Looking for a little guidance - Nitrates

[taterfish]

Tank is a 20 gallon with a HOB tidal 55 with floss and a sponge, with seachem matrix.

Salinity - 1.025
PH 8
Nitrate after dosing 2ppm
Phosphate .1 - .25 kind of hard to tell the shade of blue very light though.
Alk 7.7-8
Water change - every weekend 2 gallons, i have not been vacuuming my sand.
Fish 2 clowns
Invert 3 snails - 4 hermits - bristle worms (think i may need to add more CUC from dr reef)

My salifert test shows a clear reading of 0 to hardly anything for nitrate, so i began dosing neonitro to start increasing the nitrate. I started just small amounts 1ml, 1.5ml, now up to 2ml to finally get the water to read some nitrates on salifert test around 2ppm, but by morning the test will read back to 0. I'm also now getting some green algae on my sand bed but more in the corners (i may need to increase flow? / add another wave maker?) I also always test my phosphates before dosing nitrates, my phosphates have been holding consistent and i am not dosing that.

What do you guys recommend i do to try and keep my nitrate up? Daily dosing / testing? Remove the seachem matrix? I really do not want to get dinos :O any help is greatly appreciated!

I added a pic of my tank for any recommendations

 

[PPBlimpy]

Tank looks young.

I have no experience with Matrix (not sure what it does but will look into it once I finish this post)

These two small clowns may not be making enough waste for that size tank currently.

Looks like you have a few corals also. They may be utilizing the little nitrates that come from the fish waste.

You can look into dosing ammonia bicarbonate, this may be better for the corals and the by product will be nitrates helping also feed BB allowing the nitrogen cycle to build.

Other option is more fish. This needs to be done slowly in my opinion.

Do not just throw extra food in the tank, a lot of people recommend this and may be a strategy when nitrates and phosphates are both low. I would guess that feeding is the reason for the elevated phosphates.

Edited: just looked into the matrix stuff. Looks like another form of bio media, just like adding more live rock and sounds like it is doing exactly what its supposed to do

I may look into getting some because it may be useful to seed tanks with and spread biodiversity between tanks.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

How old is your tank? How often do you feed?
Personally I wouldn't be adding nutrients into a new tank, any excessive nutrients in the system will feed the algae before the corals.

 

[taterfish]

Tank looks young.

I have no experience with Matrix (not sure what it does but will look into it once I finish this post)

These two small clowns may not be making enough waste for that size tank currently.

Looks like you have a few corals also. They may be utilizing the little nitrates that come from the fish waste.

You can look into dosing ammonia bicarbonate, this may be better for the corals and the by product will be nitrates helping also feed BB allowing the nitrogen cycle to build.

Other option is more fish. This needs to be done slowly in my opinion.

Do not just throw extra food in the tank, a lot of people recommend this and may be a strategy when nitrates and phosphates are both low. I would guess that feeding is the reason for the elevated phosphates.

Edited: just looked into the matrix stuff. Looks like another form of bio media, just like adding more live rock and sounds like it is doing exactly what its supposed to do

I may look into getting some because it may be useful to seed tanks with and spread biodiversity between tanks.

The tank is roughly 8 months old.

Currently only the 2 clowns are the fish in the tank.

I added the clowns 2 months ago, before i added them the tank had to go through an 80 day fallow just to be sure diseases were out of the tank.

I feed the fish twice a day morning and night, i feed pretty sparingly but also feed mysis to my corals and pepp shrimp and fish a couple days a week.

I will look into the ammonia bicarbonate and pick some up. Ill have to check into how much to dose

 

[taterfish]

How old is your tank? How often do you feed?
Personally I wouldn't be adding nutrients into a new tank, any excessive nutrients in the system will feed the algae before the corals.

8 months old, the fish got added in 2 months ago. i did have a time with no fish due to fallow period 80 days i just ghost fed the tank in that time. I feed twice a day and like 8-10 pellets of tdo chroma small and they eat a good amount of it each time

 

[Seansea]

I use this stuff. Add sparingly at first. Measure nitrates daily.then find the dose that works for your tank to keep nitrates around 10 or so. For reference my 180g packed woth corals only needs about 10 ml per day but i also have alot of fish and some pretty big.

 

[exnisstech]

I will look into the ammonia bicarbonate and pick some up. Ill have to check into how much to dose

Here's a dosing guide.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-ammonia-dosing-chart.1123913/

 

[PPBlimpy]

The tank is roughly 8 months old.

Currently only the 2 clowns are the fish in the tank.

I added the clowns 2 months ago, before i added them the tank had to go through an 80 day fallow just to be sure diseases were out of the tank.

I feed the fish twice a day morning and night, i feed pretty sparingly but also feed mysis to my corals and pepp shrimp and fish a couple days a week.

