My tank is an enigma

[Metal Mum]

I thought I may as well ask here too since I have an account now, but my tank is.. strange.

I know it can be a while for a tank to truly settle, but with another year nearing a close on this tank I'm left with more questions than answers.
I have achieved stability for about 7 months now (yippee), no swings, no nothing. However, I cannot get nitrates to show for the life of me. There's not many fish in there, which people say you should do and feed more, and I have tried. I tried dosing nitrates, Ammonia Bicarbonate, the whole shebang.
Water changes are once a month, very small just for trace elements.

Nothing is dying, which is good at least, but somehow I am growing nuisance algae (which I turned my lights down for) and corals don't feel to be growing. I have done an ICP test, nothing negative there, so I'm just a little bit lost on what I should be doing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It is not unusual for demand for N or P or both to be higher than additions from foods. Feeding more or dosing ammonia or nitrate are fine plans to raise nitrate to detectable levels.

 

[Koty]

Looking at your beautiful tank, it seems that you have no real problem, even though you are looking for one. Sit and relax, and enjoy your tank. Problems will not disappoint you. They will show up sometime.

 

[Uncle99]

You can manually dose nitrates and not get any reading but zero?

What test kit?

I agree that’s strange. I can see the use thing, but dose and test and nothing….to me that’s strange.

Do you show phosphate?

 

[Metal Mum]

You can manually dose nitrates and not get any reading but zero?

What test kit?

I agree that’s strange. I can see the use thing, but dose and test and nothing….to me that’s strange.

Do you show phosphate?

I show phosphates thankfully! Both on Hanna and Salifert.

As for nitrate testing, lord I've used just about anything. Both Hannas (LR included), Salifert, API, even a lame test strip. Nothing! Someone said it's not a bad thing since there's no excessive nitrates, but I would like to have a little something so I know there is any at all.

 

[Metal Mum]

Looking at your beautiful tank, it seems that you have no real problem, even though you are looking for one. Sit and relax, and enjoy your tank. Problems will not disappoint you. They will show up sometime.

I appreciate the kind words

She's definitely come a long way, and patience is definitely key, but I suppose there may be some jealousy when I see people having really good growth in just a couple months (⁠^⁠～⁠^⁠;⁠)⁠ゞ

 

[Uncle99]

I show phosphates thankfully! Both on Hanna and Salifert.

As for nitrate testing, lord I've used just about anything. Both Hannas (LR included), Salifert, API, even a lame test strip. Nothing! Someone said it's not a bad thing since there's no excessive nitrates, but I would like to have a little something so I know there is any at all.

Gee I wish I had your problem!
I’m always trying to lower the N.
Stunning display!

 

[Koty]

I appreciate the kind words

She's definitely come a long way, and patience is definitely key, but I suppose there may be some jealousy when I see people having really good growth in just a couple months (⁠^⁠～⁠^⁠;⁠)⁠ゞ

Do you dose carbon?
If not, you should

 

[BryanM]

I had the same problem with nitrates and recently started dosing Ammonia Bicarbonate, and it is working quite well. I am maintaining approx 10 nitrates now.

How big is the tank, and how much were you dosing?

 

[Metal Mum]

Do you dose carbon?
If not, you should

I haven't tried that yet only because of the whole reducing nitrate thing, but may as well give it a whirl!

 

[Metal Mum]

I had the same problem with nitrates and recently started dosing Ammonia Bicarbonate, and it is working quite well. I am maintaining approx 10 nitrates now.

How big is the tank, and how much were you dosing?

She's a 40 gallon total, was dosing about 4mls back then.

 

[slingfox]

If you have nuisance algae you should try to reduce that which would eliminate one source of nitrate consumption. Keep dosing nitrate and eventually it should show a reading. During the first 1-2 years of my tank I consistently had zero nitrates. I had a 1 gallon container of DIY nitrate solution on hand since that was much more economical than buying off the shelf.

Now I just dose ammonia bicarbonate via an autodoser which has allowed my to maintain detectable nitrates around the 2.5ppm range.

Your rockwork still looks pretty new so keep on monitoring since the tank likely still has a while to go before it truly stabilizes.

 

[BryanM]

She's a 40 gallon total, was dosing about 4mls back then.

I'm 210g, dosing 19ml a day. Kinda close... I would recommend doing this again, and upping the dose to 6ml. Test next day, no change, +2ml more, until you start to get readings.