Nitrate level census

[elorablue]

My 3 month old 20g stays pretty consistent between 10ppm and >15ppm before a weekly 15% water change.
I don't have a skimmer or Fuge.
I'd like it between 5-10 but I'm not worrying about it until the tank has settled in more.

 

[jda]

The easy answer is it depends... the hard answer is figuring out all of the nuance... and the ultimate answer is figuring out how it works for you. For fish and mushrooms, probably 80 was fine. This could work for a lot of corals, but not all. If you want to keep some of the corals that care, then you need to lower it.

I keep my N and P at NSW ish levels, but I also keep acropora that would slow down and start to suffer at even 5 N and .1P where even many acropora do not mind these levels whatsoever. I also like to keep some algae eating inverts that are more voracious at NSW type levels. You can see some acropora keepers spout off about levels of this or that, but they keep the acros that don't mind whereas I can keep other ones. Again, nuance...

There is no one-size-fit-all answer here. The smart thing to do is to figure out a level that you can maintain easily and then pick corals that work for this... if one dies, then just chalk it up to "oh well" and don't chase the numbers. If you want to chase the numbers and have a wider variety of sensitive stuff, then you have to work harder, or at least differently. Whether it is worth it, or not, is up to you.

 

[jda]

Also, which macro is one of the few things in your tank that can use nitrate directly, it also can be growth-limited or growth-stopped by too high of nitrate levels. I do not know the levels that affects different kind of macros, but people almost brag some of the time about no cyano or algae outbreaks with super high levels of N or P not knowing that matting bacteria and algae cannot live at some levels. Again, the levels are different with different types.

The point is that some of these could start to grow again as you lower your levels, so have a plan. This can be easy in a fish only where you have a wider choice of consumers.

 

[fish farmer]

When I started to clean up my 29 gallon a few years ago my nitrates were around 30 ppm and phos was 1ppm.

I had LOTS of GHA and red algae, constant challenge since I had let the tank slide.

Mushrooms (red and green striped), nepthia, colt, brown palys didn't really care and grew fine. I was even shocked that a hammer coral grew as well.

 

[capted]

Also, which macro is one of the few things in your tank that can use nitrate directly, it also can be growth-limited or growth-stopped by too high of nitrate levels. I do not know the levels that affects different kind of macros, but people almost brag some of the time about no cyano or algae outbreaks with super high levels of N or P not knowing that matting bacteria and algae cannot live at some levels. Again, the levels are different with different types.

The point is that some of these could start to grow again as you lower your levels, so have a plan. This can be easy in a fish only where you have a wider choice of consumers.

Funny you mention cyano. I had a lot on my sand bed which was thick enough to use a net to remove. That's actually why I got the gobies to do the work for me. I wonder if the higher nitrate levels caused it. All being said, I think I will deal with 25ppm nitrates as long as the tank keeps it that way and doesn't rise more. Tank seems to be fine. On another note I thought shrimp were sensitive to nitrates but my cleaner is perfectly healthy.

 

[Dan_P]

Good point. Problem is that my phosphate level went to 0ppm. I believe the bacteria that reduces nitrates also needs phosphate.

Agreed. You will have to add phosphate so the bacteria can do their job of removing nitrate.

 

[minus9]

Why not add more bio media in your sump if you have the room? Siporax or any other bio bricks will help colonize beneficial bacteria. PNS Probio is awesome at consuming nutrients and it's a natural way of bringing down nutrients. I used siporax in my 22g sps nano to reduce nutrients and I had to remove half of it because it was so efficient.

 

[minus9]

Xenia in the sump is amazing at reducing nutrients too.

 

[capted]

No more room in my sump. Good idea though.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Just wondering what would be considered an acceptable nitrate level. I'm old school and have been in this hobby for 35 years and always strived for the lowest nitrate and phosphate levels. I currently have a fish with tons of living rock and shrooms only tank. I have battled high nitrates (over 80ppm) for some time. After tons of water changes I have it down to 20-30 ppm. I also dosed vodka for 4 months with a 8ml per day dosage and all that did was bottom out my phosphate. I have been slowly dropping the dosage so I can stop it completely. Now I do 15% water changes weekly and it seems that the nitrates hover around 25-35ppm. Still have very low phosphates but that may change once I stop the vodka. Just a pain to change 20 gallons a week(125 gallon tank). Anybody have higher nitrates with know problems? I do get a heavy film on the glass which I clean weekly with the water change. It's thick enough that my Emporer Angel eats it as I scrape it!! No gha at all. Am I the only one that thinks this nitrate level is acceptable?

IMO, optimal nitrate is about 2-15 ppm. Higher is better than lower.

Some great tanks have 100 ppm nitrate, so it is not necessarily a huge problem to have it high

 

[capted]

IMO, optimal nitrate is about 2-15 ppm. Higher is better than lower.

Some great tanks have 100 ppm nitrate, so it is not necessarily a huge problem to have it high

Yeah, I think I will stop chasing it too much. Tanks happy at 25-35ppm then I'm happy!! But I'm trying to convince the wife that a bigger tank will help due to more live rocks for bacteria growth....... Thank you everyone for the replies.