0 nitrates

[salty105]

I have a 20 gallon system and it’s about 5 months old. I however cannot get nitrates up. I currently only have one clown in there plus some snails so I don’t really feed it a lot. I tried over feeding for about a months but that didn’t help either. Before I start dosing, would removing the filter sock for a while help with nitrates?

 

[tzabor10]

Removing the filter sock is a good start. Brightwell has good products for raising nutrients. How are you testing?

 

[salty105]

Gotcha I’ll run without the sock for a bit to see what happens

I’m currently resting with the api saltwater testing kit. I know it’s not the most accurate but I didn’t want to waste the money and toss it so I also use tetra strips to make sure it matches.

For alk and phosphates I use salifert kits

 

[smoorman11]

I have a 20 gallon system and it’s about 5 months old. I however cannot get nitrates up. I currently only have one clown in there plus some snails so I don’t really feed it a lot. I tried over feeding for about a months but that didn’t help either. Before I start dosing, would removing the filter sock for a while help with nitrates?

I'm in the same boat. I have a 75g about 4 months old w/0 nitrates. I've got about 40Lbs live rock and 3/4" of sand.
2 small clowns
2Blue chromis
A few small corals
an urchin (he's wearing 4 snail shells)
sea cucumber
emerald crab
4 or so hermits
10 or so snails
I've been dosing Brightwell neo nitro and also tried dosing ammonia.

 

[salty105]

Gorgeous tank compared to mine! Has the dosing been doing the trick for you? Also how often do you dose?

 

[tzabor10]

You could always bring a water sample to your LFS.

 

[salty105]

You could always bring a water sample to your LFS.

That’s what I did as well and they also said 0 nitrates and just recommended over feeding for now but that was a month or so ago

 

[smoorman11]

You could always bring a water sample to your LFS.

That’s what I did as well and they also said 0 nitrates and just recommended over feeding for now but that was a month or so ago

That's pretty much the advice I've gotten.

 

[docscorals]

Brightwell makes some great nutrient supplements. Because of my coral loads, I have a hard time keeping nutrients in my tanks even with heavy feeding of both the corals and the fish in the tanks.
So, I frequently have to dose nutrients and Brightwell is my own go to for this.

You have to do some math to calculate your dose, and I would also recommend getting some solid test kits before dosing things like nitrogen and phosphorus in the tanks (also recommended by Brightwell). It is easy to overdose. I would recommend investing in Hanna checkers or look at kits like Nyos or Salifert that are known to be pretty accurate.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I recommend dosing with food grades of ammonium bicarbonate, sodium nitrate or calcium nitrate. They have a purity assurance the hobby products lack, they are less expensive, and can be made to most any desired potency for dosing.

 

[FrugalReeferJon]

Increase your bioload by adding more fish. But don’t do it all at once. Add a fish, and test to see if this results in detectable nitrates. If still 0 wait a week or two and add another fish, test again and wait again before adding another fish if need be. I wouldn’t go more than 4 small fish in a 20 gallon.

@Randy Holmes-Farley with all due respect, is it not a good idea to use the following methods of increasing bioload, feeding more, lessening filtration to try to create detectable nitrates and only then resort to ammonia dosing if none of these work?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

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@Randy Holmes-Farley with all due respect, is it not a good idea to use the following methods of increasing bioload, feeding more, lessening filtration to try to create detectable nitrates and only then resort to ammonia dosing if none of these work?

Feeding more or reducing particulate filtration is a fine approach, assuming phosphate is not elevated, but has its own drawbacks. These include adding organic matter that may promote cyano or yellow the water.

I think if one only wants nitrate higher, adding just N by dosing is not a second rate solution. It may take more effort, but may give a better result and may be easier to control.

 

[Airedale Reef]

I recently had this issue with nitrates bottoming out. I decided to dose NeoNitro from bright well, and have seen my nitrates increase. It's been a big help for me....just sharing my experience.