I will look into the ammonia bicarbonate and pick some up. Ill have to check into how much to dose

Please do your research. It was just a suggestion and I am thinking it could be a good way to go. with the age of the tank and only the two fish you could add another fish with similar results

 

[exnisstech]

I use this stuff. Add sparingly at first. Measure nitrates daily.then find the dose that works for your tank to keep nitrates around 10 or so. For reference my 180g packed woth corals only needs about 10 ml per day but i also have alot of fish and some pretty big.

Same that I use. I'm only dosing 10ml daily on my 100g SPS tank to keep NO3 5-10 ppm

 

[PPBlimpy]

Same that I use. I'm only dosing 10ml daily on my 100g SPS tank to keep NO3 5-10 ppm

What is your mix ratio? how much into a gallon of RODI?

 

[exnisstech]

What is your mix ratio? how much into a gallon of RODI?

I mix 20 grams in 1 liter of RODI

 

[Kooma]

Tank is a 20 gallon with a HOB tidal 55 with floss and a sponge, with seachem matrix.

Salinity - 1.025
PH 8
Nitrate after dosing 2ppm
Phosphate .1 - .25 kind of hard to tell the shade of blue very light though.
Alk 7.7-8
Water change - every weekend 2 gallons, i have not been vacuuming my sand.
Fish 2 clowns
Invert 3 snails - 4 hermits - bristle worms (think i may need to add more CUC from dr reef)

My salifert test shows a clear reading of 0 to hardly anything for nitrate, so i began dosing neonitro to start increasing the nitrate. I started just small amounts 1ml, 1.5ml, now up to 2ml to finally get the water to read some nitrates on salifert test around 2ppm, but by morning the test will read back to 0. I'm also now getting some green algae on my sand bed but more in the corners (i may need to increase flow? / add another wave maker?) I also always test my phosphates before dosing nitrates, my phosphates have been holding consistent and i am not dosing that.

What do you guys recommend i do to try and keep my nitrate up? Daily dosing / testing? Remove the seachem matrix? I really do not want to get dinos :O any help is greatly appreciated!

I added a pic of my tank for any recommendations

I would stop dosing and simply reduce water changes. Test weekly and adjust as needed.

 

[PPBlimpy]

Awesome, I am planning to mix at a much lower ratio just so I can dose more 4 times/day. My System is 50G

I am planning on mixing 10grams into a gallon , approx 8x less potent ( 7.5 actually) and dose 10ml x 4 times a day into a 50G.

I have a 1L dosing bottle so maybe I just mix in there and not store it. So I would be looking at 2 grams into 1L and dosing 10ml x4 daily.

 

[PPBlimpy]

I would stop dosing and simply reduce water changes. Test weekly and adjust as needed.

If he slows on water changes the phosphates are sure to climb.

 

[CHSUB]

What do you guys recommend i do to try and keep my nitrate up?

Nothing ….hobby tested “zero” no3 is fine and preferably! Some examples of my tanks from today and back to the 90’s all had hobby tested zero nitrates.

 

[exnisstech]

Awesome, I am planning to mix at a much lower ratio just so I can dose more 4 times/day. My System is 50G

I am planning on mixing 10grams into a gallon , approx 8x less potent ( 7.5 actually) and dose 10ml x 4 times a day into a 50G.

I have a 1L dosing bottle so maybe I just mix in there and not store it. So I would be looking at 2 grams into 1L and dosing 10ml x4 daily.

I'm dosing 10 times from 8am - 10pm. I'm using half of a reefdose 2 and it's very easy to program so I broke it down to mini doses but I don't know that it matters. In the tank I moved out of i was manually dosing it all at once and everything did well.

 

[Kooma]

If he slows on water changes the phosphates are sure to climb.

Water changes are a poor way to remove phosphate.

Drop in a bag of GFO if that is a concern, and pause the water changes for a few weeks. Test weekly and adjust. Youd be best to feed frozen, dry foods add alot of phos.

 

[PPBlimpy]

Water changes are a poor way to remove phosphate.

Drop in a bag of GFO if that is a concern, and pause the water changes for a few weeks. Test weekly and adjust. Youd be best to feed frozen, dry foods add alot of phos.

I agree they are poor way to remove phospahates but it does remove some. In a tank this size gfo does work but can have its downfalls too.

 

[PPBlimpy]

I'm dosing 10 times from 8am - 10pm. I'm using half of a reefdose 2 and it's very easy to program so I broke it down to mini doses but I don't know that it matters. In the tank I moved out of i was manually dosing it all at once and everything did well.

So you are dosing 1ml at each dose for 10ml daily or 10ml each dose for 100ml into tank daily?

I have a bubble magus 3 head doser and same thing, easy to program. It is currently only using 2 heads dosing my 2-part.

 

[exnisstech]

So you are dosing 1ml at each dose for 10ml daily or 10ml each dose for 100ml into tank daily?

I have a bubble magus 3 head doser and same thing, easy to program. It is currently only using 2 heads dosing my 2-part.

1ml per dose 10 total. I was dosing 20ml total but dialed it back when NO3 reached 10 ppm