Nitrate Help please

[phevos]

Hello everyone,​

I hope everyone's is doing well!!!. I've been maintaining a "40 breeder" LPS dominant tank for about 1.5 years now. Overall, things have been smooth, but I've encountered a peculiar situation on three occasions. My nitrate levels, typically stable at 6, have unexpectedly plummeted to 0 within a span of 2 weeks. What's odd is that my phosphate has remained consistent at 0.08. Moreover, each time the nitrate reached 0, I faced a dino outbreak for a couple of weeks, which I managed with UV, nitrate dosing, and copepods.

Here's a snapshot of my current setup:

• A Chaeto refugium with a 6-hour reverse photoperiod.
• Skimmer set on the drier side.
• Administering 10ml of AFR daily.
• (I still adjusting)
• All other parameters are steady.(pH 8.3, calc 450, mag 1320 and kh 8, salinity 35ppm)
• Tropic marin salt pro
• 10% water changes weekly
• Not engaging in carbon dosing.
• Adding 0.6 ml of aquaforest iodine weekly (though my Triton ICP indicates no iodine presence).
• I'm also using AB plus bi-weekly.
• I have a hearty feeding routine in the mornings and offer frozen brine in the evenings.

This time, when I noticed the nitrate nearing 0.5, I chose to dose. But I'm genuinely puzzled about the triggers behind these patterns.

I'm considering dosing NP bactobalance to stabilize the nutrients in my setup. However, I'm uncertain about mixing carbon dosing with My Chaeto refugium. Has anyone had experience with this combination or can provide insights

Has anyone experienced something similar or has insights to share?

Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bushdoc]

NP bactobalance is advertized to keep Nitrates and phosphates low.
Any carbon dosing (vinegar, vodka, proprietary solution) will predominantly lower nitrates but to some extend phosphates too.
I would NOT use those, unles your goal is to lower Nitrates further?
Why not starting from decreasing skimmer running time?
If you have any biomedia, I would reduce their amount slowly.
Your system is maturing and your live rock and other bio filters(if present) are working well for denitryfication.

 

[jda]

Most likley had some anaerobic bacteria develop in the sand or rocks that turned the no3 into N gas. Read up on deep sand bed tanks of the past - they all have very low nitrate and nothing was growth limited at all.

If you are worried about nitrogen getting to your corals, just feed more. The ammonia from the fish waste can get everything all the nitrogen that they need.

It is strange that dinos showed up in a tank that old. Do you have sterile surfaces for them to colonize on?

Also agree that carbon dosing will take even more nitrogen out of your tank... the bacteria can grow with ammonium in absence of nitrate and you can keep this from the corals.