No3 & Po4 Dosing

Gungo · Apr 8, 2020

Hey Randy,

I've read a lot and watched a few videos on this but I need your help on a few details.

My experience with nutrients is that they always have been undetectable. This could be due to the fact that I have no luck with fish so I can't load the tank with "natural nutrient producers". This, plus big protein skimmer and refugium removes all nutrients from the tank. Today I received NeoPhos and NeoNitro to start dosing and provide some no3 and po4 to my tank.

Right now my levels are:

Po4 with Hanna ULR = 0.00
No3 with Salifert = 0 (No color)

My system is a 37-gallon total volume tank and its seven months old. No fish at the time but have two cleaner shrimps, two turbo snails, and a few hermit crabs. I feed 1 frozen cube daily and the numbers above are with this regimen.

What I want to understand is where should I start. I know that KH & CA are dosed on balanced ratios but no3 and po4 have a balance? Should I dose Equally or which method should I use?

I'm 100% new to trying this method and would like to get all information possible to be successful.

Thank you in advance!

Miller535 · Apr 8, 2020

I am not Randy, but you do NOT dose NO3 and PO4 equally. I have been dosing both of these (neonitro and neophos), just dose desired amount using the formula on the back of the bottle. I have been trying to keep mine at 10ppm NO3 and about .03-.06ppm PO4.

Since you have no fish, I would even turn the skimmer off for a little while.

Gungo · Apr 8, 2020

Miller535 said:
I am not Randy, but you do NOT dose NO3 and PO4 equally. I have been dosing both of these (neonitro and neophos), just dose desired amount using the formula on the back of the bottle. I have been trying to keep mine at 10ppm NO3 and about .03-.06ppm PO4.

Since you have no fish, I would even turn the skimmer off for a little while.

Do you set your dosing for one first and then for the other? or how you did it?

Miller535 · Apr 8, 2020

frcarvajal said:
Do you set your dosing for one first and then for the other? or how you did it?

I have been hand dosing them. And as far as I know, they can go in at the same time.

Miller535 · Apr 8, 2020

I'll measure NO3, then dose NO3. Then measure PO4 then dose PO4.

Miller535 · Apr 8, 2020

After you do that, the instructions tell you to measure again in 24 hours. I would do that and see how much was consumed. To try and figure out how much your tank is consuming daily.

dwest · Apr 8, 2020

Agree with above. Also, if your refugugium is lit with macro algae, I would eliminate that. I removed mine when I was fighting dinos. 18 months later, I see no reason to hook mine back up.

Gungo · Apr 8, 2020

Ok i'll do what miller535 says.

@dwest I don't know if I want to lose all microfauna I have on my refugium

.

Gungo · Apr 10, 2020

I have a question.

Does the protein skimmer remove nitrates and phosphate that's being dosed? I know the main purpose of the skimmer is to remove waste from the water column but I don't know if it actually removes the no3 and po4

Miller535 · Apr 10, 2020

frcarvajal said:
I have a question.

Does the protein skimmer remove nitrates and phosphate that's being dosed? I know the main purpose of the skimmer is to remove waste from the water column but I don't know if it actually removes the no3 and po4

I think it dose to some degree. So what I have been doing is turning my skimmer off for an hour or two when I dose. When I do this I see the expected rise I'm nutrients when I test for them.

Gungo · Apr 10, 2020

Miller535 said:
I think it dose to some degree. So what I have been doing is turning my skimmer off for an hour or two when I dose. When I do this I see the expected rise I'm nutrients when I test for them.

i am seeing the rise but they’re getting low in a 24h period. I don’t know if it’s the skimmer or what...

Miller535 · Apr 10, 2020

It's very possible your tank is consuming it. If you turn the skimmer off for the first hour or so like I said, its not going to pull them out later. The hypothetical reason skimmers help keep nitrates low is by removing certain waste that would later turn into nitrate. It doesnt actually remove nitrate itself.

Gungo · Apr 10, 2020

Thank you! will try again tomorrow with skimmer off for 1 hour.

Ryan Avery · Apr 10, 2020

Just out of curiosity. What happened to your fish? Having a few in your tank would definitely help. Maybe that’s something we can help you with?

Gungo · Apr 10, 2020

Ryan Avery said:
Just out of curiosity. What happened to your fish? Having a few in your tank would definitely help. Maybe that’s something we can help you with?

Thanks for asking. I had two clowns, lawnmower blenny and two firefish. Thing is that I intruduced 5 chromis without QT and suddenly all fish started dying. No fish left.

I could buy more but all local stores are closed who knows until when

Ryan Avery · Apr 10, 2020

O bummer I’m sorry to hear that. Unfortunately sometimes we have to learn the hard way how important qt is. How long has the tank been fishless?

Gungo · Apr 10, 2020

Like a month. Thing is that even with fish nutrients were undetectable. Thats why I decided to give it a try to po4 and no3 dosing.

Gungo · Apr 10, 2020

As for now, no3 seems to be consumed pretty quick

Ryan Avery · Apr 10, 2020

I would wait another two months to starve out any disease that may still be in the tank before I add anything. Instead of having to dose po4 and no3 I would put the skimmer on a timer and run it for 12 hours and monitor and adjust from there.