Nitrate & Phosphate in your reef tank
Channel: ReefMan
Date: 2018-09-17

Both Nitrate and Phosphate play very important roles in our reef tanks, even more so when dealing with an algae bloom. We often try to keep nitrates and phosphates as close to zero as we can - but I think that's actually a bad idea! It's pretty well accepted that acropora and other corals have better color with some nitrates in the water - but how much is enough? 

For that, we can use the Redfield Ratio as a general guide. Don't go crazy getting your nitrate and phosphate to exactly match this ratio, but use it as a ballpark figure to aim for. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redfield_ratio 

Look at how colorful my Strawberry Shortcake Acro is now, after years of slow growth as a generic brownish coral. I've only raised my nitrate level by 1ppm (which reduced my phosphate by about 25%!) and it has had a huge impact on my tank. 

You can use this calculator to figure out how much nitrate or phosphate to add to adjust the levels in your tank. 

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm

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