Can the food I’m adding be why my nutrients are the way they are?

jonny4ever · Feb 1, 2022

I’ve been feeding more prepared food over frozen. I always had high nitrates and phosphates, I did add a sump about 3 weeks and did a water change. I haven’t tested in a while but decided to test and my Hannah checker is telling me my phosphate is at .12 and my salifert test tells me my nitrate is at 5 ( my tanks always been at 20-30 nitrates and higher phosphate).

So I’m just curious, isn’t my phosphate and nitrate out of balance? if so what contents in the food I feed should I look at? Thanks.

I feed formula 2 flakes, and seachem flakes. Still feed frozen 2-3 times a week. Have some omega one kelp flakes on the way

muzikalmatt · Feb 1, 2022

Those nutrient levels are actually quite good and close to what most people target. You could stand to lower your phosphates a bit, but they're not far out of balance so I wouldn't be concerned.

Regarding feeding and the contents of your food, in my experience frozen foods tend to be heavier on the phosphates so if you've switched to prepared foods that could be why your nutrients are lowering. Another thing about feeding frozen foods is that there's typically more waste due to broadcast feeding, whereas with prepared foods, especially pellets, you can be a bit more careful about making sure all of the food is consumed and not breaking down in your tank.

One other item that can affect your nutrients is the coral mass/bioload in the tank. As corals grow, they tend to consume more nutrients so with the same feeding regimen, over time your nutrients should reduce some.

Overall, I don't think you have anything to worry about but it would be a good idea to keep an eye on the levels to ensure they don't bottom out. You can always start feeding more heavily and/or dial back your filtration a bit to try and get the levels back up again. As long as your tank's inhabitants are happy, those levels are good.

jonny4ever · Feb 1, 2022

muzikalmatt said:
Those nutrient levels are actually quite good and close to what most people target. You could stand to lower your phosphates a bit, but they're not far out of balance so I wouldn't be concerned.

Regarding feeding and the contents of your food, in my experience frozen foods tend to be heavier on the phosphates so if you've switched to prepared foods that could be why your nutrients are lowering. Another thing about feeding frozen foods is that there's typically more waste due to broadcast feeding, whereas with prepared foods, especially pellets, you can be a bit more careful about making sure all of the food is consumed and not breaking down in your tank.

One other item that can affect your nutrients is the coral mass/bioload in the tank. As corals grow, they tend to consume more nutrients so with the same feeding regimen, over time your nutrients should reduce some.

Overall, I don't think you have anything to worry about but it would be a good idea to keep an eye on the levels to ensure they don't bottom out. You can always start feeding more heavily and/or dial back your filtration a bit to try and get the levels back up again. As long as your tank's inhabitants are happy, those levels are good.

Yeah I’ll make sure, thanks big time. They bottomed out about 2 months ago and I had Dino’s. Only took me a month to get them back up and beat it, that’s when I decided to add the sump and feed more. I feed a lot tbh, like a lot. It’s fun, I feed my my acans, anenomes, Duncan’s and hammers.

My fish are a snow flake clown, 6line, kole tang and a orange flame back angel. It’s a 40 breeder with a 10g sump, I wanna get like a 75g or a 90g and get a fleece roller. I also run a really small skimmer on my current tank, so I don’t think I’ll have to worry about bottoming out nutrients. Was just concerned with my nitrates being so low with my heavy feeding and low maintence. I don’t really do water changes like that. I broadcast feed the flakes, frozen I normally spot feed. Same with reef roids