Do I need to raise my nitrates?

[thebookshark]

Parameter question for you all- should I reduce the size and/or frequency of my WC’s to get nitrates above 0? Been doing your standard 10-15% WC once per week.

Tank info/context: I have a 20G mixed reef with a decent amount of SPS. Good growth and colors for the most part; some frags have faded a little but no bleaching (may be adjusting to my light- Kessil AP9X). Tank was an upgrade/transfer from a 10G that was running for a year and this system has been up since early January so about 7 weeks. I have been tracking parameters from the start and nitrates only ever got to about 2 ppm. They went to 0 on week 2 and have stayed there since (Red Sea test kits). I am running a fuge in the rear mid chamber with a lot of chaeto and the fuge light is on 24/7. I have ChemiPure Elite, Purigen, and PhosGuard in the media tower. I feed pretty heavily once a day because I have an NPS gorgonian plus about 8 RFAs. Tank is stocked heavily with inverts and corals but only 2 fish, a YWG/tiger pistol pair and a possum wrasse.

I know most SPS seem to do best with low but detectable nitrates, 5-10 ppm or so. Is cutting back on WCs the best approach here or should I be dosing something? I do dose Reef Essential BioEnhance amino acids once daily but I don’t think this is meant to raise nitrates and I was told it is one of the few coral supplements that won’t raise phosphates.

Thanks!

 

[Maho.B]

I think getting your nitrates above zero would be a good idea. If the corals are mostly happy with your current routine, then dosing nitrates seems the best method in my opinion. There are several products you can buy to do so.

 

[Quietman]

Before adding something I would remove or dial back some of the media (slowly and carefully). Turn lights off for a few hours and then adjust. If that doesn't do it, try dialing back some of the other media slowly. If you want to add coral supplements please do for feeding corals nutrients. There's ammonia additives probably better as a direct nitrogen additive than you can get as well. Ammonium Chloride I believe is recommended by most.

 

[thebookshark]

I think getting your nitrates above zero would be a good idea. If the corals are mostly happy with your current routine, then dosing nitrates seems the best method in my opinion. There are several products you can buy to do so.

This is maybe a dumb question but: is it possible my chaeto is just consuming all the nutrients, but they are actually there in the water? I know when folks have nuisance algae and say their nitrates and phosphates are testing at 0 people always respond saying “they aren’t at 0, the algae is consuming them”. Is that what’s happening here and if so should I turn my fuge light off half the day and/or remove some chaeto?

My pincushion urchin would probably love the snack

 

[Quietman]

I've come to believe that while chaeto (and other algae) are largely beneficial for a natural method to control excess nutrients they can strip too much out so there's a balance as always with a reef tank. You definitely don't want to stay at 0 ppm nitrates. The things that can out compete corals and algae at that low level are dinoflaggelates (the bad kind) and that's not a road you want to be on believe me. You could add ammonia while dialing back just to keep the peg off of zero. There's lots of threads on adding ammonia and dosing. No need to repeat here. Good luck!

 

[Dom]

Personally, I have always tried to stay away from bottled solutions. That being said, I have dosed Neo-Nitro to help elevate nitrates when the tank gets stubborn about it.

You may need a multi prong approach. Perhaps reduce your water change rate to every 10 days at first and then every two weeks if nitrates are still low.

In you post, you mention feeding heavy, but what are you feeding? Also a full tank photo will provide clues.

 

[thebookshark]

Personally, I have always tried to stay away from bottled solutions. That being said, I have dosed Neo-Nitro to help elevate nitrates when the tank gets stubborn about it.

You may need a multi prong approach; perhaps reduce your water change rate to every 10 days at first and then every two weeks if nitrates are still low.

In you post, you mention feeding heavy, but what are you feeding? Also a full tank photo will provide clues.

Here’s some pics, sadly the firefish was killed by my pistol he hid in the wrong nook that day and I heard the shots fire.

I feed a mix of frozen, pellets, and dried plankton (see pic).

 

[Dom]

Here’s some pics, sadly the firefish was killed by my pistol he hid in the wrong nook that day and I heard the Oshots fire.

I feed a mix of frozen, pellets, and dried plankton (see pic)

My compliments; what a nice looking tank... other than that snotty, stringy stuff on the rock. I'm not sure what that is but maybe it will clear up once the nitrate issue is corrected.

None of the foods you show list nitrate or nitrogen content on their labels. Maybe it is because there isn't much in the product? I'm not sure.

I fed heavy marine flake food which helped elevate nitrates.

I try to stay away from bottled solutions. But I did dose Neo-Nitro to elevate nitrates when heavy feeding alone didn't do the job.

 

[thebookshark]

My compliments; what a nice looking tank... other than that snotty, stringy stuff on the rock. I'm not sure what that is but maybe it will clear up once the nitrate issue is corrected.

None of the foods you show list nitrate or nitrogen content on their labels. Maybe it is because there isn't much in the product? I'm not sure.

I fed heavy marine flake food which helped elevate nitrates.

I try to stay away from bottled solutions. But I did dose Neo-Nitro to elevate nitrates when heavy feeding alone didn't do the job.

Thanks! The stringy stuff on the hocks was dying hair algae as I’d just added the PhosGuard. The urchin was also added shortly after these pics and he’s cleaned up any algae that remained so no more stringy stuff Yeah I am so used to having the opposite problem in nano tanks (high nutrients) that I carefully chose foods that wouldn’t add much. Strange times!

