How to get Nitrates & Phosphate up?

[Brah02]

I have always had ultra low nutrients. (Like .03 max phosphate and 2 nitrates) my Cal/Alk/Mag is all stable, but I can’t for the life of me get my nutrients up. I haven’t done a water change in weeks and turned my skimmer off completely, but it still doesn’t affect my nutrients. Main reason I’m trying to get them up is because I want to get the best colors out of my coral, and I have some SPS coming in as well. What can I do to get levels up?

 

[JTP424]

Can you increase the amount you feed?
You can also dose Nitrates/Phophates. There are some DIY mixes on here.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Feeding more is easiest, but dosing food grade sodium phosphate and either ammonium bicarbonate, sodium nitrate or calcium nitrate is easy and not expensive.

I have used all of these except calcium nitrate.

 

[BryanM]

I dose sodium nitrate now for nitrates and it works great.

 

[CHSUB]

I want to get the best colors out of my coral

Best colors are achieved with low nutrients, like the ocean. Po4 ~.01-.05, no3 ~ 0.1-0.5. Not ultra low like zoalite systems but lower than yours …you can thank me later!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Best colors are achieved with low nutrients, like the ocean. Po4 ~.01-.05, no3 ~ 0.1-0.5. Not ultra low like zoalite systems but lower than yours …you can thank me later!

Maybe. Colors look good here at far higher numbers.

Randy’s Thoughts on Nutrient Target Ranges

Thoughts on Nutrient Target Ranges by Randy Holmes-Farley Almost nothing in the world of reef aquarium chemistry causes as much discussion as selecting and maintaining ranges for nitrate and phosphate. Some aquarists want low targets, some want...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[CHSUB]

Maybe. Colors look good here at far higher numbers.

Randy’s Thoughts on Nutrient Target Ranges

Thoughts on Nutrient Target Ranges by Randy Holmes-Farley Almost nothing in the world of reef aquarium chemistry causes as much discussion as selecting and maintaining ranges for nitrate and phosphate. Some aquarists want low targets, some want...

www.reef2reef.com

I agree from experience: my tank here in ~2000 ran “high” nutrients and had “good” colorful corals.

However, my current tank imo has far superior color and growth with much lower nutrients, specifically po4. OP is specifically looking for “better” color and imo going the wrong direction.

 

[Brah02]

Feeding more is easiest, but dosing food grade sodium phosphate and either ammonium bicarbonate, sodium nitrate or calcium nitrate is easy and not expensive.

I have used all of these except calcium nitrate.

I’ll try upping what I feed then first!

 

[Brah02]

I want to get the best colors out of my coral

Best colors are achieved with low nutrients, like the ocean. Po4 ~.01-.05, no3 ~ 0.1-0.5. Not ultra low like zoalite systems but lower than yours …you can thank me later!

So, then my phosphate is ok but nitrate needs to be lower?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So, then my phosphate is ok but nitrate needs to be lower?

He has a very different viewpoint on nutrients than I do. Lol

 

[TokenReefer]

Does this kind of push the effect of NO3 and PO4 levels on color to the side, if both tanks look great?

 

[JTP424]

Left field answer!!! Adjust your lights :D
Getting better colors through nutrients is possible, BUT if you're not looking at them through the best color spectrum, it won't matter!

 

[MasterClassReefs]

I want to get the best colors out of my coral

Best colors are achieved with low nutrients, like the ocean. Po4 ~.01-.05, no3 ~ 0.1-0.5. Not ultra low like zoalite systems but lower than yours …you can thank me later!

Would imagine these numbers vary widely by collection point and species needs. Not all seawater is exactly the same. Too many variables to pinpoint perfection.

 

[MasterClassReefs]

Maybe. Colors look good here at far higher numbers.

Randy’s Thoughts on Nutrient Target Ranges

Thoughts on Nutrient Target Ranges by Randy Holmes-Farley Almost nothing in the world of reef aquarium chemistry causes as much discussion as selecting and maintaining ranges for nitrate and phosphate. Some aquarists want low targets, some want...

www.reef2reef.com

I agree from experience: my tank here in ~2000 ran “high” nutrients and had “good” colorful corals.

However, my current tank imo has far superior color and growth with much lower nutrients, specifically po4. OP is specifically looking for “better” color and imo going the wrong direction.

From 2000 to 2026 you use the exact same lights? If not you have way more at play then nutrients in this comparison.

 

[Brah02]

Left field answer!!! Adjust your lights :D
Getting better colors through nutrients is possible, BUT if you're not looking at them through the best color spectrum, it won't matter!

I’m using reefbreeders photon pro v2’s what light adjustments should I make?

 

[JTP424]

I’m using reefbreeders photon pro v2’s what light adjustments should I make?

My apologies I'm not super familiar with those lights, I guess it depends on what you mean by... "Best Colors"
adjusting the different levels may make certain colors pop more than others...

 

[exnisstech]

I’m using reefbreeders photon pro v2’s what light adjustments should I make?

You can find some schedules in the community section of the app. I run 2 32 pro V2s over my SPS tank.

All grown from little frags.

My schedule if you want to check it out.

My N and P levels for reference. I used to dosed ammonium for nitrates and occasional dose some phosphate but I haven't had to dose in a couple of months. Tank has been running about 3 years.

 

[CHSUB]

From 2000 to 2026 you use the exact same lights? If not you have way more at play then nutrients in this comparison.

I agree lighting makes a difference also, and certainly other factors I’m not aware of…mostly just a good guess and observation. I often doubt if I even see color changes due to my actions.

 

[CHSUB]

Lights makes a huge difference. Here is a picture after my mangrove lights go out. I run 10 hours with daylight for the mangroves and two hours with just blue.