Redsea Max Nano AIO Nitrate Phosphate

lelolai15 · Jul 17, 2022

Hello All,

I am currently 9 months into my reef tank. The tank is mostly stock (filter sock, bio media, protein skimmer, an redsea spec carbon). Over the months I have been battling high phosphates (7 - 5 ppm) but in the past two months it has under control and stable on it's own (0.02 - 0.07 ppm), I used brightwell's phosphate-E. However, recently I have noticed my Florida Ricordea unhappy which made me take a deeper look at my parameters. Looking at nitrates I was not getting any reading for the past month. With the help of NeoNitro I have been increased NO3 up to 5 ppm with visible improvement in coloration and puffiness in the ricordea and growth in the other corals. However, today I did a water change and noticed the NO3 levels drop again to 2 ppm and the Ricordea looks upset (tested about 5 hours after water change). Phosphate levels have increased once again (0.27) while using NeoNitro.

Brightwell suggest the use of MicroBacteria7, Reef BioFuel, and Katalyst if PO4 continues to increase and NO3 does not. They recommend these products for carbon limited tanks. How do I know if my tank is carbon limited? I am not one to dose chemicals in order to chase down numbers. I do understand the need for NO3 helps with growth and coloration for corals as zooxanthellae consume NO3. What is everyone's recommendation here? I would like to have a balanced sustainable parameters for both LPS and SPS corals. Below is my typical regimen and parameters. I keep nutrition down due to a low bio load in both coral and fish and fear of PO4 getting out of control and growing a swamp.

- 15% water change every three weeks (Saltwater and RODI water purchased from LFS)
- Change carbon once per month
- Feed about three times per week (mysis shrimp, reef nutrition phyto-feast, and reef nutrition oyster feast). Phyto and Oyster feast are used for target feeding.
- Tank has 2 inches of sand bed and dry rock which has coral line algae spread throughout
- Inhabitants: two clown fish, one royal gamma, one fire shrimp, five turbo snails, small rock covered in GSP, small frag of FL Ricordea, yellow toadstool (not very yellow), and a Micronesian Torch Coral
- Parameters:
- PO4: 0.27 ppm ( typically around 0.02 - 0.07 ppm over the past two months)
- NO3: 0 ppm - 2 ppm (Consistent)
- pH: 8.0 (Consistent)
- DKH: 7.7 - 8.2
- CA: 460 - 416 ppm
- Temp: 78 - 79 F
- SG: 1.026
- I currently manually test everything using Hanna checker except NO3, I use ReadSea test kit
- I manually dose Redsea Foundation B.
- I have dosed CA two - three times in the life span of the reef life.
- Change the filter soak and filter floss every two days (typically is dark green
- I run the protein skimmer every two days for approximately 8 - 10 hrs. (Dark green liquid typically comes out)
- Water clarity is typically good. Closer to the three mark it starts becoming hazy.

I hope this gives enough background of the tank's health. As I progress I would like to bring Zoas into the picture, but fear they will not due well with low NO3 levels. I also hope to start trying SPS corals as well.

wculver · Jul 17, 2022

lelolai15 said:
Hello All,

I am currently 9 months into my reef tank. The tank is mostly stock (filter sock, bio media, protein skimmer, an redsea spec carbon). Over the months I have been battling high phosphates (7 - 5 ppm) but in the past two months it has under control and stable on it's own (0.02 - 0.07 ppm), I used brightwell's phosphate-E. However, recently I have noticed my Florida Ricordea unhappy which made me take a deeper look at my parameters. Looking at nitrates I was not getting any reading for the past month. With the help of NeoNitro I have been increased NO3 up to 5 ppm with visible improvement in coloration and puffiness in the ricordea and growth in the other corals. However, today I did a water change and noticed the NO3 levels drop again to 2 ppm and the Ricordea looks upset (tested about 5 hours after water change). Phosphate levels have increased once again (0.27) while using NeoNitro.

