so on and keep up with water changes. I also had bleaching occur in one tank after I put on pellets. I don't know if there's a relationship there or not but the timing sure seems suspect. However there were no losses.

[whatcaneyedo]

I had several soft coral and LPS bleach when I tried out biopellets as well. So right now I'm just using a large skimmer, 10% weekly water changes and a little macro algae to keep nitrate undetectable in my system (according to Elos and API).

[PoonTang]

Water changes, Pellets, and Prodibio reef kit. My Nitrates are 4 and coming down slowly, Phosphates are 0.00 (Hanna)

[Lance]

Water changes, pellets. The pellets work for me but I find I have to dose a little "Coral Snow" or I get a small amount of cyano.

[Delphinus]

Hey, did the colours come back after you discontinued the pellets? It's been at least 3 months for me and there is no sign of the colours coming back. I replaced the light in case it was the lamp to blame for the bleaching but it did not make a difference. I have not discontinued the pellets though. Maybe I should?

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

I had several soft coral and LPS bleach when I tried out biopellets as well. So right now I'm just using a large skimmer, 10% weekly water changes and a little macro algae to keep nitrate undetectable in my system (according to Elos and API).

[whatcaneyedo]

I should also mention I use GFO to keep phosphate undetectable as well. I guess that falls under 'other' according to the poll.

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Hey, did the colours come back after you discontinued the pellets? It's been at least 3 months for me and there is no sign of the colours coming back. I replaced the light in case it was the lamp to blame for the bleaching but it did not make a difference. I have not discontinued the pellets though. Maybe I should?

Color has begun to come back for some of the coral that were effected. Its been a full month since I stopped using the Vertex bio pellets. My acans, fungia and a chalice were the LPS that began to loose color. Many of the soft coral that completely bleached are still looking pretty white as their recovery seems to be slower. Capnella, sarcophyton and sinularia were the ones bothered. From what I've read in some threads on RC its pretty common for toadstools and leathers to bleach.

I started with the recommended minimum amount outlined on the package and my tank didn't have detectable levels to being with. Maybe I'll try them again by starting with only 1/4 of the minimum once everything has made a complete recovery.

[Palmer]

Water changes and skimming

[kien]

- NP BioPellets in a reactor.
- Carbon in a reactor (replaced monthly)
- 10% weekly water changes.
- Bubble Magus 220CS skimmer

Nitrates 0, Phosphates 0.