Started dosing Sodium Nitrate...then the stuff hit the fan :(

[keithIHS]

When you dose nitrates of any kind it will slowly increase nitrate levels but almost always it will also increase alkalinity .
I have had to dose nitrates but used calcium nitrate instead of sodium nitrate .

What product do you use for calcium Nitrate?

 

[Rmckoy]

E

What product do you use for calcium Nitrate?

Esv b ionic

 

[Rmckoy]

What product do you use for calcium Nitrate?

 

[Dan_P]

lol

Sounds like a recipe for dinos to me.

I wonder if there might be at least one more factor for benthic dinoflagellate blooms, though it is poorly defined: newness of the system. Are older systems, say >1-2 years, equally susceptible to dinoflagellate blooms if nutrients go to 0?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I wonder if there might be at least one more factor for benthic dinoflagellate blooms, though it is poorly defined: newness of the system. Are older systems, say >1-2 years, equally susceptible to dinoflagellate blooms if nutrients go to 0?

I think that sounds very plausible, possibly with the use of dead rock being another big risk factor.

 

[131696]

@125 in post #15 quoted (sort of) a Coral Euphoria YouTube video as having 0 and 0. I haven't tried to find the video. Yeah, I saw those numbers also, so I'm skeptical they're actually 0. I just spent 6 months dealing with dinos probably due to 0 and 0, and I wouldn't wish them on anyone.
By the way, and forgive me if this is thread hijacking, I've read a couple of places where you recommend < 1 ppm NO3, perhaps as low as 0.2. Is this correct? And how would you recommend it be measured? Thanks.

The tank don't stay at 0-0 when you feed the tank you get nitrates and phosphates ,after a amount of time the filter brings the parameters back down to 0-0 and that's enough time for the corals to eat and keep the bacteria in check ,it's a stable tank that way. He talks about it in video how he does it.

 

[keithIHS]

The tank don't stay at 0-0 when you feed the tank you get nitrates and phosphates ,after a amount of time the filter brings the parameters back down to 0-0 and that's enough time for the corals to eat and keep the bacteria in check ,it's a stable tank that way. He talks about it in video how he does it.

Do you have a link to the video or title I can search for?

 

[keithIHS]

I think that sounds very plausible, possibly with the use of dead rock being another big risk factor.

Mine was 1.5 years old w dead rock and sand when the dinos took over. No corals yet. I added IPSF sand and mud a few months ago for biodiversity.

 

[Islandvib3s]

Id say it was the alk, I was having alk burns when dosing. Are you using reef crystals by any chance? Thats what I was using and it pretty much high on everything with no room to dose. So I switched to instant ocean. Lower parameters gives a buffer for mistakes and I didn't like that I almost always got alk burned tips or rtn/stn with sticks,I also had a problem with nem melting. After the switch I've gotten nems and also got a haddoni and they're all doing great! Also havent had problems like I did before with sticks. Take it for what its worth but my money is on the alk.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The tank don't stay at 0-0 when you feed the tank you get nitrates and phosphates ,after a amount of time the filter brings the parameters back down to 0-0 and that's enough time for the corals to eat and keep the bacteria in check ,it's a stable tank that way. He talks about it in video how he does it.

Certainly it is true there are small spikes in nutrients after feeding, but the general result of having undetectable N and P is often poor if you are not dosing a lot of organic foods that contain N and P (such as amino acids). Both coral issues and dinos are frequently enough an issue that I do not recommend such low levels, nor do most other people.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Id say it was the alk, I was having alk burns when dosing. Are you using reef crystals by any chance? Thats what I was using and it pretty much high on everything with no room to dose. So I switched to instant ocean. Lower parameters gives a buffer for mistakes and I didn't like that I almost always got alk burned tips or rtn/stn with sticks,I also had a problem with nem melting. After the switch I've gotten nems and also got a haddoni and they're all doing great! Also havent had problems like I did before with sticks. Take it for what its worth but my money is on the alk.

Burnt tips seems to come from very low nutrients and high alk, potentially not allowing certain corals to build tissue as fast as the skeleton grows.

There's not a big difference in most parameters between normal IO and Reef Crystals. Both are high alk mixes. If you want to avoid burnt tips and do not keep sufficient nutrients for whatever reason, keeping alk in the 7-8 dKH range is likely best.

 

[Islandvib3s]

Burnt tips seems to come from very low nutrients and high alk, potentially not allowing certain corals to build tissue as fast as the skeleton grows.

There's not a big difference in most parameters between normal IO and Reef Crystals. Both are high alk mixes. If you want to avoid burnt tips and do not keep sufficient nutrients for whatever reason, keeping alk in the 7-8 dKH range is likely best.

I agree,they're both high and I appreciate you chiming in. I was looking to switch salts because of my issues, I did have alot of nutrients, more then im proud of lol and remedied it with my new build being barebottom lol. But now I have ultra low nitrate or none but high phos because I'm feeding heavy to try and keep nitrates in the system lol. Ordered potassium nitrate and neonitro to fix that along with rowaphos.But anyway. Glad to see you're still around. I definitely miss you with brs, its just not the same watches clips,live feeds without you there. Hope all is well and wish you the best.

 

[arking_mark]

Just watched his video on heavy in and out of nutrients through feeding and filtering. The success that he's had seems to be a better approach vs starting a dosing regimen...at least as a starting point for me. I can try for a few months and note the results.
Thanks for recommending. I subscribed to his channel!

I like the heavy in/out approach with carbon dosing...