HELP! MY SPS ARE PALING AND I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO

[Russ265]

Test kit still hasn't arrived.
My indicator that something wasn't right was my green birdsnest. It's always looking good and yesterday the polyps were all crappy. After reseting everything yesterday the birdsnest is based k to normal today.

always always always go on coral. especially a birdsnest!

you did good.

 

[bubbaque]

What could cause his birdsnest to do that after dosing nitrate? Especially at such low levels?

 

[Russ265]

What could cause his birdsnest to do that after dosing nitrate? Especially at such low levels?

100 ml for such a small tank in 10 days isnt small.

i dont think it was the nitrate though. i think something else in the column was taking hold and irritating the nest.

either way. the bn knows better than any kit.

 

[Robink]

thanks!! good info!

 

[LakeCityReefs]

100 ml for such a small tank in 10 days isnt small.

i dont think it was the nitrate though. i think something else in the column was taking hold and irritating the nest.

either way. the bn knows better than any kit.

I agree and think I've dosed enough (80-100 ml in 60 Ga setup over 10 days) to see some no3 reading. I've been testing twice daily (before and after dosing).

If it's something else in the column irritating corals, I don't know what it is yet. I do know that my skimmer and reactor fixed whatever the problem was.

Once my new test kit arrives I'll go back to dosing with confidence. I will leave my skimmer and reactor off for just a few hours after dosing.

 

[reefndude]

good call not using api for nitrates.
for reference i dose 60 ml and that gets me around 5ppm on my 300 gallon system.

if we were to scale it down. 10 ml should have gotten you a reading. however, nitrates have been known to get sucked up like a sponge on initial dosing.

Are you dosing 60 ml all at once or are you using dosing pumps?

 

[Russ265]

Are you dosing 60 ml all at once or are you using dosing pumps?

60 ml at one shot

 

[reefndude]

How much does nitrates drop before you dose again?

 

[Russ265]

How much does nitrates drop before you dose again?

before i added extra fish it would take a week.

i added quite a few more and it takes a month or two.

it is highly dependent on bioload and your nitrate deficit. i think dosing weekly is a bit extreme after doing it for a year. stocking a few extra fish and letting it fall slower is the way to go.

 

[GoJimmy]

So. Quick update on my results on trying to raise nitrates. I stated with removing my macro algae from the back chamber, removing my baggie of purigen, and shutting down my skimmer 12h a day, from 11am to 11pm. Not much change, NO3 @0. Added 2 more fish, so 4 altogether now, no change. I started dosing Seachem Nitrogen and have for over a week and it is working perfectly. Stated slow with 1ml at a time and testing between, no change. I gave the tank 1 big shot of 4ml at once and saw a reading! 2ppm. Since then, I have held a reading for nitrates testing with Red Sea Pro. My tank has been consuming nitrates and I have had to replenish sometimes 2 times a day, morning and evening. 1ml is giving me a reading of aprox 0.5ppm. I find that with the skimmer on at night, I am dosing more in the morning and it trending that the tank will lose about 1.5-2ppm overnight. When I dose in the morning to replace levels lost to get back to 2ppm, it will usually hold all day dropping maybe 0.5ppm for the evening dose. Not sure if the tank consumes more at night vs the day or the skimmer is removing the nitrates dosed overnight. Phosphates have not moved through all these changes and is locked at 0.05ppm. The colors of the corals have made a huge swing. Birdsnest is bright pink from pale almost white, purple dragon is very colorful and is starting to encrusting it's rock like never before. My green and purple candy canes have split 3 times! And my poker monti has grown 1/8" all the way around. I am stating to see coraline algae that has never grown on my tank since I started back in January. This has got to be the most excited I've been in this hobby! I wish I took before and after pics but I didn't think it would work this well. I will post some pics soon.

 

[bkelley02]

Over how long a period of time? I cannot raise my nitrates at all and am worried about adding too much sodium nitrate at a time.

 

[Rodmad4]

Along this thread did anyone suggest using amino acids to raise nitrates?

 

[GoJimmy]

Over how long a period of time? I cannot raise my nitrates at all and am worried about adding too much sodium nitrate at a time.

I have a 29g biocube. This has been a period of about 10 days. You need to initially dose a little heavier to get a reading. Then monitor carefully to maintain the desired level. I dosed 4ml Seachem Nitrogen and since then maybe 1-2ml at a time

 

[Russ265]

Along this thread did anyone suggest using amino acids to raise nitrates?

i mentioned using it before. i od'd on acropower for 2 weeks and got 2ppm nitrates. its not that effective.

also the cyano that comes with it is awful.

