0 detectable Nitrates - Any advice welcomed!

[Denisk]

Hey everyone,

I could use some advice on balancing nutrients in my 1 month transfer tank build. Right now, my nitrates are undetectable on the Hanna and phosphates are at 0.003 ppm (Hanna ULR). Here’s my setup:

• Tank: 38g Fiji Peninsula with sump
• Rock: Established live rock transferred from my 22g that ran for 4+ years
• Sand: New sand added at setup (1 month old)
• Livestock: 5 medium to smallish fish, 1 cleaner shrimp, and CUC
• Filtration: No skimmer, just filter floss (changed when flow slows)
• Feeding: About ½ cube frozen daily + some pellets mid day
• Growth: Some type of macro algae is already taking off in the display
• Params: Ca ~420, dKH 6.5, Mg ~1250
• Glass - gets a film in 1.5 days after cleaning it

My questions:

1. Is this just too early to worry, and should I wait it out since the tank is still new-ish?
2. Is it the macro algae in the reef tank just sucking up the nutrients but in reality it's there? (photo attached of the macro but I have a couple clumps of it through out the tank growing fast. Do I remove some of it?
3. If I should take action, is gradually increasing feeding the best way to raise nitrates and phosphates without overshooting? If so, how slowly should I ramp up? I don't want to dose nitrates and phosphates since I always had trouble balancing that effort in previous tanks.
4. What amount would you feed a tank with this stocking level? Maybe I'm not feeding enough.

Any tips, experiences, or safe methods to keep nutrients detectable would be much appreciated. Ideally I would like to get nitrates to 5ppm but I also understand I don't want to do anything quickly as I've always went slow with any changes I make to my reef tank.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Nano_Man]

Bump

 

[Miami Reef]

Corals and macroalgae prefer ammonia over nitrate. You can increase the feeding, but it might take a lot and will foul the water if you don’t have the fish to consume it.

Ammonium bicarbonate is inexpensive to purchase. I made a dosing chart that is simple to follow. Dose the same amount of mL every day for week 1. If nitrate is still at 0.0 ppm, move on to the next. When nitrate is stable by the end of the week, maintain that daily dose.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-ammonia-dosing-chart.1123913/

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

Beautiful tank and setup!

Without a ton of consumers of nitrate and phosphate, I would gradually use a NO3/PO4 additive to raise the levels up where you want them. I wouldn't go too crazy though as you are still in the window where the uglies can get ugly quick if your nutrients spike.

 

[JBNY]

Don't increase feeding, add a few more fish or dose some nitrates. Adding a few more fish is more fun. Or just wait a while and see, nothing bad is going to happen with zero nitrates.

 

[Denisk]

Corals and macroalgae prefer ammonia over nitrate. You can increase the feeding, but it might take a lot and will foul the water if you don’t have the fish to consume it.

Ammonium bicarbonate is inexpensive to purchase. I made a dosing chart that is simple to follow. Dose the same amount of mL every day for week 1. If nitrate is still at 0.0 ppm, move on to the next. When nitrate is stable by the end of the week, maintain that daily dose.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-ammonia-dosing-chart.1123913/

Much appreciated! Would you say there is any benefit to using ammonia bicarbonate over lets say neonitro like a potassium nitrate? Also does dosing ammonia bicarbonate have any direct correlation on phosphates. Since I know dosing a potassium nitrate can also cause your phosphates to deplete rather quickly.

 

[Denisk]

Beautiful tank and setup!

Without a ton of consumers of nitrate and phosphate, I would gradually use a NO3/PO4 additive to raise the levels up where you want them. I wouldn't go too crazy though as you are still in the window where the uglies can get ugly quick if your nutrients spike.

Thank you.

 

[Miami Reef]

Much appreciated! Would you say there is any benefit to using ammonia bicarbonate over lets say neonitro like a potassium nitrate? Also does dosing ammonia bicarbonate have any direct correlation on phosphates. Since I know dosing a potassium nitrate can also cause your phosphates to deplete rather quickly.

Ammonium bicarbonate is more bioavailable. Potassium nitrate can cause potassium to rise too high over time if the NO₃ demand is high; sodium nitrate is better.

Corals and macroalgae consume phosphate and nitrate in a fixed ratio. If nitrogen is too low, phosphate consumption will stop. Raising the nitrogen can allow PO₄ consumption to continue, and without enough phosphate import, will decrease (and vise versa).

