So currently I am having an issue with my nitrates and phosphates. My tank has been up for a little over a year now and ever since the beginning my nitrates hovered around 15-20ppm and phosphates a little over .3. This is my first saltwater tank and it’s a 20 gallon so I am still a beginner.
Now at the start of the new year I decided to put a fluval canister filter on my tank instead of the HOB I had. and over the course of the first month my nitrates and phosphates hadn’t changed. But due to the reputation of canister filters, I was expecting this. So I had researched a ton on canister filters and people who had success with them on saltwater tanks and what filter media they used. This included- Purigen, Rowaphos, Chemipure elite, and some carbon. So after my first month of my canister filter running, I decided to add this filter media into my canister filter. It has been three weeks now since then and My nitrates are reading at 0.0 and phosphates reading at 0.11-0.17. When I saw the 0 nitrates i couldn’t believe my eyes so I bought a salifert test kit and it read 0.0 again. And once again I thought I was doing something wrong so I just caved and bought the expensive hanna nitrate tester and it has read 0.0 now for three days.
This is a concern for me because I want my nitrates around 3-4 and phosphate around .1. And I do not know what plan of action to take because I’ve read a ton on this website and there are so many different options. I landed on a Neophos and Neonitro dosing plan and I think I wanna try it. However if anyone has any recommendations or any questions I would love to answer as I’ve been doing this all on my own and feel like I’m doing everything wrong constantly but I am also a perfectionist. I currently have 2 clowns and a royal gramma
along with a aiptasia infestation (lol) that i’m trying to get rid of. I have Gsp, xenia which have both grown a ton, 3 zoas which are doing alright, and a duncan and candy cane frag that I just added 2 weeks ago.
Thanks
Tank Parameters as of today
Alk-8.7
Ca-440
Mg-1290
Nitrate-0.0
Phos- 0.17
Temp- 79
Salinity-1.026
Now at the start of the new year I decided to put a fluval canister filter on my tank instead of the HOB I had. and over the course of the first month my nitrates and phosphates hadn’t changed. But due to the reputation of canister filters, I was expecting this. So I had researched a ton on canister filters and people who had success with them on saltwater tanks and what filter media they used. This included- Purigen, Rowaphos, Chemipure elite, and some carbon. So after my first month of my canister filter running, I decided to add this filter media into my canister filter. It has been three weeks now since then and My nitrates are reading at 0.0 and phosphates reading at 0.11-0.17. When I saw the 0 nitrates i couldn’t believe my eyes so I bought a salifert test kit and it read 0.0 again. And once again I thought I was doing something wrong so I just caved and bought the expensive hanna nitrate tester and it has read 0.0 now for three days.
This is a concern for me because I want my nitrates around 3-4 and phosphate around .1. And I do not know what plan of action to take because I’ve read a ton on this website and there are so many different options. I landed on a Neophos and Neonitro dosing plan and I think I wanna try it. However if anyone has any recommendations or any questions I would love to answer as I’ve been doing this all on my own and feel like I’m doing everything wrong constantly but I am also a perfectionist. I currently have 2 clowns and a royal gramma
along with a aiptasia infestation (lol) that i’m trying to get rid of. I have Gsp, xenia which have both grown a ton, 3 zoas which are doing alright, and a duncan and candy cane frag that I just added 2 weeks ago.
Thanks
Tank Parameters as of today
Alk-8.7
Ca-440
Mg-1290
Nitrate-0.0
Phos- 0.17
Temp- 79
Salinity-1.026