 

[Russ265]

So. Quick update on my results on trying to raise nitrates. I stated with removing my macro algae from the back chamber, removing my baggie of purigen, and shutting down my skimmer 12h a day, from 11am to 11pm. Not much change, NO3 @0. Added 2 more fish, so 4 altogether now, no change. I started dosing Seachem Nitrogen and have for over a week and it is working perfectly. Stated slow with 1ml at a time and testing between, no change. I gave the tank 1 big shot of 4ml at once and saw a reading! 2ppm. Since then, I have held a reading for nitrates testing with Red Sea Pro. My tank has been consuming nitrates and I have had to replenish sometimes 2 times a day, morning and evening. 1ml is giving me a reading of aprox 0.5ppm. I find that with the skimmer on at night, I am dosing more in the morning and it trending that the tank will lose about 1.5-2ppm overnight. When I dose in the morning to replace levels lost to get back to 2ppm, it will usually hold all day dropping maybe 0.5ppm for the evening dose. Not sure if the tank consumes more at night vs the day or the skimmer is removing the nitrates dosed overnight. Phosphates have not moved through all these changes and is locked at 0.05ppm. The colors of the corals have made a huge swing. Birdsnest is bright pink from pale almost white, purple dragon is very colorful and is starting to encrusting it's rock like never before. My green and purple candy canes have split 3 times! And my poker monti has grown 1/8" all the way around. I am stating to see coraline algae that has never grown on my tank since I started back in January. This has got to be the most excited I've been in this hobby! I wish I took before and after pics but I didn't think it would work this well. I will post some pics soon.

its pretty conclusive it works for ulns tanks.
glad you are getting excited again about the hobby.

 

[jjordan1904]

This is great. I have been loosing my sticks over the last couple months and what i have left is loosing all its color. everything else seems to be on point.
Just unplugged my pellets and GFO to see if i can get the levels to raise a bit

Thanks so much!!! fingers crossed this helps

 

[bkelley02]

What would you suggest as a good starting dose for about 60 gallons of water? No macro or refugium?

 

[Russ265]

What would you suggest as a good starting dose for about 60 gallons of water? No macro or refugium?

10-15 ml if it is flourish nitrate

 

[bkelley02]

Would sodium nitrate be about the same? 1 tsp per 8 oz.

 

[gettaReef]

So. Quick update on my results on trying to raise nitrates. I stated with removing my macro algae from the back chamber, removing my baggie of purigen, and shutting down my skimmer 12h a day, from 11am to 11pm. Not much change, NO3 @0. Added 2 more fish, so 4 altogether now, no change. I started dosing Seachem Nitrogen and have for over a week and it is working perfectly. Stated slow with 1ml at a time and testing between, no change. I gave the tank 1 big shot of 4ml at once and saw a reading! 2ppm. Since then, I have held a reading for nitrates testing with Red Sea Pro. My tank has been consuming nitrates and I have had to replenish sometimes 2 times a day, morning and evening. 1ml is giving me a reading of aprox 0.5ppm. I find that with the skimmer on at night, I am dosing more in the morning and it trending that the tank will lose about 1.5-2ppm overnight. When I dose in the morning to replace levels lost to get back to 2ppm, it will usually hold all day dropping maybe 0.5ppm for the evening dose. Not sure if the tank consumes more at night vs the day or the skimmer is removing the nitrates dosed overnight. Phosphates have not moved through all these changes and is locked at 0.05ppm. The colors of the corals have made a huge swing. Birdsnest is bright pink from pale almost white, purple dragon is very colorful and is starting to encrusting it's rock like never before. My green and purple candy canes have split 3 times! And my poker monti has grown 1/8" all the way around. I am stating to see coraline algae that has never grown on my tank since I started back in January. This has got to be the most excited I've been in this hobby! I wish I took before and after pics but I didn't think it would work this well. I will post some pics soon.

That is awesome to hear! It really is amazingly simple. We've been so concerned with (and have become extraordinarily effeciant at) completely ridding our reefs of all nutrients, especially nitrate and phosphate. It is crazy to me that so many of us (me included!) did not consider that these nutrients are vital for the corals health. Like so often in life, our thought process was "all or nothing", leading to the method of "ultra low nutrient systems", which, for many of us, became "practically no nutrient systems". This resulted in starving our coral. Through trial and error, it has been found that this issue (nitrate/phosphate levels in relation to corals health) is actually very simple: not too much, but also not the complete absence, of nitrate and phosphate is ideal......at least in my experience.

I am happy to hear your positive results, please post some pictures of your now thriving corals if you can.