What a refreshing review of the pinnacle of the hobby… really love that you have catered for the “day trippers” early on and then satisfied us geeks with the rest 🙌👍

Just found your channel, 3/23... lot of great videos, tons of information, tank is amazing!!!

Firstly im glad you are talking about this. Corals do not consume inorganic nitrates and phosphate from the water column which are the compounds our test kits give us readings for. Corals, though, will always consume ammonium as their prefered nitrogen source. Also "Organic" PO4 is their preference, they absorb this in particulate form through polyp capture. Not disolved po4 in the water column. Inorganic No3 and Po4 in the water column in our tanks are stage setting molecules for corals to build up bacterial colonies that manipulate the chemisty of the surrounding water, either within their nucus layer or boundary layer eco systems, they do this through the release of hormones and enzymes. Im just scratching the surface here but the majority of reefers do not understand the processes occuring. Phosphate and nitrate are majorly misunderstood by pretty much everyone in the hobby. Go read the scientific papers on microbiology in a corals boundary layer or anything ive mentioned. Its reaally quite enlightening.

now this is the video I needed. keep up the awesome and informative work

Very good sir

Thank you so much for this video, it is very informative. I would like to add some things, thou: concerning nitrate, it is good to mention the possibility of creating the anaerobic zones in your sump (areas with low flow) where the biological media can develop good condition for anaerobic bacteria that consumes the oxigen from NO3, turning it in nitrogen gas that evaporates from water. Also, for nitrate reduction biopellets are a good choice, especially the biopellets from Tropic Marin that are polymers made from seeweed and they don't promote cyanobacteria as other carbon dosing may do. For phosphates I would mention Fauna Marin Phos 0.04 - a GFO that never reduces PO4 below 0.04. It is more expensive than other GFO's, but it has the benefit of not striping your water of phosphates.

Great video!! Thanks for the beautiful view!

Amazing video!

Beautiful and interesting video!!thank you🙂👍

A great video Marcus, I chased low numbers for a long time but found as our tank matured (now 5 years old) the numbers wanted to be higher, I eventually gave up and let them settle on their own (within reason) and our 940lt system now sits around 0.06 PO4 and 18ppm NO3 and that's with a sulphur reactor running.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge

Excellent vid. 👍

Great video Marcus, I would like to see a video on testing these values at aquarium relevant levels. Phosphate for example is difficult to test between 0-1ppm so how to do this would be great. Also a video explaining where nitrate and phosphate come from, for example the balance of N/P between frozen or dried foods and buildup of nutrients in sand beds etc. so that people can design their systems and feed in a way to make nutrient control simpler.

Great video thank you

thank you so much

Hi, I ran upon your episode here and found your evaluation for a mature tank really informative. I have a tank that is 12 months old and I have very little coralline algae at all. I have a lot of lps and soft corals in there and most are doing well. I have added microbacter 7 every week since the third month. How can I mature my tank more? My numbers: alk =8.9-9.4, ca=390-420, Mg=1320-1400, po4= .09-.05, no2= 8-10 ppm.

Great video! So I have started using chemi pure blue to reduce nutrients recently and found that it has did a great job in bringing down nitrates but no change at all on the phosphate level. Any thoughts on why phosphate is not moving? I only have a small bio load and feed very little.

Quantum does quantum phosphate and quantum nitrate, so there is a nitrate solution for chemical filtration. However this will raise alk. I'm more a proponent of using bacteria to increase, eat nitrates and be turned to food for the corals. Aquaforest -NP pro and Pro Bio S are these solutions, it's natural but, you would have to dose your tank

Hi Marcus, i always have too high nitrate compared to phosphate. I can control both together by feeding more or less. But when i m at lower end, i have 0.02 phosphate and 5 nitrate. And if i m higher I have 0.07 phosphate and 15 nitrate. So i m never close to the 1:100 relation. Would more bio media help? Or how can i improve?

What are your thoughts on protein skimmers to remove organics vs letting the organics break down and corals consuming them?

Thanks for the great advice would you mind sharing the salt that you like Cheers Tim Keep up the great work

Perfect timing ,im having a low nutrient issue ATM, how many times a week would you suggest target feeding lps corals in a low nutrient system?

wow in the first 4 minutes of this video i knew exactly why my tank is a algea producing made house atm. Its 8months to

I have fully grown tanks for years without purple rocks.. I have (asterina) starfish armies that keep them clean. No purple rocks doesn’t mean immature tank. You could also be having ultra low light reef tank without purple rocks.

👍 👍👍

Thanks for another well presented informative video. I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on vodka dosing. I am running a rain 2 and a reactor with AF life biofil in an immature tank. Nitrates and phosphates are steady and within your recommended parameters but like the idea of adding additional bacteria for the coral to feed on and would like to incorporate this into my system. Cheers

Nice.

Hi my nitrate is is 6.2 & phosphate is 0.224 ppm quite high yes , but my corals look well ( mixed reef) What would you drop phosphate to 🤔

worth spending 26 mins . Thank you

But what do you do when the Nitrate and phosphate additives don't work? Current parameters, N03 2.5ppm PO4 0.015. Tried Brightwell and Triton phosphorous products, no change in PO4....

hi on a red sea test kit, what level is this for nitrates.. 5 and 10

I've found long as the tank is stable high or low nitrate phosphate don't chase numbers just look in the tank that tells you what you need to know if corals fish happy don't play with it 😊

😊😊 1:56 😊 2:01 2:01 2:01 😊😅😅😊

My NO3 is 100ppm no matter what I use to lower it.

O had a Big dyno outbreack with ULN. I dosed Brightwell Nitrate and Phospate for couple weeks and theu are gone. All the the corals Had back to life. Never more ULN….thats a desaster

lol. no thanks on the purple stuff. i’ve had tanks running for 2-3 years without coraline algae. i just don’t get why people push to have coraline algae. as long as your nutrients are stable. dosing the macro & micro nutrients appropriately, you’ll get growth & coloration

No algae Turf scrubber lots of Coraline algae in my tank I don't believe you need all this stuff all I have is a sump and a protein skimmer I'm even having a little bio balls in there my tanks have been running smooth nothing but beautiful Coraline algae I have a little bit of phosphate and a little bit of nitrate everything's running smooth no problems I have a 16-year-old blue hippo Tang and a 9-year-old yellow thing I always say do what works for you everybody got their own opinion I dripped calc washer in my tank 24/7 my alkalinity remains very stable about 8.5 dkh as far as nitrates go it also depends on your bio load of your tank the more fish you put in there the more bi-load you will have been in this hobby since 1986 and have always had a saltwater tank a lot of people try and tell me different ways I use what works for me I'm a little bit on the old school I tell people I still use calcwasher they look at me why don't you use two part well why kalkwasser works great