Nitrate and phosphates

[Shawn4455]

So I've been trying to get both my phosphates and nitrates up by heavily feeding mysis and pellets. I am currently having a dino issue... Here's my story.

My tank was doing really well, I had a a few frags, 4 fish an anenome in a 60 gallon l and I did a water change then all of a sudden I got an outbreak of dino flaggs. Took me a few weeks to finally get rid of it by just letting the tank get super dirty because it didn't seem to bother too much. After my Dino's left and my tanks needed a cleaning of the glass and what not and my tank never looked better, my zoas were super vibrant and uopened up, my anenome was huge so 5 weeks go by and I decided to do a water change... A few days after a water change the Dino's came back much worse than before (attribute it to stripping the water of nutrients) now I'm trying to get my water dirty again, I've been heavily feeding once again, but it seems I'm having a harder time. I tested my water yesterday and my nitrates are 0 and my phosphates are 0.05, how would I get my nitrates up? I noticed my Dino's are lessening from the sand since my detectable phos, but I need at least 5ppm of nitrates right? Thanks for th advice !

 

[ChaseB143]

You can dose nitrates. FishofHexAquatics just put a video on YouTube on how he doses it, and he sells it. I wouldn't raise phosphates anymore than they already are though. Phosphates should typically be closer to .03

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I agree, dosing nitrate is easy and many people do it. I’d buy food grade sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate if you cannot find sodium.

 

[Shawn4455]

Thanks guys! I just started dosing!

 

[rfgonzo]

Just take it slow and don't over add.

 

[Shawn4455]

Just take it slow and don't over add.

I've been dosing since the last post before mine and ive been getting good results, just posted a post about water changes... Mind taking a look at it and putting in your opinion?

 

[rfgonzo]

I've been dosing since the last post before mine and ive been getting good results, just posted a post about water changes... Mind taking a look at it and putting in your opinion?

Just added my two cents.

 

[Simplyorange]

I've been dosing since the last post before mine and ive been getting good results, just posted a post about water changes... Mind taking a look at it and putting in your opinion?

What are your no3 and po4 levels now shawn?

 

[Shawn4455]

What are your no3 and po4 levels now shawn?

My last nitrates were 5ppm-10ppm and my phosphates are back to 0... I do have some macro in back, but my Dinos are greying out and slowly going away. Im dosing Phosphates now and will update with results soonish.

 

[bdare]

Do you have a refuguim? You can also increase nitrate and phosphate by reducing your photo period.

 

[PatW]

I dose sodium nitrate. I make a stock solution of a half a cup of sodium nitrate crystals into a gallon of RODI. A dose of 2 tablespoons of stock solution will give me about 1.5 ppm nitrate In a 300 gallon display. If you try this, start off by adding a teaspoon of stock solution in your tank.

 

[Bfragale]

What phosphate test are you using? I “was” using api brand: always tested 0. But has green film algae which made me think phosphates were not actually 0.

so I got Hanna PPB tester, first test it was at its max (converts to .06 ppm) did a second to confirm..

so I got a Hanna PPM tester. Results: 1.2ppm! Did a second test to confirm. All the while I thought it was 0 thanks to API lol

long story short: I don’t trust API tests, atlease for phosphates.

But I have been loving the Hanna alk and phosphate tester. It’s totally worth the $50.

 

[Shawn4455]

I had my LFS use their Hanna checker but it's not the PBB version. What's the difference? For nitrates I use API

 

[Bfragale]

One is parts per billion and one parts per million. The parts per billion are for ultra low levels 0 to 0.06. There may be some technical differences but this is the main difference.

 

[Bfragale]

So far (knock on wood) API has tested ok for me for nitrates. I also have the salifert to compare to.

personally I like to have (at least) two separate brands so I can cross reference results if I ever think they might be wrong. That’s been my thought since the phosphate fiasco.

 

[Shawn4455]

So would you.rec. buying the ppb?