Getting your tank dirty..

[mnsean]

Will over feeding with water changes eventually elevate nitrate? Will it help with pH at all? So I have clean tank. All parameters are bit too perfect and clean. Nitrate is pretty much at zero. Thinking about over feeding. I would still like todo 15% water change every week. Any thoughts? Will over feeding also help with elevating pH? It’s right at 8…

I have soft and LPS corals, few fish and inverts

 

[twentyleagues]

Will over feeding with water changes eventually elevate nitrate? Will it help with pH at all? So I have clean tank. All parameters are bit too perfect and clean. Nitrate is pretty much at zero. Thinking about over feeding. I would still like todo 15% water change every week. Any thoughts? Will over feeding also help with elevating pH? It’s right at 8…

I have soft and LPS corals, few fish and inverts

if anything it will reduce ph from the break down of organics.

 

[kevgib67]

If you are trying to get your nitrates up by over feeding you’ll want to hold off on water changes or greatly reduce them.

 

[fish farmer]

How do the corals look?

You can feed more and reduce WC's if you want to boost the nutrient levels. Is your tank new, have you had any algae issues in the past?

I feel that when I started feeding more and reducing WC it worked great for a while then algae took over again.

 

[Biokabe]

Overfeeding would definitely raise nitrates. That's how many of us got our elevated nitrates to begin with.

Feeding generally has little to do with PH. In the reef tank, the PH is mostly determined by CO2 concentration. Running fresh outside air through your skimmer is one of the easiest ways to increase PH; you can also increase algae growth (preferably in a refugium or ATS) to use up more CO2 and increase PH. CO2 scrubbers and kalkwasser reactors and calcium reactors all increase PH as well, though of the three I'd only recommend a CO2 scrubber since you don't indicate a calcium deficiency.

Be careful about deliberate overfeeding, as it's quite easy to overdo it.

Most importantly - why do you want to raise nitrates? Do your corals look to be suffering (good reason to try to do it) or are you trying to hit some perceived "proper" nitrate number (bad reason)?

 

[mnsean]

How do the corals look?

You can feed more and reduce WC's if you want to boost the nutrient levels. Is your tank new, have you had any algae issues in the past?

I feel that when I started feeding more and reducing WC it worked great for a while then algae took over again.

Corals are looking good!! All very happy. I have some green hair but my inverts and one tang has been doing decent job keeping it down. Almost think inverts don’t have enough to eat…

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Feed smaller amounts more often so that the fish poop more, but not so much more that it remains uneaten and rots in the water, that will degrade water quality and fuel algae.

 

[mnsean]

Overfeeding would definitely raise nitrates. That's how many of us got our elevated nitrates to begin with.

Feeding generally has little to do with PH. In the reef tank, the PH is mostly determined by CO2 concentration. Running fresh outside air through your skimmer is one of the easiest ways to increase PH; you can also increase algae growth (preferably in a refugium or ATS) to use up more CO2 and increase PH. CO2 scrubbers and kalkwasser reactors and calcium reactors all increase PH as well, though of the three I'd only recommend a CO2 scrubber since you don't indicate a calcium deficiency.

Be careful about deliberate overfeeding, as it's quite easy to overdo it.

Most importantly - why do you want to raise nitrates? Do your corals look to be suffering (good reason to try to do it) or are you trying to hit some perceived "proper" nitrate number (bad reason)?

I had some diatom, but I took care of that really fast. Currently I have some green hair, but my inverts and one tang has been keeping that mow down pretty good. Rarely see actual “growth” and if I do see some fuzz growing, it’s gone in few days.

This tank is new. Only 3 month old. But I’ve been adding lots of corals and fish. Trying this tank as growth tank..

 

[fish farmer]

I had some diatom, but I took care of that really fast. Currently I have some green hair, but my inverts and one tang has been keeping that mow down pretty good. Rarely see actual “growth” and if I do see some fuzz growing, it’s gone in few days.

This tank is new. Only 3 month old. But I’ve been adding lots of corals and fish. Trying this tank as growth tank..

So since you are seeing some algae growth and tang/cuc taking care of it, just go slow with whatever you decide. It looks like you are on the right track for tank maturity. I wouldn't chase a number since you are getting some algae growth and that is feeding the critters in your tank.

 

[Doctorgori]

Feed smaller amounts more often so that the fish poop more, but not so much more that it remains uneaten and rots in the water, that will degrade water quality and fuel algae.

yeah that is funny how there is absolutely a difference between poop and uneaten food ( with respect to water quality)
…makes no sense chemically but there is something to it

 

[vetteguy53081]

Will over feeding with water changes eventually elevate nitrate? Will it help with pH at all? So I have clean tank. All parameters are bit too perfect and clean. Nitrate is pretty much at zero. Thinking about over feeding. I would still like todo 15% water change every week. Any thoughts? Will over feeding also help with elevating pH? It’s right at 8…

I have soft and LPS corals, few fish and inverts

You dont want to overfeed however increase time between water changes which will allow increase