Nitrate dosing

[Kfactor]

For me it’s the opposite I can’t get me po4 to rise I have been dosing neophos and it won’t budge

 

[rhastareefer]

Why do you think organic carbon is important to a coral?

I believe bacteria is important to coral (more carbon = more bacteria, at least in my head).

 

[SifuMemphis]

For me it’s the opposite I can’t get me po4 to rise I have been dosing neophos and it won’t budge

Same..... I can't get nitrate or p04 to rise. Turned off Skimmer, and removed fuge. Last night I removed my filter socks so we will see....

 

[rhastareefer]

For me it’s the opposite I can’t get me po4 to rise I have been dosing neophos and it won’t budge

You're paying for a product that's mostly water (not saying dilution is a bad thing, it would've prevented my mistake, but I digress for the purpose of this response). As I stated somewhere else (don't remember where), I diluted 2oz of Loudwolf Sodium Phosphate Monobasic in 1 gallon of RODI, dosed about 2oz of the diluted solution to my sump after testing phosphate at .01/.02 and my levels went up to 4.0+ after that 2oz dose (my system is advertised at 43 gal total volume). I made the mistake of thinking it would dilute to a similar potency as their Sodium Nitrate but I was wrong lol. I only resorted to dosing after excessive feeding (pellets heavy plus flake at least 2x/hour, usually more for 9 hours of the day. Only thing that went up was no3 (my tank used to produce plenty of po4 without overfeeding but that changed over the years).

 

[Reeffraff]

I'm not really seeing any direct explanation for the issues you report. I really do not believe that raising nitrate to 1 ppm is likely to directly cause coral problems.

Assuming it is not just coincidence, I think a more likely explanation is that you indirectly allowed some organism or many organisms to grow faster, consuming and using up something else important, such as a trace element like manganese.

Hi Randy,
Yes, this one has definitely been a head-scratcher for me. I am ruling out some coincidental issue because a similar response was observed when I tried the to raise nitrates with KNO3 a few months back. Interestingly, it's only been Acropora sp. that have shown any ill effect. I had the same thought as you about some sort of trace element possibly being depleted but an ICP test showed everything within acceptable ranges (with the exception of iodine but it wasn't far off from natural seawater). One other interesting thing to note is that most of the corals currently affected by this latest attempt to raise NO3 are from the same species, Acropora tenius (but I have other A. tenuis that appear just fine in this tank). Although other Acros/SPS may have been stressed as well, just without physically showing symptoms because my Alk consumption has decreased moderately over this time.

Do you think its possible that different tanks accumulate different microbes on corals over time? And could an increase nitrate cause some shift in the host microbiome that could result in the types of reactions seen on the acros? I know the field of microbiome research is still quite young but some of the research suggests that the host microbiomes can be responsible for a vast array of important processes for the host and that shifts in this micrbioal community can sometimes result in strong negative impacts on the host. In fact there was an article published in Science a few years ago that suggests alterations to coral microbiomes will be crucial if they are to survive repeated stressors from rising ocean temps and acidifying oceans.

I might be totally grasping at straws here but in reading through many forums and threads on nitrate dosing, there is often a few folks who, after following protocols that work for the majority, describe an experience similar to what I have experienced (and it's usually Acropora sp. that are most affected). So I am not a one-off case.

 

[Charley75]

I can’t get detectable NO3 or PO4. Personally thought I was being smart, and was advised, to just add more fish and feed more......still zero. Should I start dosing both?

 

[Kfactor]

I can’t get detectable NO3 or PO4. Personally thought I was being smart, and was advised, to just add more fish and feed more......still zero. Should I start dosing both?

i would say yes but im no expert thats what am doing now and slowly getting no3 up but still no po4 . am going really slow though i have a little bit of a alga issue but i beleave its from bottoming out my po4 and no3

 

[Charley75]

Are you dosing both? Yeah I’m dealing with dinos now. Hoping dosing will help. So many opinions and info....always hard to figure out what to do. I would also. Ever think to reduce water changes. I do 10% every week. Not gonna lie, it would be nice to not mess with it, but just doesn’t make since to me.