I just noticed your phosphate is also very low. That may be even a bigger concern than low nitrate. Here’s my phosphate dosing recipe. The link has the Amazon link to purchase it.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-phosphate-dosing-recipe.1109919/#post-13548973
Buying phosphate and ammonium is substantially more inexpensive than neonitrate etc. In addition, the linked source is pure with no unknown byproducts.

 

[X-37B]

Hey everyone,

I could use some advice on balancing nutrients in my 1 month transfer tank build. Right now, my nitrates are undetectable on the Hanna and phosphates are at 0.003 ppm (Hanna ULR). Here’s my setup:

• Tank: 38g Fiji Peninsula with sump
• Rock: Established live rock transferred from my 22g that ran for 4+ years
• Sand: New sand added at setup (1 month old)
• Livestock: 5 medium to smallish fish, 1 cleaner shrimp, and CUC
• Filtration: No skimmer, just filter floss (changed when flow slows)
• Feeding: About ½ cube frozen daily + some pellets mid day
• Growth: Some type of macro algae is already taking off in the display
• Params: Ca ~420, dKH 6.5, Mg ~1250
• Glass - gets a film in 1.5 days after cleaning it

My questions:

1. Is this just too early to worry, and should I wait it out since the tank is still new-ish?
2. Is it the macro algae in the reef tank just sucking up the nutrients but in reality it's there? (photo attached of the macro but I have a couple clumps of it through out the tank growing fast. Do I remove some of it?
3. If I should take action, is gradually increasing feeding the best way to raise nitrates and phosphates without overshooting? If so, how slowly should I ramp up? I don't want to dose nitrates and phosphates since I always had trouble balancing that effort in previous tanks.
4. What amount would you feed a tank with this stocking level? Maybe I'm not feeding enough.

Any tips, experiences, or safe methods to keep nutrients detectable would be much appreciated. Ideally I would like to get nitrates to 5ppm but I also understand I don't want to do anything quickly as I've always went slow with any changes I make to my reef tank.

Thanks in advance!

Keep an eye on that bubble algae and remove it when seen. It can take over a system quickly if not addressed.
1/2 of a cube for 5 fish is under feeding and should be increased.
No need to dose anything just feed the fish more.
1/2 a cube 3-4 times a day is a good start.

 

[Denisk]

Ammonium bicarbonate is more bioavailable. Potassium nitrate can cause potassium to rise too high over time if the NO₃ demand is high; sodium nitrate is better.

Corals and macroalgae consume phosphate and nitrate in a fixed ratio. If nitrogen is too low, phosphate consumption will stop. Raising the nitrogen can allow PO₄ consumption to continue, and without enough phosphate import, will decrease (and vise versa).

I just noticed your phosphate is also very low. That may be even a bigger concern than low nitrate. Here’s my phosphate dosing recipe. The link has the Amazon link to purchase it.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-phosphate-dosing-recipe.1109919/#post-13548973
Buying phosphate and ammonium is substantially more inexpensive than neonitrate etc. In addition, the linked source is pure with no unknown byproducts.

I will look into both. Who doesn't like tinkering with their tanks... Thank you for your advice.

 

[fushi]

Hey everyone,

I could use some advice on balancing nutrients in my 1 month transfer tank build. Right now, my nitrates are undetectable on the Hanna and phosphates are at 0.003 ppm (Hanna ULR). Here’s my setup:
......

Ammonia dosing is the new hot thing, I do It in one tank, but its not something I recommend, I cant see a difference from just dosing nitrate (I also keep a lot of fish so theres plenty of ammonia naturally).

However my tank burns through Nitrates and Phosphates and you can see a huge difference in coral color from 0ish to 10ppm nitrate. So I always recommend keeping nitrates and phosphates elevated.

I like DIY Nitrate and phosphate solutions.
https://a.co/d/d6Drs0j
https://a.co/d/htsqcY0
(cheaper if you buy direct from loud wolf)

Calculators
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm
Use the options I highlighted in red.
(it says "potassium" on the calculator but do not use a potassium based nitrate or phosphate chemical, it will raise your potassium way more than you want. Calculations are close enough for what we are doing)

 

[BryanM]

When I had no nitrates I dosed NeoNitro successfully.

