Nitrate mystery

[Brocksamson7]

My tank is a mixed reef (leathers are the only thing not in here) and reads .08 phosphate and 0 nitrates and has for 6 months. All my coral are bright and happy and growing. I have zero pest algae or algae of any kind. I know not to chase numbers I just don’t want to bottom out and get issues.
I have all real pukani stone. Live sand bed about an inch and half thick. Tons of bio media in my sump. A fleece roller is my only mechanical filtration. I do 10% water changes every week. I use aqua forest pro hybrid salt. I dose microbacter 7 when I do my water changes. I dose pods and phyto here and there. And I dose Aquaforest 3-1 daily.
I feed twice a day. A frozen slurry twice a week. The rest of the time a mix of PE mysis, vitalis pellets, TDO, and hikari seaweed extreme. I also feed benereef twice a week.
Why do I have 0 nitrates?!
And maybe a stupider question to those much smarter than me but is it possible I do have enough nitrates and my system is just processing them so efficiently that it reads 0 but it’s there?
I figured by now I’d see some form of pest algae or problem but everything is for lack of a better term perfect.
Also how can I increase nitrate if I need to without increasing phosphate?

 

[Brocksamson7]

 

[Aqua Ultraviolet]

My tank is a mixed reef (leathers are the only thing not in here) and reads .08 phosphate and 0 nitrates and has for 6 months. All my coral are bright and happy and growing. I have zero pest algae or algae of any kind. I know not to chase numbers I just don’t want to bottom out and get issues.
I have all real pukani stone. Live sand bed about an inch and half thick. Tons of bio media in my sump. A fleece roller is my only mechanical filtration. I do 10% water changes every week. I use aqua forest pro hybrid salt. I dose microbacter 7 when I do my water changes. I dose pods and phyto here and there. And I dose Aquaforest 3-1 daily.
I feed twice a day. A frozen slurry twice a week. The rest of the time a mix of PE mysis, vitalis pellets, TDO, and hikari seaweed extreme. I also feed benereef twice a week.
Why do I have 0 nitrates?!
And maybe a stupider question to those much smarter than me but is it possible I do have enough nitrates and my system is just processing them so efficiently that it reads 0 but it’s there?
I figured by now I’d see some form of pest algae or problem but everything is for lack of a better term perfect.
Also how can I increase nitrate if I need to without increasing phosphate?

Zero nitrate with measurable phosphate isn’t necessarily a problem, especially if the corals are healthy, growing, and you’re not seeing nuisance algae. Your live rock, sand, bio-media, bacterial dosing, pods, and regular feeding can provide plenty of pathways for nitrogen to be consumed and converted before it accumates as measurable nitrate.
Yes, it’s possible your system is processing nitrogen efficiently enough that the water-column nitrate test stays at or near zero. I’d focus more on coral response and trends than trying to force a specific number.
If you want to raise nitrate without pushing phosphate up, reduce nutrient export slightly before adding nitrate directly. For example, you could run the fleece a little less aggressively or reduce bacterial dosing. If nitrate still stays at zero, a controlled nitrate supplement is more predictable than adding extra food, since additional feeding will usually add both nitrogen and phosphorus.

 

[Brocksamson7]

My tank is a mixed reef (leathers are the only thing not in here) and reads .08 phosphate and 0 nitrates and has for 6 months. All my coral are bright and happy and growing. I have zero pest algae or algae of any kind. I know not to chase numbers I just don’t want to bottom out and get issues.
I have all real pukani stone. Live sand bed about an inch and half thick. Tons of bio media in my sump. A fleece roller is my only mechanical filtration. I do 10% water changes every week. I use aqua forest pro hybrid salt. I dose microbacter 7 when I do my water changes. I dose pods and phyto here and there. And I dose Aquaforest 3-1 daily.
I feed twice a day. A frozen slurry twice a week. The rest of the time a mix of PE mysis, vitalis pellets, TDO, and hikari seaweed extreme. I also feed benereef twice a week.
Why do I have 0 nitrates?!
And maybe a stupider question to those much smarter than me but is it possible I do have enough nitrates and my system is just processing them so efficiently that it reads 0 but it’s there?
I figured by now I’d see some form of pest algae or problem but everything is for lack of a better term perfect.
Also how can I increase nitrate if I need to without increasing phosphate?

Zero nitrate with measurable phosphate isn’t necessarily a problem, especially if the corals are healthy, growing, and you’re not seeing nuisance algae. Your live rock, sand, bio-media, bacterial dosing, pods, and regular feeding can provide plenty of pathways for nitrogen to be consumed and converted before it accumates as measurable nitrate.
Yes, it’s possible your system is processing nitrogen efficiently enough that the water-column nitrate test stays at or near zero. I’d focus more on coral response and trends than trying to force a specific number.
If you want to raise nitrate without pushing phosphate up, reduce nutrient export slightly before adding nitrate directly. For example, you could run the fleece a little less aggressively or reduce bacterial dosing. If nitrate still stays at zero, a controlled nitrate supplement is more predictable than adding extra food, since additional feeding will usually add both nitrogen and phosphorus.

Thanks for the response. That’s what I figured. I guess I just want to be prepared if there comes a day I need the nitrate to fight off problems. But so far everyone is happy as a clam from what I can tell. So am I .

 

[Aqua Ultraviolet]

Thanks for the response. That’s what I figured. I guess I just want to be prepared if there comes a day I need the nitrate to fight off problems. But so far everyone is happy as a clam from what I can tell. So am I .

That makes sense. If the tank is stable and the livestock are healthy, I wouldn’t chase a specific nitrate number. Just keep monitoring it, and if things change, you can adjust gradually rather than trying to fix the number preemptively.