I cant get my nitrate above 0ppm?

[craftycamper]

I have been having a perplexing issue in my reef tank. I cant seem to get my nitrates off of 0ppm, but I still have detectable po4 levels. I run a primarily sps/LPS reef and feed a moderate amount. I have a roller mat, skimmer and fuge that only has a 6 hour photoperiod, It's mainly for keeping a pod population as I have a mandarin dragonet. I noticed some of my LPS not extending as much for the past few weeks and started dosing neonitro last week. I dose .5ppm per day but im still getting 0 on my hanna checker. My LPS seem happier now, and I noticed an uptick in alk consumption after I started dosing, so i think something is working, but should I up my dosing until I get detectable levels? I also test 24 hrs after the previous dose of neonitro, right before I dose for that day.

My parameters are as follows:

Kh - 8.4
PH - 8.2
Ca - 450
Mg - 1380
po4 - 0.05
no3 - 0.00

I plan to continue dosing neonitro and will probably swap over to sodium nitrate and mix my own solutions at some point, as its far more cost effective. I have kno3 salts for my planted tank but Ive seen that dosing it may push my potassium levels too high. Is it normal for people to have to dose nitrates into some tanks for the life of the tank?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

You said you feed a moderate amount, how much and what kind of foods are you feeding your tank?

 

[allof fish]

I have pretty low nutrients as of now with a low fish load. My nitrates have been around 4 and phosphate.01-.02. Been trying to get them up. I feed a lot for the amount of fish I have and was dosing neo nitrate and phos here and there but my corals just suck everything up. Thought to start dosing some ammonia and after Randy’s recommendation I did and nitrates up 1 after 2 days. And that’s me putting a few drops of it in sump a day. That might be your best solution

 

[craftycamper]

You said you feed a moderate amount, how much and what kind of foods are you feeding your tank?

I feed reef roids 2x a week, and AB+ with the same frequency. I feed TDO pellets mixed with avast reef jerky 2x a day, the fish are able to consume nearly all of it in about 3-4 min. I also feed frozen mysis, and brine shrimp alternating 3-4x a week, about a cube's worth. I try to make sure that the majority of the food is finished within about 3-5 minutes of adding it.

 

[Fish Fan]

I would definitely go with a DIY solution over the NeoNitro, which is thought to be a very weak solution.

You can dose nitrate directly:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-nitrate-dosing-recipe.1111863/

Or, better still, you can dose ammonia to raise nitrate, which provides other benefits than dosing nitrate directly:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-ammonia-dosing-for-low-nitrate-systems.987087/

Good luck!

 

[exnisstech]

I dose ammonium bicarb to keep NO3 detectable in my SPS tank. I feel I get better results than when I was dosing nitrate.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Feeding more or dosing more N are both fine plans. :)