Aqua-balance: Do you work to keep your nitrates stable?

[Peace River]

Aqua-balance: Do you work to keep your nitrates stable?

In addition to calcium, and alkalinity, nitrates and phosphates are some of the most commonly tested chemicals in an aquarium. In fact, understanding the nitrogen cycle is an important part of setting up a tank. Even after the tank is up and going, managing nitrates will continue to be key in developing and maintaining a heathy and thriving reef tank.

Pro Tip: Although low nitrates may not be as crucial when keeping a fish only system, it is still beneficial to track and manage nitrates with a much higher end to the range. Additionally, whether you are dealing with fish or coral it is recommended to not chase numbers and (generally speaking) do not make quick changes to the nitrate parameters.

Photo by @Just John

For more information on nitrates, you may be interested in reading this article by Randy Holmes-Farley from the archives:
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/nitrate-in-the-reef-aquarium.10/


This QOTD is sponsored by: www.topshelfaquatics.com

“Top Shelf Aquatics helps you feel confident in the quality, reliability, and consistency of getting everything you need for a perfect saltwater aquarium. From corals and fish to inverts and aquarium supplies, you can count on us to provide you with a seamless reefing experience.”

 

[SPS2020]

I monitor PO4 routinely, but not so much NO3. Fish are fed around three or four times a day, so ammonia is there for the acros.

 

[Dburr1014]

My NO3 is chronically low no matter what I do. I'm feeding 3 times a day and started dosing fritz fish less fuel ammonia.

My system still gets what it needs in ammonium, that's what coral prefer anyway. (my pro tip)

 

[vetteguy53081]

I test occasionally but utilize both skimmer and algae scrubber in which scrubber has done a tremendous job in keeping my levels low

 

[JoJosReef]

Other: I actively try to keep levels up.

 

[shakacuz]

My NO3 is chronically low no matter what I do. I'm feeding 3 times a day and started dosing fritz fish less fuel ammonia.

My system still gets what it needs in ammonium, that's what coral prefer anyway. (my pro tip)

I actually am dealing with this issue as well..may have to start dosing fritz like you.

 

[nmotz]

I wouldn’t say I work at it but I do need to keep nitrates low for the health of my Peacock mantis shrimp. Nitrates chronically higher than 10ppm = shell rot.

I grow macro, lots and lots of red macro - botryocladia, dragons breath, and gracillaria. Some green nuisance algae even makes an appearance from time to time but not enough to make the tank unsightly.

Once macro gets going it’s an easy and effective nutrient control tool.

 

[pepper89]

Personally, I plan on trying to keep them reasonably low but detectable ranges, since I will have a refugium in the setup. I figure some nitrates will be good for the macroalgae, and keeping it too low would starve them out. TBH so far I haven't had too much to keep them down though, seems like the cycle keeps things around 1.2 or lower for the most part, and I do a water change once it starts to creep up closer to 2.0 ppm, which seems to bring it back down to closer to 0.5 ppm and I let it creep its way back up.

 

[pepper89]

I wouldn’t say I work at it but I do need to keep nitrates low for the health of my Peacock mantis shrimp. Nitrates chronically higher than 10ppm = shell rot.

I grow macro, lots and lots of red macro - botryocladia, dragons breath, and gracillaria. Some green nuisance algae even makes an appearance from time to time but not enough to make the tank unsightly.

Once macro gets going it’s an easy and effective nutrient control tool.

Strange question, but do red algae use up more nitrates than green ones? Or does it have higher needs? Just curious cause I know very little about macroalgae and setting up a refugium, and I tend to lean more toward the red ones.

 

[fodsod]

I test 2-3 times per week for all the major parameters. I carbon dose to handle nitrates and as long as that's dialed in correctly it keeps me in the 8-14 range generally depending on what I feed the corals.

 

[Wizard677]

I wish I could keep my Nitrates in check. 20% water change every 2 weeks. Vacuum sandbed. Run Bubble Magus curve 7 skimmer, Reefmat 500, feed 3 frozen cubes once a day to 11 fish with 1 sheet of Norie. 90 Gallon system. 2 cleaner shrimp, about 10 hermits, large number of snails. 2 Gyres at moderate flow. Dual reactor for GFO / Carbon.....30 to 40ppm by end of 2 weeks before water change, everytime. About to start NoPoX

 

[CoralB]

My nitrates are predictable between 15-20 ppm I only would worry if they started heading toward zero . The coral uptake , fish load , and feeding amount and schedule seems to balance out and has been this way for a long time . Phosphates are pretty much what I have to adjust every once in a while . I use a skimmer and a refugium .

 

[shwareefer]

Other. I'm usually actively trying to keep them elevated not lower them.

 

[zoomonster]

I pretty much stopped chasing nitrates because no matter what they tend to run high even with skimmer, ozone, bio pellet reactor, sandbed and refugium (restarted and pretty new). Here lately been doing 40g changes every couple weeks to get it back into the realm of reason as part of a remodel. Phosphates pretty much the same but when they get a bit much, I run GFO. Of course, I run a mixed reef with lots of fish, LPS and softies these days with not much in the way of SPS anymore. I suspect most of those issues are all part of old tank syndrome (almost 10 years). I actually just checked nitrates (Hanna) and up to 45ppm and doing another water change this weekend anyway. In reality now that I have a second tank going, I need to move all the sand bed inhabitants to the new tank and do some serious sandbed cleaning even if I do lose some pods, mini stars and worms. Interesting thing is I have not had any algae issues in years or problems with fish and corals.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I use nitrate level to determine when I do my water changes. I try to keep it in a range of 10-20 ppm for sps, and 20-40 ppm for lps and softies.

 

[TWYOUNG]

Aqua-balance: Do you work to keep your nitrates stable?

In addition to calcium, and alkalinity, nitrates and phosphates are some of the most commonly tested chemicals in an aquarium. In fact, understanding the nitrogen cycle is an important part of setting up a tank. Even after the tank is up and going, managing nitrates will continue to be key in developing and maintaining a heathy and thriving reef tank.

Pro Tip: Although low nitrates may not be as crucial when keeping a fish only system, it is still beneficial to track and manage nitrates with a much higher end to the range. Additionally, whether you are dealing with fish or coral it is recommended to not chase numbers and (generally speaking) do not make quick changes to the nitrate parameters.

Photo by @Just John

For more information on nitrates, you may be interested in reading this article by Randy Holmes-Farley from the archives:
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/nitrate-in-the-reef-aquarium.10/


This QOTD is sponsored by: www.topshelfaquatics.com

“Top Shelf Aquatics helps you feel confident in the quality, reliability, and consistency of getting everything you need for a perfect saltwater aquarium. From corals and fish to inverts and aquarium supplies, you can count on us to provide you with a seamless reefing experience.”

Love the color chart. That's why if there's a Hanna test for it I BUY IT! Of course the result could be off but I have a NUMBER and I'm going with it lol!

 

[rogersb]

I feed often to keep it at 10, when I am busy it falls fast to 5 or below.

 

[reeftivo]

for me i have been trying to keep NO3 from bottoming out. This only started happening recently after i purchased an extra 25 lbs of LR from TB saltwater. PO4 is stable at 0.03 to 0.07 but i have to dose about 2 ml of nitrate every third day or so to keep it off zero.

i DO NOT want a 4th bout with dinos!

 

[Bpb]

The closer I watch nitrate and phosphate, the more tendency I have to mess with them, and the worse my tank looks for it. In my hobby experience, my tanks are always happier when I just ignore N&P and stay regular with feeding and water changes.

 

[sublime275]

Other for me too. I have to dose nitrates to keep them up.