bucrob
Rob
@bucrob · 6 months ago

How can I lower phosphates without lowering nitrates too low? Nitrates are 13.4 and phosphates are 0.4. It could be worse realistically but would like to lower it. Not looking to use GFO

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Been wondering that myself!

Try some microalgae refugium. helps with phosphate but barely touches nitrates!

What macro algae would you recommend? Chaeto?

Typically, it’s one of if not the fastest grower and doesn’t send spores through the tank. I’d suggest Algae barn, it’s clean so you won’t have to worry about introducing other pests, and it’s a great place for pods later on!

👍 alright thanks

You could do a water change and dose nitrates to the desired level.

It’s a 126g tank so in order to get phosphates to a desired level I would need to do around a 70% water change

Chaeto is definitely a solid choice for soaking up phosphates without tanking nitrates too much. I’d also look at your feeding routine and make sure you’re not overfeeding since excess nutrients often come from that. Have you tried running a deep sand bed or maybe some refugium cleanup crew

The sandbed is about 2in deep and I clean it every week or 2. I don’t think I overfed I’m feeding around 6 cubes a day in 2 feedings and have 2 tangs and an angelfish that like to hoard the food. There’s not much food left after feeding

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