New Tank and Nitrates

[nanoreefcrazy]

Hi All,

I started an 18 gallon nano tank Jan 1st 2023 and completed the cycle (bottled bacteria) and added some fish (clownfish, red firefish, yasha goby and possum wrasse) and some corals (torchs, acan lords, zoas, gsp, duncan). Clean up crew consists of 6 small nassarius snails, 2 trochus, 1 astrea. My parameters have been looking solid so far. I feed the fish once a day and dose the smallest amount of reef nutrition live phyto daily - less than 0.25 ml (added some copepods after cycle completed and want to maintain the population). Once a week I feed the corals one or two LPS pellets each.

Everything is thriving; corals looking bright and growing, fish very active and eating.

I run a small skimmer 24/7 and will be getting a small carbon reactor next week (I want clearer water and the tank kinda smells?)

I do weekly 10% water changes (aquaforest reef salt) and change the filter floss every 3 days.

Parmeters below:

Salinity: 1.025 (hanna salinity tester)
Ammonia: 0 (red sea)
Nitrites: 0 (red sea)
pH: 8.2 (red sea)
Calcium: ~440 (red sea)
Magnesium: ~1400 (red sea)
Alk: 8.4 stable (red sea)

Nitrates 4 days ago: 26.0 (Hanna HR Nitrate checker)
Nitrates today: 33.1 (Hanna)

Phosphates: 0.08 (red sea pro) and very stable

So I realize the tank is still new and "maturing", but when should I expect Nitrates to stabilize; a general timeline would be appreciated. I know this is very variable and dependant on the tank, but just so I have something to work with (examples from your own systems would helpful).

Also when should I be concerned about Nitrates. Ive read up on Nitrates and many reefers recommend values between 5-20 ppm or 5-50 ppm. If I keep seeing Nitrates increasing daily/ weekly, should I just ride it out and continue with my current 10% water change regimen? at what value should I maybe intervene and increase water change % ? Any suggestions would be helpful!! Thank you!!

 

[KrisReef]

I would let it ride, just keep doing what you are doing. IF the nitrates stay on course, you have a month before they hit 50. With your small tank, when/if they hit 50ppm I would do a 10 gallon water change to bring them back ~20ppm. The corals you have will be ok with higher nitrates and as you mentioned the tank is young and the ecosystem will take some time to "mature" and start eating Nitrates, ime.

 

[Makomek]

Don’t try to control your nitrate on a new tank or else you going to have a hard time bringing it up down the road and dino can creep up.

 

[Fish Styx]

At this stage, don't chase numbers. Keep an eye on them and, if they get too high, do a 25% WC to bring them down. Your system is very young and will take some time to stabilize.

 

[xabo]

Don’t try to control your nitrate on a new tank or else you going to have a hard time bringing it up down the road and dino can creep up.

At this stage, don't chase numbers. Keep an eye on them and, if they get too high, do a 25% WC to bring them down. Your system is very young and will take some time to stabilize.

Would the same hold true for high phosphates?

 

[Fish Styx]

Tricky question, because your gonna have fluctuations until your system stabilizes. That being said, I would still strive for < .03

 

[xabo]

I'm at 0.45 per Hanna ULR. Tanks has been setup for a week.

 

[Uncle99]

Numbers seem relevant to a young system.
But don’t allow fluctuations, the stabler, the better.
So stabilize you 26ppm with your currency maintenance regime, or employ other processes (carbon dosing as example) to either hold that number, or shave it a bit monthly.
1,5,10, 20ppm is all fine, I doubt hobby grade tests are that accurate but likely in the ballpark.
Above 20 ish with corals, especially SPS, I would stay away from excluding Fish only systems.
As you add corals and tank matures, “everything” going to use those nutrients and the numbers should lower on their own.
If carbon dosing, at this point, I can stop using it.
There’s a fine balance between import and export functions, and testing and following the trend can help us find and maintain that balance.

 

[legionofdoon]

I drove myself mad with nitrates. I tried everything from carbon dosing to refugium. When I was straight carbon dosing I had a horrible outbreak of dinos and pretty much nuked my tank. I switched to a Donovan's nitrate destroyer and once it kicked in my nitrates are no longer an issue. I'm at 7.4 according to Hannah. My problem is I feed my fish multiple times a day so nitrates were over the limit on the Hannah HR test. It could have been nitrite interference but I never detected any. I still have a refugium running.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Do you have a nutrient export method in place?

It could just be more water changes, or any of many other methods.

 

[nanoreefcrazy]

Currently I run a small skimmer 24/7, the back chamber of my AIO is filled with marine pure bio media and am running a nano carbon reactor (innovative marine minimax). I also do weekly 10% water changes and change filter floss every 2-3 days.

 

[Fish Styx]

Would the same hold true for high phosphates?

At this point, I would still try to keep those below .03. Understanding though, that you are going to see fluctuations until you stabilize. Just be consistent with your husbandry and maintenance routines and it'll get there.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Currently I run a small skimmer 24/7, the back chamber of my AIO is filled with marine pure bio media and am running a nano carbon reactor (innovative marine minimax). I also do weekly 10% water changes and change filter floss every 2-3 days.

You might need to look into something like organic carbon dosing or growing macroalgae if nitrate continues to rise.

I generally recommend 2-10 ppm nitrate and 0.03 to 0.1 ppm phosphate.