Adding a fish to raise nitrates

[baldislife]

I have a 25 gallon IM lagoon that's been running for about a year. LPS and softies along with two clowns. Last three months the nitrate has been reading as 0 ppm by my LFS using salifert test kits. Tank looks fine outside of one ticked off acan frag. In addition of slowly ramping up feeding I was thinking of adding a smaller fish like an azure damsel to raise nitrates - good idea? Photos for reference. TIA.

 

[Fish Fan]

You can dose ammonia to raise nitrate:

DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

Some reef aquaria have chronic low nitrogen availability. One indicator is very low nitrate. Nitrate dosing is a fine remedy, but it is possible that ammonia dosing may be more beneficial for some organisms since ammonia can be energetically easier to assimilate than is nitrate. For this...

www.reef2reef.com

Good luck!

 

[exnisstech]

Adding fish and feeding more doesn't always increase nutrients. At least it never did for me just like feeding less never reduced them. As mentioned I would look into ammonium dosing. I currently dose 10ml of ammonium bicarb daily along with 1ml of diy PO4 in my SPS tank to keep levels above zero. I dose both buy hand so no extra equipment is needed tho a doser could be used. Tank is aprox 65g total with 4 fish including two decent sized tangs and I feed 4-5 times a day.
PS I'm keeping NO3 3-5 ppm and PO4 0.02-0.04 ppm

 

[baldislife]

Thank you both for the replies. The reason I am a little apprehensive about dosing is I heard that it can cause phosphate to get out of whack. Also adding an azure damsel would add some color and movement to my somewhat bland bare bottom tank. I will research the ammonia dosing. Great looking tank @exnisstech!

 

[exnisstech]

I mean if you have a fish you want to add anyway I would go ahead and add one and see how it goes.
I will mention IMO I'm not sure you have enough rock for two somewhat aggressive fish such as a clown and damsel in a tank that size. I have several types of damsels and they all have their own area claimed.

 

[baldislife]

Great point about the rock!

 

[CHSUB]

Adding a fish is kool, however no need to raise no3. Salifert always reads 0 or clear on my tank without issues. If fact thousands and thousands of successful hobbyists would say the same.

 

[exnisstech]

Adding a fish is kool, however no need to raise no3. Salifert always reads 0 or clear on my tank without issues. If fact thousands and thousands of successful hobbyists would say the same.

Ya but you are much braver than many of us I lack your confidence and need to see a number above 0 or I'm worrying about dinos. I only had them once but prefer not to repeat it. Tank was zero N and P and very well could have been caused by something else but blaming 0 N and P makes me feel better lol.

 

[Science/G]

Sure, an azure damsel is a nice choice, and feeding a little more will eventually bring your nitrates up depending on your maintenance schedule. The easiest way to bring them up if you want to is with Brightwell neo nitro.

 

[Science/G]

In my 30 gallon mixed reef, 1 ml of neo nitro raised my nitrates by 10 parts per million

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Adding the azure damsel seems a fine way to go, as would dosing food grade sodium or calcium nitrate, or ammonium bicarbonate. I use the ammonium for routine dosing, and sodium nitrate if I want a sudden jump of 5 or 10 ppm.

 

[Ryan15236]

I’ve recently went down this path. My nitrates kept dropping all the way to zero where they stayed for too long. About 2 weeks. I lost 1 acro and corals started browning. I was adding fish and increasing feedings to try to get up and never really increased or I just wasn’t patient enough.

I dosed 5 ml of neonitrate for about 3 days and started doing some coral amino. This raised nitrate to about 13 ppm over a week. I’ve been staying between 13-16 ppm nitrate for a couple of weeks now and corals really colored back up with good polyp extension. I have paused dosing of both and just testing nitrate and phosphate every 3 days or so to keep an eye on it

If it were me knowing what I know now I would dose nitrate or amino instead of adding fish (unless you just want to add some fish). I believe it will get you quicker more predictable results that you can maintain.

 

[Science/G]

I agree with @Ryan15236. Nowadays, if my nitrates get below 10 ppm and I want to raise them a bit, I add a little Polyplab polyp booster to my feeding regiment. It does the trick.