I have a mixed reef but mainly sps. Just a quick question, my NO3 has been 0-2.5 on Salifert test kit and my Phos is 9ppb on Hanna ULR but have fairly quick growth of algae on the glass and of Chaeto and hair algae in my small refugium, will there be any benefit to dosing nitrate and phosphate? Or will this just cause an algae bloom? Or do I need to cut back on skimming and lighting my refugium to get a little higher NO3/Phos levels? I know I probably have a fair amount of nutrients in the tank given the algae growth but is there a way to help the corals uptake these nutrients instead of the algae?
Nitrate dosing question
- Thread starter Nilo
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markalot
Comic Relief
How old is the tank? I would be careful until the tank is older, over a year. I don't have a refugium, just a skimmer, and have a hard time getting PO4 or NO3. Best bet is to cut way back on the refugium, just enough to keep the algae alive, and then see what happens over a month or so. IMO.
SeaDweller
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I was running my fuge light for 13 hours and I’ve noticed my NO3 was steadily dropping, maybe amongst other things but a few days ago it was reading 0.5 ppm, I do run a Sulfur Denitrator too. But I don’t want my NO3 that low. So I cut my fuge lighting to 9 hours and NO3 is holding steady at 2.5 on salifert.
I also ran my skimmer a bit drier too, I don’t want my water THAT clean. It takes about 2-3 days for the brown film algae to develop on my tank.
Personally I don’t see a benefit for you dosing as i would think it’d only fuel the HA. And if you have enough HA, you may be getting false low readings anyway.
I also ran my skimmer a bit drier too, I don’t want my water THAT clean. It takes about 2-3 days for the brown film algae to develop on my tank.
Personally I don’t see a benefit for you dosing as i would think it’d only fuel the HA. And if you have enough HA, you may be getting false low readings anyway.
Why do you want to have higher numbers? Those are right where I like to keep them and my tank does best there. Are you trying to raise nutrients because corals are pale or something?
DesertReefT4r
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Man I would be happy if my tank would naturally maintain 1-2ppm no3. It gets consumed super fast in my tank even though all my corals are small frags, my fuge is tiny and low light.
Kendrick Kemp
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That is my problem nitrate is reading 0/salifert . corals are pale. P04 is 0.07 hanha.. all others are fine...
thinking about adding more fish. water changed last weekend because of triton test results and now bottom glass is turning brownish
thinking about adding more fish. water changed last weekend because of triton test results and now bottom glass is turning brownish
Not necessarily wanting higher numbers. Just more worried about nutrients bottoming out and starving the corals. I have enough fish and feeding enough I think but the nutrients may just be all going to the algae. In any case, I guess, as always in this hobby, finding a good balance is the key.
Bouncingsoul39
Valuable Member
The Salifert Nitrate kit is notoriously inaccurate. Try Red Sea or Nyos and see what it says. Even those are off as tested by BRS investigates but better than Salifert.
SeaDweller
2500 Club Member
I find Salifert good enough, not sure about it being inaccurate, maybe not super sensitive, but I wouldn’t say they’re inaccurate.
Do you have a link (preferably to text rather than video)? I'm not arguing at all, I'd be curious to read about it. The tests I've read about comparing NO3 tests showed salifert as one of the better ones.
Bouncingsoul39
Valuable Member
Go to BRS YouTube channel and watch the video. My comment is based on the testing they did in the video...
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