Adding Nitrate Without Raising Phosphate Naturally

[dlightning]

Is there a way to increase nitrates without raising phosphates naturally? If not what product would be best for this purpose?

 

[mypocketreef]

Is there a way to increase nitrates without raising phosphates naturally? If not what product would be best for this purpose?

You could dose neonitro. What are your phosphates at? Because lowering phosphates can also help increase nitrates as they work inversely depending where it’s at!

 

[mypocketreef]

You could dose neonitro. What are your phosphates at? Because lowering phosphates can also help increase nitrates as they work inversely depending where it’s at!

Also what are both your nitrate and phosphate parameters?

 

[Fish Fan]

Ammonia dosing is another method to raise your nitrate. Here's Randy Holmes-Farley's article on dosing ammonia:

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!

 

[dlightning]

Also what are both your nitrate and phosphate parameters?

My phosphates stay between .06 and .15 but can increase up to .3 or higher if I don't use phosphate-e. My nitrates are usually 1.0 to 3.0 but dropped to 0 today. I can get the nitrates up to 10.0 if I feed very heavy, but the phosphates will skyrocket. I had phosphates at .9 before according to my Hanna tester. Phosphate-e works great but a recent ICP showed 30.559 ug/l of Lanthanum.

 

[GSPClown94]

Because lowering phosphates can also help increase nitrates as they work inversely depending where it’s at!

I don't follow, can you explain this?

 

[Spare time]

What do you mean naturally? Nothing is natural about this hobby. Anyways, amino acids, sodium nitrate, and ammonium, chloride are phosphate free.

 

[Spare time]

You could dose neonitro. What are your phosphates at? Because lowering phosphates can also help increase nitrates as they work inversely depending where it’s at!

Uh what? Are you talking about the stuff brightwell says on the back of the bottle?

 

[mypocketreef]

My phosphates stay between .06 and .15 but can increase up to .3 or higher if I don't use phosphate-e. My nitrates are usually 1.0 to 3.0 but dropped to 0 today. I can get the nitrates up to 10.0 if I feed very heavy, but the phosphates will skyrocket. I had phosphates at .9 before according to my Hanna tester. Phosphate-e works great but a recent ICP showed 30.559 ug/l of Lanthanum.

Nitrates take longer to build up than phosphates, so you can either dose by using Neo Nitro, or wait for it to go up naturally by holding off on water changes. .1 is a great area to stay around with phosphates. By increasing your nitrates to a range of 15-20, your corals will absorb more of the phosphates with growth which lowers them. Definitely consistently test to keep track of where they are going, but it is very common to dose nitrates and phosphates until they start to build up.

 

[Uncle99]

Neo nitro by Brightwell is fast and easy to use.

 

[mypocketreef]

Uh what? Are you talking about the stuff brightwell says on the back of the bottle?

I meant to say keeping phosphates and nitrates at an appropriate level helps the other balance out. When phosphates are high it can be common to have low nitrates and vice versa. This is because they are absorbed together by corals for growth. So, when they are at an appropriate range, the corals will be more likely to absorb them ( promoting growth).

 

[mypocketreef]

Nitrates take longer to build up than phosphates, so you can either dose by using Neo Nitro, or wait for it to go up naturally by holding off on water changes. .1 is a great area to stay around with phosphates. By increasing your nitrates to a range of 15-20, your corals will absorb more of the phosphates with growth which lowers them. Definitely consistently test to keep track of where they are going, but it is very common to dose nitrates and phosphates until they start to build up.

This means that once your nitrates are fixed, your corals should start to be happier, and will likely help keep your phosphates down because they will be absorbing more for growth. Likely to be able to get to a point where you won't need to use the phosphate-e any more.

 

[Spare time]

So, when they are at an appropriate range, the corals will be more likely to absorb them ( promoting growth).

Says who?

 

[exnisstech]

I dose ammonium bicarb daily to keep NO3 3-5 on my SPS tank. The tank has always run low and feeding more doesn't help. Just a reef mat no skimmer or other mechanical filtration or fuge so it's the only option I see for me. Results are more consistent using ammonium than when I was dosing nitrates.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Is there a way to increase nitrates without raising phosphates naturally? If not what product would be best for this purpose?

As folks note, it is unclear what you mean by naturally. But dosing N by ammonium bicarbonate, sodium nitrate or calcium nitrate (all are availabel food grade) is not complicated.

From that list, ammonia dosing is probably the most natural, since it is like having another fish excreting ammonia.

 

[dlightning]

As folks note, it is unclear what you mean by naturally. But dosing N by ammonium bicarbonate, sodium nitrate or calcium nitrate (all are availabel food grade) is not complicated.

From that list, ammonia dosing is probably the most natural, since it is like having another fish excreting ammonia.

I was thinking about buying stump remover since I can get it today rather than waiting for ammonium bicarbonate to be shipped and I can easily test for nitrate with my Hanna checker.

 

[Science/G]

I think the op is talking about natural food sources

 

[Science/G]

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I was thinking about buying stump remover since I can get it today rather than waiting for ammonium bicarbonate to be shipped and I can easily test for nitrate with my Hanna checker.

Bad plan. It has no purity guarantee and will raise potassium.

 

[dlightning]

Bad plan. It has no purity guarantee and will raise potassium.

The nitrate is up to 2.5 now with po4 at .15. I guess I can wait and order something better