Nitrate help!!

[Keko21]

Hi All,

My tank is still maturing and its just coming to the end of the ugly phase. Rocks are starting to get green so more algae (normal not nuisance) and diatoms are starting to subside.

Nutirents have been running NO3: 2-4ppm PO4: .02-.08. I have not done a single water change since starting up because the nutrients were already so low.

As of this morning NO3: 0ppm PO4: .08ppm

ive turned off the skimmer, threw some extra krill in, and release a little bit of skimmate into the water. In hopes of bringing to NO3 back up.

Theres atleast 10fish and a zebra moray in the tank so i have no idea how the nutrients are so low. Using hanna testers.

Any suggestions/feeback?

 

[TX_REEF]

Are you keeping corals in this tank?

 

[Keko21]

Yes transferred from my old tank- mixed spsp lps and soft. All corals look fine. More concerned about a dino outbreak now- but i also run a UV 24/7

 

[Fish Fan]

Have you considered dosing ammonia?

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-ammonia-dosing-for-low-nitrate-systems.987087/

 

[TX_REEF]

Just wanted to confirm because without corals the lack of nitrate is not a problem

Leaving the skimmer off is a good start, see how that works for you. That's actually how I got my levels up from constant zero. What's the tank size? 10 fish can be a lot or not depending on that

 

[Keko21]

230gal Fox face, sailfin, tomini tang, purple tang, starry blenny, 5 pj cardinals, lagoon goby, melanarus wrasse, and the eel

 

[Keko21]

Have you considered dosing ammonia?

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-ammonia-dosing-for-low-nitrate-systems.987087/

Interesting never thought of that. Would be paranoid for my fish even though its a micro dose

 

[BryanM]

Just wanted to confirm because without corals the lack of nitrate is not a problem

Leaving the skimmer off is a good start, see how that works for you. That's actually how I got my levels up from constant zero. What's the tank size? 10 fish can be a lot or not depending on that

My understanding is that either nutrient bottomed out is not good, and generally a recipe for the start of dinos.

 

[Fish Fan]

Interesting never thought of that. Would be paranoid for my fish even though its a micro dose

Yes, if done correctly, it's very safe. You could dose nitrate directly, but ammonia has added benefits for your corals. Take a look at the link above, that's written by one of the most knowledgable reefers we have, and he's a chemist by profession.

 

[TX_REEF]

My understanding is that either nutrient bottomed out is not good, and generally a recipe for the start of dinos.

True, but with a healthy bio-load I don't think it's truly zeroed out, it's just being consumed by algae. just my perspective.

 

[Keko21]

True, but with a healthy bio-load I don't think it's truly zeroed out, it's just being consumed by algae. just my perspective.

That is my assumption as well, especially with all the new green on the rocks