Manipulate P04 and NO3 by food choices?

[IPT]

Seems to me my PO4 and NO3 do not seem to move at the same rate. I am pretty consistant with my feeding. My tank is a 120 well established (tank is well over 10 years old with lots of ups and downs but essentially the rock in there now (seeded from my older tank) it at least 2 years old and I am getting good coraline growth on the rock and glass.). Currently I am feeding Seaweed extreme pellets, New Life spectrum Marine fish and Benepellet in equal ratios 2x a day (small doses). Then I'll do spirulina brine shrimp and mysis shrimp about 4-5 times a week.

Recently the tank got away from me. My nitrates were steading in the 10-20 range. For no reason I can see my P04 started climbing (up to .4). I started using ROWA. Currently I am at a level of .12 PO4 and 10 NO3.

So, the main question is, do we know ratios of P04 and NO3 based on food choice? If I want to drop my P04 and keep NO3 the same is there food choices that help with that (or vise versa if I want to raise P04 but keep Nitrates stable)? Or, should I just be consistent with my feeding and use dosing or media removal to try and keep the balance?

 

[IPT]

Just stumbled on the this thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/c...atio-to-avoid-reducing-either-to-0-0.1090170/

So, I guess the main question is are there foods we can uses to manipulate N03 and P04 ratios or are we simply better off keeping feeding consistent and using dosing to maintain balance?

 

[rishma]

Just stumbled on the this thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/c...atio-to-avoid-reducing-either-to-0-0.1090170/

So, I guess the main question is are there foods we can uses to manipulate N03 and P04 ratios or are we simply better off keeping feeding consistent and using dosing to maintain balance?

I do a little bit of both. I adjust my food a little based on phosphate levels, but I also correct with dosing when needed.

Lately I have had low phosphate due to change in my food choices and I am hand dosing phosphate while tweaking my food mix. In the end I rather not daily dose phosphate because I’d prefer to add more particulate foods for the corals.

The big advantage of dosing is controlling the input precisely. I carefully measure/weigh my food but it’s still not as consistent.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

There are some notable foods with unusual N/P ratios, such as reef roids to boost phosphate, but trying to regulate nutrient levels that way may not be adding what your tank needs most.

 

[Miami Reef]

It’s much easier to treat nitrate and phosphate as separate entities for increasing or decreasing their levels.

 

[IPT]

There are some notable foods with unusual N/P ratios, such as reef roids to boost phosphate, but trying to regulate nutrient levels that way may not be adding what your tank needs most.

Randy can you elaborate on this?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy can you elaborate on this?

Sure. I have nothing against any particular foods that I am aware of, but N and P are inherent to the biomolecules in foods, and if one goes about trying to limit N or P by making or using a particular food based on its N and P content rather than its nutritional content, it may not be optimally nutritious.

For example, it is extremely difficult to make a palatable and nutritious human food that is sufficiently low in P for people who have kidney disease and cannot adequately excrete phosphate. Certainly, such folks are advised to avoid unusually high P foods, but the problem cannot be solved that way, and those folks need to use phosphate binders of various sorts in their GI tract to avoid the uptake of too much P.

I would hate it if reefers starting trying to control nutrients by using foods with abnormal N and/or P, which would then make manufacturers start providing foods with those abnormal ratios, without regard for understanding the nutritional implications.

As a rule, I am concerned about companies providing and users using low N or P foods. Not those that may have high levels. So, for example, using Reef Roids (reportedly high P) does not concern me from this perspective.

 

[IPT]

Sure. I have nothing against any particular foods that I am aware of, but N and P are inherent to the biomolecules in foods, and if one goes about trying to limit N or P by making or using a particular food based on its N and P content rather than its nutritional content, it may not be optimally nutritious.

For example, it is extremely difficult to make a palatable and nutritious human food that is sufficiently low in P for people who have kidney disease and cannot adequately excrete phosphate. Certainly, such folks are advised to avoid unusually high P foods, but the problem cannot be solved that way, and those folks need to use phosphate binders of various sorts in their GI tract to avoid the uptake of too much P.

I would hate it if reefers starting trying to control nutrients by using foods with abnormal N and/or P, which would then make manufacturers start providing foods with those abnormal ratios, without regard for understanding the nutritional implications.

As a rule, I am concerned about companies providing and users using low N or P foods. Not those that may have high levels. So, for example, using Reef Roids (reportedly high P) does not concern me from this perspective.

Very good, makes total sense. Thank you.