 

[Maho.B]

When I started dosing with sodium nitrate the system responded well and I like how easy it is to control the nitrate level. I buy food grade on Amazon and mix it with distilled water.

 

[ColorMeGone]

I would think that the Chaeto is taking up plenty of your nutrients and as I do in my tank, I like to keep N03 around 10 and P04 around .1 to keep everyone happy. I dose Ammonium Bicarbonate daily and Sodium Phosphate 3 times a week to keep things in check with my nano. They are Randy's formulated home made solutions and dosed using a doser.

 

[Marine Betta]

Parameter question for you all- should I reduce the size and/or frequency of my WC’s to get nitrates above 0? Been doing your standard 10-15% WC once per week.

Tank info/context: I have a 20G mixed reef with a decent amount of SPS. Good growth and colors for the most part; some frags have faded a little but no bleaching (may be adjusting to my light- Kessil AP9X). Tank was an upgrade/transfer from a 10G that was running for a year and this system has been up since early January so about 7 weeks. I have been tracking parameters from the start and nitrates only ever got to about 2 ppm. They went to 0 on week 2 and have stayed there since (Red Sea test kits). I am running a fuge in the rear mid chamber with a lot of chaeto and the fuge light is on 24/7. I have ChemiPure Elite, Purigen, and PhosGuard in the media tower. I feed pretty heavily once a day because I have an NPS gorgonian plus about 8 RFAs. Tank is stocked heavily with inverts and corals but only 2 fish, a YWG/tiger pistol pair and a possum wrasse.

I know most SPS seem to do best with low but detectable nitrates, 5-10 ppm or so. Is cutting back on WCs the best approach here or should I be dosing something? I do dose Reef Essential BioEnhance amino acids once daily but I don’t think this is meant to raise nitrates and I was told it is one of the few coral supplements that won’t raise phosphates.

Thanks!

Nice tank! I’m sorry to hear about your fire fish. I would raise your nitrates and phosphates. As long as you’re slow and steady about it, your coral will have better color and PE. I would shoot for nitrates between 5-15 ppm. WWC keeps nitrates in some of their acropora systems as high as 30 ppm, but their coral are used to it. Most people would have a hard time maintaining that. Some people run pretty high phosphates, but I think most would say 0.04-0.1 is a good target. A lot of people use the ratio of 100:1 (nitrates:phosphates). I prefer feeding my fish more to naturally raise nutrients, but that’s harder in a small tank with fish with a low bioload. Adding more fish is another way to increase nutrients naturally. A tailspot blenny would be a good addition. He’ll help control algae too.

I would also recommend dosing Two Little Fishies Acropower. It is designed specifically for SPS, and mine love it and have really colored up since I began using it. Your other coral will like it too. Red Sea AB+ is another good amino acid blend.

 

[CHSUB]

hobby tested no3 at zero is no concern, add a qt fish be happy!

 

[Dom]

hobby tested no3 at zero is no concern, add a qt fish be happy!

My experience has been, that a tank which is all Phosphate and zero Nitrate develops cyano.

 

[CHSUB]

My experience has been, that a tank which is all Phosphate and zero Nitrate develops cyano.

I would expect cyano to grow in any number of available nutrient conditions. With the inaccuracy and low resolution of hobby testing, I don’t believe a hobbyist could identify the condition best suited to control or grow cyano. Imo, cyano grows mostly when hobbyists don’t understand how to execute proper maintenance or get lazy.

 

[ScottJ]

I would at least not run the fuge light 24 hours. Try running it on an opposite schedule as the tank light.

 

[Project1004]

Surprised that everyone is recommending more feeding or dosing.

But I think you should consider running your five light 24hr to lower like 12hrs or less.
Also all those biological filterations should be stopped or least consider stopping. Chemipure, Purigen and phosgard. Use as needed but not always. Save money and water changes should be enough initially. Just keep your tank lightly stocked since it’s nano.

You will want detectable nitrate but with high level, you will get algae’s more often.

 

[thebookshark]

Surprised that everyone is recommending more feeding or dosing.

But I think you should consider running your five light 24hr to lower like 12hrs or less.
Also all those biological filterations should be stopped or least consider stopping. Chemipure, Purigen and phosgard. Use as needed but not always. Save money and water changes should be enough initially. Just keep your tank lightly stocked since it’s nano.

You will want detectable nitrate but with high level, you will get algae’s more often.

Well I had some GHA that came on my LR when I upgraded from the 10G and had to add more rock. This is why I added the PhosGuard and pincushion urchin. However the urchin has cleaned the rocks nicely and I’d prefer to feed him nori directly rather than bring algae back

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

My personal feeling is that you are over filtered with a refugium on such a small tank with only 2 fish, I run several tanks with no filtration at all, just weekly water changes, and my nitrates always lower than 10, usually around 5. Personally I would remove the fuge and those other things (purigen, etc...) and maintain weekly water changes until your tank tells you something else. For me it I don't get trying to raise nitrate when the point of the fuge is to remove nitrate. IMO

 

[thebookshark]

Well I’m running the fuge in part because I have a possum wrasse eating pods so the chaeto is helping keep my pod population up. I can remove some of the filter media though and reduce the light time.

My personal feeling is that you are over filtered with a refugium on such a small tank with only 2 fish, I run several tanks with no filtration at all, just weekly water changes, and my nitrates always lower than 10, usually around 5. Personally I would remove the fuge and those other things (purigen, etc...) and maintain weekly water changes until your tank tells you something else. For me it I don't get trying to raise nitrate when the point of the fuge is to remove nitrate. IMO