High Tide Aquatics

Phosphates and nitrates

reef89

reef89

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Hi so today I tested my water with my nitrate and phosphates low range Hanna checkers due to seeing some hair algae develop on my glass wall specially on my mp10 and back wall. So upon checking they both are saying zero. I used the nitrate checker today for the first time and had to you tube the steps. I noticed when you are putting the last powdered reagent on the videos it would turn pink, when I did it it never turned pink so I re did it again and nothing. And the phosphate checker also said zero. But it does not make any sense why I would have hair algae I can tell from the way my spot tail blenny is munching down. Ha
 
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MonkeyReefer said:
They could read zero due to margin of error as well as algae consuming NO3 and PO4 almost completely so your tests don’t detect any.
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What other test can I use to verify I have the api color guessing. But want to get a better idea of where I’m at instead of asumming
 
I would get a salifert nitrate, cheap and always does it job well. The Hanna phosphate is usually spot on give or take a couple points. Having 0/0 and algae growing is definitely a thing. Like mentioned earlier your nutrients could be low enough for the algae to consume what’s detected by tests.
 
The_Lazy_Reefer said:
I would get a salifert nitrate, cheap and always does it job well. The Hanna phosphate is usually spot on give or take a couple points. Having 0/0 and algae growing is definitely a thing. Like mentioned earlier your nutrients could be low enough for the algae to consume what’s detected by tests.
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Yeah i also do have a protein skimmer, that could make perfect sense the algae and skimmer could be consuming all of it. I just went ahead and ordered the Salifert nitrate test and the Nyos phospahate test kit. I will double verify. Do not need any dinos.


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Never a bad idea to have multiples of the same test from different brands. Every so often if I get a strange test back I always verify with another brand before attempting to correct what could be a test error.
 
Coral reefer said:
Getting used up by algae as fast as it’s going in.
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What’s the best way to remove it. I have vibrant and macrobactor. I want to go ahead and manually remove it during a water change, but don’t want to spread it all over the place.


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The_Lazy_Reefer said:
Never a bad idea to have multiples of the same test from different brands. Every so often if I get a strange test back I always verify with another brand before attempting to correct what could be a test error.
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Yeah especially with the ones where it’s all about discerning the different shades of the same color. I am using nyos and salifert for NO3. Someone on here recommended taking pictures of the results so I’ve started a folder and I mostly compare the shade of the results.

But I got a new phone and I’ll start fresh, I’m not sure it will capture the colors the same way
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I just checked in with a Hanna rep and told him about the situation, he said that if the water did not turn pink when adding the second powdered reagent then that means I have really low to none nitrates. So maybe I need to turn off my protein skimmer, shorten the time for my fuge light and scrape the hair algae.???


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max_nano said:
I agree, I don’t think you want to lose the aeration provided by the skimmer. Especially if you are using a co2 scrubber. But turning the fuge off will lower pH as well
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Yeah I’m not using a c02 scrubber, thankfully my ph ranges from 8.3 to a low 8 throughout the day. Okay I think I have that light running 10 hours after lights go off. Maybe that’s a little too long huh?


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Are corals otherwise looking happy? If hair algae is the only issue, I’d start with manual removal, leaving skimmer and fuge on. Then maybe add some CUC. If you turn skimmer and fuge off, that would just leave more organics to turn into NO3 and PO4, adding fuel to the DT where you have the light on for other things to consume them and grow.
 
When I was running a fuge, it took up nutrients super fast. I ended up with a balanced system with just skimmer and 5-10% water changes every two weeks.
I found that when the fuge was absorbing nitrients fast and grew, my nutrients would go back up if I pulled out too much, so it was just a pain to manage.
 
MonkeyReefer said:
Are corals otherwise looking happy? If hair algae is the only issue, I’d start with manual removal, leaving skimmer and fuge on. Then maybe add some CUC. If you turn skimmer and fuge off, that would just leave more organics to turn into NO3 and PO4, adding fuel to the DT where you have the light on for other things to consume them and grow.
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Sorry but what’s CUC lol.


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