Question on dosing nitrate

[Fishingandreefing]

This is my second time dosing Neonitro as the tank is not doing good. Both nitrate and magnesium are low. Now I have increase my mag to 1250 but the nitrate is still at around 3-5. I want to increase a solid 5ppm to see if that makes a difference. (Salifert test kit)

according to Neonitro instruction, it would be better to dose with Microbacter. Isn’t microbacter7 supposedly lower nitrate or phosphate?

 

[minus9]

What's your current PO4? Why 5ppm? What's your ultimate goal? Sorry with all the questions, but numbers are exactly that, numbers. You can raise magnesium without issue to your desired range.

 

[Jekyl]

Why dose anything? Just let your skimmer empty back into the sump or remove your socks.

 

[Gtinnel]

I manually dose some nitrate fairly often in my tank (not neonitro though) and I don't add anything other than the nitrate solution. IMO if your nitrate is at 3-5 then you probably don't need to increase it. I have to periodically dose to keep mine above 0, 2.5 has become my goal.

 

[blasterman]

If corals are doing bad at 3-5 nitrate something else is wrong. Ive had soft corals complain about nitrate being below 10 but 3-5 is perfect for LPS and softies.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I agree, nitrate is not the problem (if there is a problem).

 

[Fishingandreefing]

I agree, nitrate is not the problem (if there is a problem).

I am not it was a coincidence. I remember way back my Duncans were all closed up. I then realized my nitrate was really high then it opened right up after I lowered it to around 10

 

[Fishingandreefing]

Why dose anything? Just let your skimmer empty back into the sump or remove your socks.

I just feed more now

 

[Fishingandreefing]

What's your current PO4? Why 5ppm? What's your ultimate goal? Sorry with all the questions, but numbers are exactly that, numbers. You can raise magnesium without issue to your desired range.

Yeah they’re just numbers but those are our reference points.

 

[minus9]

I find that if you have any measurement of nitrate, you have plenty, but phosphates on the other hand are a more delicate issue. Ultra low readings can lead to starvation quickly, especially with acropora.