Nitrates

[greenwizard2112]

Joel@greenwizard2112. My YouTube channel. Document from a 25 gallon to 75 to 120 to 180. 9 years. Misinformation? Watch and see

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Nitrate is not necessary at any particular level IF (and only if), N is adequately available from other sources, such as ammonia or organics. That can vary a lot tank to tank.

Strong statements that nitrate and phosphate are always bad is demonstrably incorrect based on great tanks with >50 ppm nitrate and > 1.0 ppm phosphate.

The reverse is also true, where some great tanks have <2 ppm nitrate and <0.02 ppm phosphate.

Here's how I suggest folks think about nitrate: insurance to be sure you have enough N.

Ammonia is Our Friend!

Ammonia is Our Friend By Randy Holmes-Farley Yes, I know the title is provocative, and likely goes against much of what you read and hear in the reef aquarium hobby. I believe, however, that the hobby may have been harmed by the continual...

www.reef2reef.com

6. Corals demonstrate a preference for obtaining the N (nitrogen) they need from ammonia over nitrate when both are available. Organisms using nitrate as an N source need to spend extra energy to convert the nitrate to ammonia before use.

7. Continually driving ammonia down in a reef tank may be making it unnecessarily difficult for corals to most easily obtain the nitrogen they need. Actions such as providing media designed for nitrifiers or adding nitrifying bacteria on a regular basis may thus be doing more harm than good.

8. Reef aquaria where N is in short supply may benefit from dosing ammonia, and that benefit may be greater than dosing nitrate. Ammonium bicarbonate is a good source of ammonia as it is inexpensive and readily available in food grade purity.

9. While measuring a detectable level of nitrate in a reef aquarium can be very useful to ensure there is some source of N available for corals, one should not assume that corals are primarily using that source since there are other sources that they may prefer to use (and actually be using).

 

[sixty_reefer]

Nitrates are bad and should be zero. I fell for it, had coral dying and everyone said because I have zero nitrates. We had a hurricane, lost electricity.ran my tank on generator and after, coral slowly started dwindling. Everyone said because nitrates. NO!!!!! My light switched to default so intensity was 50 percent at high, but I work so didn't see the difference during the day. I was adding neo nitrate which made corals on the rope fall out of the ring. All dead now . I now have a cyano and dino bloom which I just defeated, but because I added nitrates is in full swing. Nitrates and phosphate are bad. Not fuel , not necessary just bad news bears

If you have a tank full of SPS coral, I would agree that raising nitrates could potentially be a bad move.

 

[Dburr1014]

Nitrates are bad and should be zero.

Nitrates are not "bad". I will agree they "can" be zero with no ill effects. I had zero for a long time also. Ammonium is the preferred food for coral and nitrate is the end product that we test in this hobby.

I fell for it, had coral dying and everyone said because I have zero nitrates. We had a hurricane, lost electricity.ran my tank on generator and after, coral slowly started dwindling.

This is unfortunate. I am sorry for your losses. :(

Everyone said because nitrates. NO!!!!! My light switched to default so intensity was 50 percent at high, but I work so didn't see the difference during the day.

This could be your smoking gun.
Less light and they slowly dwindle. I guess it would depend on how much the light decreased and how much the coral need.

I was adding neo nitrate which made corals on the rope fall out of the ring. All dead now . I now have a cyano and dino bloom which I just defeated, but because I added nitrates is in full swing.

Nitrates and phosphate are bad.

Again, phosphate is literally coral food. Coral absolutely need phosphorus and it comes in many forms.

Not fuel , not necessary just bad news bears

 

[Doctorgori]

There was a lot of room here for a “nicety” comments but to everyones credit you people handled the replies with class…

OP this nitrate of not thing isn't fully settled on what levels mean what …. One of my tanks is over 50ppm …I got nothing ….

But one thing is certain, ZERO is proven bad … if you believe different AND you could set up a experiment proving different then it will be the most viewed experiment on R2R

 

[Saltfishlover]

A few months ago after reading Randy's post about amonium, I have been dosing my tanks. I must say, I prefer it over neo nitrate. Easily measured dose, and my tanks seem to be showing better color

 

[Rallic]

My coral was starving for light, photosynthesis, not contaminates from caged fish, AKA nitrates

I run 5 to 10.... setting stable at that.
Falls right in the middle of a salient test.
But N03 is food .. another name for it is nutrients..... this system is mostly acro and sps .... it's a mixed tank with meat corals and the like but acros , 180g tank.

My 125g is mostly LPS , torches, and hammer with a few softy. I run it at 20 n03 and douse vodka (Carbon dousing) to keep it there and feed the corals.

The truth of it is ? Depends on the system and what you are doing. There are 1000 ways to skin a cat and every one of them works.

 

[LordGman76]

Definitely don’t fall for this zero nitrate thing. Nitrogen is part of the nitrogen cycle. If you don’t have any nitrogen, you don’t have any cycle.

 

[Pod_01]

phosphate at .01

I never had luck with newer tank, acros and such a low PO4 value.

When I did accomplish sub 0.02 level most of my acros perished.

Once I elevated PO4 to 0.1 the above acro improved substantially:

But it took 6 months…

Good luck,

 

[CKW]

Nitrates at 2, phosphate at .01

Check your ammonia