 

[Kfactor]

Are you dosing both? Yeah I’m dealing with dinos now. Hoping dosing will help. So many opinions and info....always hard to figure out what to do. I would also. Ever think to reduce water changes. I do 10% every week. Not gonna lie, it would be nice to not mess with it, but just doesn’t make since to me.

I did 10% weekly but I think I was doing more harm then good now I only do them every 2 to 3 weeks and I only run my skimmer for 6 hours 3 times a week until I just every thing stabilized

 

[tundraguy1106]

These are my go to.

Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) Aquarium Fertilizer - 1lb Jar

Shop Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) Aquarium Fertilizer (1lb Jar) for your planted aquarium aquascape. Brand: Green Leaf Aquariums (GLA). Orders ship fast worldwide and get free shipping on orders $125.

greenleafaquariums.com

I believe their website also has a calculator on there for mixing and dosing. I try to maintain .04 - .10 ppm phosphate and 4 - 12 ppm nitrates. I beat Dinos once doing this and I’m currently battling Cyanobacteria for the second time. Gotta love this hobby!!!

 

[Pistondog]

Does anyone have experience dosing nitrates? Both nitrates and phosphates have been nearly undetectable in my system for some time on salifert tests. Things seem ok but colors for some of the corals are definitely a little muted. Rather than experiment with taking out the fuge or turning off the skimmer, I’ve heard it may be better to add nitrates. Basically the idea is heavy nutrient import along with heavy export. Any ideas?

Reduce light cycle on fuge

 

[Charley75]

I’m not even running a five....figured that didn’t mKe since since I’m trying to increase nutrients.

 

[Charley75]

Wow...five=fuge and mKe=make

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I can’t get detectable NO3 or PO4. Personally thought I was being smart, and was advised, to just add more fish and feed more......still zero. Should I start dosing both?

There's no significant drawback to feeding more (more than your increased feeding), but dosing both is also a good plan if you believe the nutrients are less than 0.01 ppm phosphate and 0.5 ppm nitrate, which risks dinos.

 

[Charley75]

Never been any detectable NO3 or PO4.....using Red Sea for NO3 and Salifert for PO4. I added more fish and fed more and still 0s. I started developing dinos a month or so ago, and now it appears that in addition to the dinos, I have reddish brown turf algae growing. what the heck? My current plan is to start doing NO3 with ESV Nitrate and also Vibrant. What do y’all think?

 

[Kfactor]

Never been any detectable NO3 or PO4.....using Red Sea for NO3 and Salifert for PO4. I added more fish and fed more and still 0s. I started developing dinos a month or so ago, and now it appears that in addition to the dinos, I have reddish brown turf algae growing. what the heck? My current plan is to start doing NO3 with ESV Nitrate and also Vibrant. What do y’all think?

im in the same boat my thinking on vibrant is i dont think i would ever use it. there is a reason why your alga and stuff is there i would figure it out the naturAL WAY and why your tank is doing it i think additves like vibrant is a mask for the problem

 

[Jeff Jarry reef]

Just 2 cent's I dose ATI nitrate's and it brought them up to a good range. My Phosphates ate good. Just got through dealing with Dino's because of nitrate's at 0. Now Dino's are about gone.

 

[badams.one]

Just 2 cent's I dose ATI nitrate's and it brought them up to a good range. My Phosphates ate good. Just got through dealing with Dino's because of nitrate's at 0. Now Dino's are about gone.

Glad to hear you were able to win the battle.. been battling with this for close to a year now, but see the light at the end of the tunnel. Curious, when you dosed nitrates, did you turn off your skimmer at all? Thanks for your time. Cheers!

 

[badams.one]

Just 2 cent's I dose ATI nitrate's and it brought them up to a good range. My Phosphates ate good. Just got through dealing with Dino's because of nitrate's at 0. Now Dino's are about gone.

Glad to hear you were able to win the battle.. been battling with this for close to a year now, but see the light at the end of the tunnel. Curious, when you dosed nitrates, did you turn off your skimmer at all? Thanks for your time. Cheers!

 

[Jeff Jarry reef]

Glad to hear you were able to win the battle.. been battling with this for close to a year now, but see the light at the end of the tunnel. Curious, when you dosed nitrates, did you turn off your skimmer at all? Thanks for your time. Cheers!

No I didn't turn anything off