How do YOU lower your Nitrates and Phosphates?

[Murminator]

I have no nitrates but my phosphates are through the roof and i don't know what to do

[untamed]

Massive skimming, and I grow as much macro algae as possible in the fuge. I also run a little phosban.

Your recent nitrate spike is probably just the logical follow on to an ammonia spike, and a nitrite spike.

[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.

[whatcaneyedo]

Originally Posted by PoonTang

Funnily enough I have never had a problem with any Cyano or cloudiness or bleaching with using the beads

Cloudiness was minor for me and only lasted a day or two. Bleaching only occurred in several soft corals and there was only minor color loss in some LPS (listed in my above post). All of my other coral including different species of soft, LPS and SPS appeared to be completely unaffected. I tried out a variety pack of that pro bio stuff a month before trying the pellets and I noticed that all of my cyano disappeared during that time period.

[steve fedyk]

I use posban, daily water changes, fuge and skimmer to keep my po4 and nitrates low

[Youngster Dan]

I think somewhat overlooked, and honestly one of the harder things to do is just to keep the bioload down and not feed a tonne. It is hard not to add that extra fish!

[lobsterboy]

I am on the full zeovit system, its a bit tricky when you first start it but after it gets easier with the dosing recommandations. If you are committed to dose everyday and check water conditions, its a great system.

Nitrates are 1
Phosphates are 0.00

[Zoaelite]

I'm all over the map as far as nutrient sinks go, my phosphate is @ zero (Elos) but my nitrate hovers around 10ppm. The Bioload is... a little over the top so to combat:
Water Changes (20% Monthly)
Vertex 15 NP BioPellet Reactor
20g Cheato Reactor
Hydor Performance 700 Skimmer
TLF Running GFO
Carbon refreshed monthly
150 Red Mangroves
350lbs of Liverock
200lbs of Livesand including a 30g 8 inch DSB

Have also started running the full ProdiBio lineup but it's a little early to tell how well that is working. Even at 10ppm I'm getting some wicked color in the SPS.

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by zoaElite

I'm all over the map as far as nutrient sinks go, my phosphate is @ zero (Elos) but my nitrate hovers around 10ppm. The Bioload is... a little over the top so to combat:
Water Changes (20% Monthly)
Vertex 15 NP BioPellet Reactor
20g Cheato Reactor
Hydor Performance 700 Skimmer
TLF Running GFO
Carbon refreshed monthly
150 Red Mangroves
350lbs of Liverock
200lbs of Livesand including a 30g 8 inch DSB

Have also started running the full ProdiBio lineup but it's a little early to tell how well that is working. Even at 10ppm I'm getting some wicked color in the SPS.

Holy balls, Levi! All that and you're still at 10 ppm? You, uhhhh, should send some of them zoas my way... you know.. lower that bioload a little bit.

My bioload is... medium/high I guess. I only have 4 smaller fish (one of which I am only fish sitting until December when my friend gets back) but I have quite a few corals. I have many SPS, a couple LPS and a growing collection of zoas.

All this is making me think that I may just stick with the reactor I designed. It is similar in principle to a sulphur denitrator except it doesn't make acid (it's output is actually basic) and runs off a 9V battery. Maybe I'll take some pics during the rebuild and give a lesson on these things.

One thing I might try in the mean time is Vitamin C dosing. It is a carbon source and might help battle the nitrates and it has anecdotally helped promote zoa health. If I do try, I'll go slow and increase it over a couple weeks.

[amoreira]

Following things I do for my 220 gal system...

- 10% per week water change
- ~2 lb live rock per gallon
- 4"-5" DSB (oolitic aragonite sugar sand)
- Macro in the fuge
- Keep stocking low
- Massive skimming (SWC Xtreme Cone Protein Skimmer 250 1A)
- Run biopellets.
- Run GFO (am transitioning from GFO, just recently started using bio pellets)
- Run highest quality carbon (Rox 0.8)

My phosphates and nitrates are virtually nil.