Phosphates @ 1 ppm

It makes more sense now. Thanks.

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Ya, and just to add.... pods eat algae too. So you want pods and they eat algae and others eat them so the N and P are just recycled. But that is a good thing and you want a healthy little micro ecosytem going on. Just understand the important part.... food is import, and harvesting algae is export. You need to remove what you add.... but the recycling in the middle is all good.

 

So this import/export cycle holds true to let's say scraping film algae from the glass as well?

 

Not unless you are actually removing it from the tank. Mine just went in the water. My skimmer would catch some of it and that would be export. There is a whole cycle that goes on. Fish do grow bigger, bacteria do break down nitrates into nitrogen gas. The food added to the tank grows fish and supports all the other critters from pods down to sponges and finally bacteria colonys. In the end you are left with nitrates and phosphates as basic building blocks to fuel algae and back up the food chain.

But to maintain low nutrient systems where more demanding corals can thrive you have to have some sort of export going on. It has been found that the easiest way to do this is let mother nature do her job. Provide a beneficial place outside of the display tank where algae can thrive and suck up all the base nutrients. Keep the DT clean and export algae. Biopellets and carbon dosing does the same thing allowing bacteria to do the job.... it is just a bit harder to see bacteria and judge how much export is going on in the skimmer.... but test kits don't lie and using algae for clean up and bacteria to mop up what is left over will get you to a ultra low nutrient system.

 

Thanks for the good info Powerman!
I was going to ask about bio-pellets but you already answered that lol! There must be something good in my reactor. There's tons of Copepods in with the pellets and even a few decent size amphipods. They must've taken a roller coaster ride through the MJ1200!!