Brightwell suggest the use of MicroBacteria7, Reef BioFuel, and Katalyst if PO4 continues to increase and NO3 does not. They recommend these products for carbon limited tanks. How do I know if my tank is carbon limited? I am not one to dose chemicals in order to chase down numbers. I do understand the need for NO3 helps with growth and coloration for corals as zooxanthellae consume NO3. What is everyone's recommendation here? I would like to have a balanced sustainable parameters for both LPS and SPS corals. Below is my typical regimen and parameters. I keep nutrition down due to a low bio load in both coral and fish and fear of PO4 getting out of control and growing a swamp.

- 15% water change every three weeks (Saltwater and RODI water purchased from LFS)
- Change carbon once per month
- Feed about three times per week (mysis shrimp, reef nutrition phyto-feast, and reef nutrition oyster feast). Phyto and Oyster feast are used for target feeding.
- Tank has 2 inches of sand bed and dry rock which has coral line algae spread throughout
- Inhabitants: two clown fish, one royal gamma, one fire shrimp, five turbo snails, small rock covered in GSP, small frag of FL Ricordea, yellow toadstool (not very yellow), and a Micronesian Torch Coral
- Parameters:
- PO4: 0.27 ppm ( typically around 0.02 - 0.07 ppm over the past two months)
- NO3: 0 ppm - 2 ppm (Consistent)
- pH: 8.0 (Consistent)
- DKH: 7.7 - 8.2
- CA: 460 - 416 ppm
- Temp: 78 - 79 F
- SG: 1.026
- I currently manually test everything using Hanna checker except NO3, I use ReadSea test kit
- I manually dose Redsea Foundation B.
- I have dosed CA two - three times in the life span of the reef life.
- Change the filter soak and filter floss every two days (typically is dark green
- I run the protein skimmer every two days for approximately 8 - 10 hrs. (Dark green liquid typically comes out)
- Water clarity is typically good. Closer to the three mark it starts becoming hazy.

I hope this gives enough background of the tank's health. As I progress I would like to bring Zoas into the picture, but fear they will not due well with low NO3 levels. I also hope to start trying SPS corals as well.

That's definitely a lot of good information so we don't have to start with questions! I've been in this place before and had some of the same issues processing waste. The suggestions that come from Brightwell actually assume that perhaps you have a bacteria challenge in your tank because of processing requirements for waste. In short, the bacteria use these wastes as energy. Also like your thinking on a natural solution to waste transport because it is important and workable.

I actually run macro algae which helps with Nitrate and Phosphate but not nearly enough. So to boost this I "carbon dose" like was suggested. I use a reactor with plastic media in it that act as the carbon source for the bacteria hooked up to a small pump. This tumbles the media in the reactor that in turn grows bacteria that sluff off. The effluent bacteria then is directed towrad the skimmer inlet and is then skimmed off with net take-out of waste, namely Nitrate and secondarily Phosphate.

That said, you would only need a very small solution for a tank of this size. I can give you more specifics if you'd like some suggestions.

lelolai15 · Jul 18, 2022

Thank you for the input @wculver. Would there be another means to introduce carbon into the system? I am trying to keep this tank as simple as possible.

Are there other options than Brightwell's additives?

Is there any literature or videos I can review that explains the relationship between PO4, NO3, and carbon?

Thank you for the guidance!

wculver · Jul 18, 2022

lelolai15 said:
Thank you for the input @wculver. Would there be another means to introduce carbon into the system? I am trying to keep this tank as simple as possible.

Are there other options than Brightwell's additives?

Is there any literature or videos I can review that explains the relationship between PO4, NO3, and carbon?

Thank you for the guidance!

Well I suggested the reactor because IMO it is the simplest option. Adding chemicals is more involved and open to catastrophe in many ways. The reactor is has plastic pellets tumbling and does its work with some water flow. You also get the benefit of immediate skimming rather than having the resultant bacteria compete with the coral for nutrients.

As for reading I'm not sure I've read anything I completely agree with. The cliffs notes I have observed but probably at some point doubted include:
- Nitrate to phosphate take out is 16:1.
- coral feeding can really spike nutrients but with a healthy tank and setup there is a healthy feeding dose.
- adding chemicals usually manages their intended target only to change something else causing an ionic balance that's hard to identify

To answer your question, one of the more common additives for nitrates and phosphatates is redsea nopox. It does work but like I said you can easily go overboard. If you go this direction I'd suggest a staring dose 1/10th of the directions and perhaps move up if needed.