 

[Denisk]

Ammonia dosing is the new hot thing, I do It in one tank, but its not something I recommend, I cant see a difference from just dosing nitrate (I also keep a lot of fish so theres plenty of ammonia naturally).

However my tank burns through Nitrates and Phosphates and you can see a huge difference in coral color from 0ish to 10ppm nitrate. So I always recommend keeping nitrates and phosphates elevated.

I like DIY Nitrate and phosphate solutions.
https://a.co/d/d6Drs0j
https://a.co/d/htsqcY0
(cheaper if you buy direct from loud wolf)

Calculators
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm
Use the options I highlighted in red.
(it says "potassium" on the calculator but do not use a potassium based nitrate or phosphate chemical, it will raise your potassium way more than you want. Calculations are close enough for what we are doing)

Interesting. So are you saying dosing ammonium Bicarbonate didn't increase your nitrates in theory? Also do you keep dosing both nitrate and phosphate solutions for good or does it at some point balance out?

​

 

[Denisk]

When I had no nitrates I dosed NeoNitro successfully.

But then you stopped or do you continue to dose it? and wouldn't dosing just neonitro lower phosphates?

 

[BryanM]

But then you stopped or do you continue to dose it? and wouldn't dosing just neonitro lower phosphates?

I am unsure on it lowering phosphates, in my case I was dosing both because I had bottomed out both N and P.

I am no longer dosing either.

 

[fushi]

Interesting. So are you saying dosing ammonium Bicarbonate didn't increase your nitrates in theory? Also do you keep dosing both nitrate and phosphate solutions for good or does it at some point balance out?

​

I did not see an increase of Nitrate after dosing a mix of ammonia bicarbonate and urea. I believe it was a 0.1ppm mix. I can double check when i'm home later. I think my tank just currently consumes more nitrate in a day than a safe dose of ammonia can provide.

I have both Nitrate and Phosphate solutions on a doser and adjust dosing as needed to Ideally keep 0.10 Phos and 10 nitrate, however i am happy with anything above 0.05 phosphate and nitrates above 5.

I am dosing about 2ppm of nitrate a day and 0.14 phosphate a day to maintain my levels.

I find corals stay healthy with low nitrate but will loose a lot of color, however if phosphates get too low corals will just peel and die. So I keep a tight eye on Phosphates.

My phosphates are low because I used dry rock to restart this tank earlier this year and the dry rock is binding the phosphate, I find around a year of Phos dosing the rocks get saturated and I can stop dosing and keep steady levels.
But this is didfferent for every tank.

 

[CHSUB]

‘’Any advice welcome”…you have a tang that gets as big or bigger than a 12” dinner plate. Not really a great pick…

 

[Denisk]

I did not see an increase of Nitrate after dosing a mix of ammonia bicarbonate and urea. I believe it was a 0.1ppm mix. I can double check when i'm home later. I think my tank just currently consumes more nitrate in a day than a safe dose of ammonia can provide.

I have both Nitrate and Phosphate solutions on a doser and adjust dosing as needed to Ideally keep 0.10 Phos and 10 nitrate, however i am happy with anything above 0.05 phosphate and nitrates above 5.

I am dosing about 2ppm of nitrate a day and 0.14 phosphate a day to maintain my levels.

I find corals stay healthy with low nitrate but will loose a lot of color, however if phosphates get too low corals will just peel and die. So I keep a tight eye on Phosphates.

My phosphates are low because I used dry rock to restart this tank earlier this year and the dry rock is binding the phosphate, I find around a year of Phos dosing the rocks get saturated and I can stop dosing and keep steady levels.
But this is didfferent for every tank.

That is interesting. I would've assumed you could just up the dose since the nitrification process would happen quickly but maybe not. But I appreciate the suggestion!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

That is interesting. I would've assumed you could just up the dose since the nitrification process would happen quickly but maybe not. But I appreciate the suggestion!

You can. At some point, nitrate will rise, but that may also be a point beyond which corals do not benefit from more N since they may be getting all they want (or more than they want) from dosed ammonia or urea, even before nitrate rises.

 

[fushi]

That is interesting. I would've assumed you could just up the dose since the nitrification process would happen quickly but maybe not. But I appreciate the suggestion!

Not sure but my corals look better with higher nitrate, so I have decided to just dose nitrate.

I don't know how fast the nitrification of ammonia is, and imagine it is very different in every tank, so I'm just gonna stick with what I know works to make my corals look the way I want them to.