Zero Nitrates, High Phosphates..

swoons

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I just ran some param tests and I'm getting 0 nitrates but around 0.1 ppm phosphates. I'm wondering if this has anything to do with the Cyano I'm seeing on my sand? Any idea what's going on here?
 
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Dolphins18

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GFO will take care of it. I would use less than recommended as usually in my experience they recommend a bit much, especially if used in a reactor.
I’d also recommend raising the nitrates a bit unless it’s a tank only for sps.
there’s some stuff called red slime remover that is reef safe if you use it correctly, but the cyano would most likely go away on its own if not.
 
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swoons

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GFO will take care of it. I would use less than recommended as usually in my experience they recommend a bit much, especially if used in a reactor.
I’d also recommend raising the nitrates a bit unless it’s a tank only for sps.
there’s some stuff called red slime remover that is reef safe if you use it correctly, but the cyano would most likely go away on its own if not.
thank you i'll look into running some gfo. Could my tank be possibly going through cyano and diatom at same time with these params (the 0 nitrate and 0.1 phosphate)? I'm trying to rule out dino.
 

Dolphins18

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thank you i'll look into running some gfo. Could my tank be possibly going through cyano and diatom at same time with these params (the 0 nitrate and 0.1 phosphate)? I'm trying to rule out dino.
Definitely. That is most likely all it is. .1 phosphates isn't really a big deal. I doubt you even need GFO. Diatoms and other algae's will eat up the phosphates at the start. I usually pull cyano out when I start getting it, plenty of people have gotten good results from a product called chemi clean. I have it but I have never used it.
 

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You could just dose some nitrates and that would help balance things out. Pick up some Loudwolf sodium nitrate and make up a small batch based on your tank size. Use this calculator and choose potassium nitrate (the numbers will be the same, with NaNO3 being slightly stronger).
Dosing calculator
 

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