Keeping Nitrate and Phosphate up During Fallow

[Justfebreezeit]

Velvet just wiped out my tank, the clowns are the only thing to survive the trip to the hospital tank.

While the tank sits fallow: I'm curious peoples thoughts on maintaining nitrate and phosphate in the DT while fishless. I have softies, lps, and easier sps like monti, stylo, pocci.

My thoughts are Aminos should keep nitrates up (please correct me if this is incorrect) and Reef Roids should be enough to keep Phosphates detectable.

I am toying with the idea of just dosing the two but am looking to avoid buying more products if I can make do with what I have.

Feasible? Thoughts?

 

[Formulator]

Aminos may add some nitrate, but its not the most controlled way to do it, and it varies so much depending on the product. Reef roids will certainly do the trick for phosphate. I would splurge for a bottle of ammonium chloride or neonitro. The ammonium chloride can be found on amazon for $10 or less, and the neonitro is less than $20 for a 500 mL bottle.

 

[Miami Reef]

I agree that dosing ammonium would be an acceptable option. You can make and dose a stock solution daily to maintain the desired nitrate level.

The excess ammonium that the corals don’t consume will oxidize to nitrate.

Amino acids are also a good option. They contain N, so they would theoretically raise nitrate. The corals prefer amino acids and ammonium over nitrate anyway, so the actual nitrate level doesn’t matter much if you are consistently dosing either product.

Having some nitrate can ensure that the corals always have a source of Nitrogen if needed.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Thanks both of you.
Actually forgot about ammonia, I believe I have some ammonia chloride I can dig around for.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

As long as you add enough to keep nutrients from dropping too low, there are loads of suitable options of what to feed/dose.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Good call Randy, I'm just over thinking it as usual.