jkuja913
New Member
Question on 0.0 nitrates.
For context, my Waterbox 110 system is about 2 months old. I started curing/cycling my rocks on February 6th, a mix of old dried out and full of dead biomaterial rocks from my last tank 6 years ago and fresh Marco rocks. Ran a fishless cycle on them in a tub with Dr. Tims, heat and flow. I completed the cycle in the tub and set my new tank up on March 6th. Added 2 clowns after I ensured the cycle was in tact after the move, all good. Also dosed microbacter7 in the tub and the first 2 weeks of the tank setup according to the “new tank” guidelines.
Currently I have the 2 clowns, a cleanup crew of a handful of snails and hermits, along with a small Tomnini Tang and Carpenter Wrasse.
I have a handful of LPS, Zoa and softie frags that have been doing great in the tank.
I’m running a fuge in my sump with some LR rubble and cheating algae, have been running that 24/7. Also have a Nyos 120 skimmer that has been on 75% of the time.
In my previous experiences with reef tanks, which spanned about 10 years ending roughly 6 years ago, I NEVER was concerned about being on the low end of nitrates. In the past, there was always the unachievable goal of 0/0 nitrate phosphate which just always seemed like the carrot I could never reach.
I will add, my Phos/Nitrate as tested with Hanna checkers has been around .01-.00 phosphate with the ULR Hanna and 0.0 with the high range nitrate. (The checker is not faulty, tested it with another tank, it does register…)
I will also mention, I had a very short, 2 day extremely minor diatom bloom on the new rocks a couple weeks ago. I now have just very hazy, green algae (not green hair) on the new rocks along with scattered coralline growth showing up in higher flow areas.
Should I be concerned about 0.0 nitrates? Everything is looking good at the moment, but coral has only been in for about 2.5 weeks so maybe it just hasn’t shown the impact of low nutrients. I have increased feeding the last 4-5 days, no increase in Nitrates. My next move is to cut back the photoperiod of the fuge to alternate against the tank lights. But, again, all my previous experience with reef tanks has been battling to keep them low so I am hesitant to take measures to increase nutrients. It’s a whole new problem for me!
For context, my Waterbox 110 system is about 2 months old. I started curing/cycling my rocks on February 6th, a mix of old dried out and full of dead biomaterial rocks from my last tank 6 years ago and fresh Marco rocks. Ran a fishless cycle on them in a tub with Dr. Tims, heat and flow. I completed the cycle in the tub and set my new tank up on March 6th. Added 2 clowns after I ensured the cycle was in tact after the move, all good. Also dosed microbacter7 in the tub and the first 2 weeks of the tank setup according to the “new tank” guidelines.
Currently I have the 2 clowns, a cleanup crew of a handful of snails and hermits, along with a small Tomnini Tang and Carpenter Wrasse.
I have a handful of LPS, Zoa and softie frags that have been doing great in the tank.
I’m running a fuge in my sump with some LR rubble and cheating algae, have been running that 24/7. Also have a Nyos 120 skimmer that has been on 75% of the time.
In my previous experiences with reef tanks, which spanned about 10 years ending roughly 6 years ago, I NEVER was concerned about being on the low end of nitrates. In the past, there was always the unachievable goal of 0/0 nitrate phosphate which just always seemed like the carrot I could never reach.
I will add, my Phos/Nitrate as tested with Hanna checkers has been around .01-.00 phosphate with the ULR Hanna and 0.0 with the high range nitrate. (The checker is not faulty, tested it with another tank, it does register…)
I will also mention, I had a very short, 2 day extremely minor diatom bloom on the new rocks a couple weeks ago. I now have just very hazy, green algae (not green hair) on the new rocks along with scattered coralline growth showing up in higher flow areas.
Should I be concerned about 0.0 nitrates? Everything is looking good at the moment, but coral has only been in for about 2.5 weeks so maybe it just hasn’t shown the impact of low nutrients. I have increased feeding the last 4-5 days, no increase in Nitrates. My next move is to cut back the photoperiod of the fuge to alternate against the tank lights. But, again, all my previous experience with reef tanks has been battling to keep them low so I am hesitant to take measures to increase nutrients. It’s a whole new problem for me!
