Nitrates too low

musicreefer320

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Currently have a fishless reef tank and can’t add until Mid June due to ich outbreak. How can I raise my NO3? It’s plummeted since the fish have been removed. Thanks In advance!
 

FishyDP

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Not 100% sure on this but I am thinking you will have to feed the tank so the bacteria can produce the nitrate. Maybe add some flakes or pellets daily to keep the nitrogen cycle going. I know some people have to dose nitrates on established tanks because their tanks run at 0 nitrate due to carbon dosing etc. There are nitrate dosing products out there, but I vote for the natural way and just feed the tank and test.
 

Big G

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Been feeding benepets and Mysis.... feel like i need more. I don’t know. Literally putting a cube of mysis in a 30 gallon tank.
I mix up a fish "smoothie" for my fish. Using several different types of frozen cubes. Let is "slump" in the fridge. Then mix a bit. Now here's the interesting part. If I don't strain off the excess liquid, and feed this mix to my fish the nitrates and phosphates will go up; if I do pour off the excess liquid and feed to the fish the nitrates and phosphates stay just about right. So maybe you need a "mix" of bio material that appeals to nitrate production.
 

FishyDP

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I believe some frozen foods tend to produce phosphates. I agree about feeding a good mix of foods for a biodiversity of nutrients, so you are feeding different types of bacteria that feed on different nutrients. If you are not running a skimmer I would be surprised if you dont get a nitrate spike in the near future. This has been my experience when cycling tanks. I also dose ammonia when cycling, seems to speed things up for sure.
 
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musicreefer320

musicreefer320

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I believe some frozen foods tend to produce phosphates. I agree about feeding a good mix of foods for a biodiversity of nutrients, so you are feeding different types of bacteria that feed on different nutrients. If you are not running a skimmer I would be surprised if you dont get a nitrate spike in the near future. This has been my experience when cycling tanks. I also dose ammonia when cycling, seems to speed things up for sure.

I’m not cycling
 
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musicreefer320

musicreefer320

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Fed the tank reef roids two days ago and my phosphates went from 0 to .12, but my nitrates were only .25. Still can’t get these nitrates up.
 

FishyDP

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Try dosing ammonia. Dr. Tim's is good, dosing instructions included I believe. What test kits are you using?
 

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