Tank eating more than 10 ppm nitrate a day? Does this sound accurate?

[Townes_Van_Camp]

20 gallon total volume
100% sps
Alk 9.0
Cal 450
Mag 1300
Sg 1.026
Phos .1
Temp 79

I'm feeding 1 cube of frozen emerald entre, pe mysis, or marine cuisine daily. Dosing 21.5ml of AFR in 12 doses over 24 hours.

In addition to feeding I have dosed 10ppm KN03 at 630 am three days in a row. Testing after 24 hours comes back 0ppm using Hanna tester.

 

[tedfisher496]

20 gallon total volume
100% sps
Alk 9.0
Cal 450
Mag 1300
Sg 1.026
Phos .1
Temp 79

I'm feeding 1 cube of frozen emerald entre, pe mysis, or marine cuisine daily. Dosing 21.5ml of AFR in 12 doses over 24 hours.

In addition to feeding I have dosed 10ppm KN03 at 630 am three days in a row. Testing after 24 hours comes back 0ppm using Hanna tester.

sounds rite to me, I had the same issue in my sps tank. The corals are consuming it.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

sounds rite to me, I had the same issue in my sps tank. The corals are consuming it.

That was my suspicion. But I wanted to be sure I wasn't the only one thinking it.

 

[tedfisher496]

That was my suspicion. But I wanted to be sure I wasn't the only one thinking it.

just be careful when dosing n03 you can cause bleaching if you raise it to fast. I lost 1500 in acro because of a overdose.

 

[Lavey29]

In addition you should be feeding 2 or 3 times daily so your fish will contribute more to nitrate production.

 

[tedfisher496]

In addition you should be feeding 2 or 3 times daily so your fish will contribute more to nitrate production.

i did this method and my no3 never bugged.

 

[nereefpat]

I've tried dosing nitrates to my tank to see what would happen, and they just get consumed quickly. Corals might be consuming some, but my guess is that bacteria in the rocks and sand are doing most of it. I don't have a way to prove one way or the other. In my tank, the nitrate was back to about zero a day later, and in once case it caused an explosion of dinos.

 

[Lavey29]

i did this method and my no3 never bugged.

How old was your tank? I had to double dose neophos and neonitro for multiple months before I got measurable numbers during the first year in addition to feeding multiple times a day. The biome is doing a lot of development the first year.

 

[tedfisher496]

How old was your tank? I had to double dose neophos and neonitro for multiple months before I got measurable numbers during the first year in addition to feeding multiple times a day. The biome is doing a lot of development the first year.

at that time it was 1.5 years old. Now its around 2.6 years. Im now doing ammonium carbonate for no3

 

[tedfisher496]

I've tried dosing nitrates to my tank to see what would happen, and they just get consumed quickly. Corals might be consuming some, but my guess is that bacteria in the rocks and sand are doing most of it. I don't have a way to prove one way or the other. In my tank, the nitrate was back to about zero a day later, and in once case it caused an explosion of dinos.

 

[tedfisher496]

di nitrification happens in very low oxygen environments, it very unlikely that this is happening from the bacteria on the rock's and sand, unless you have a deep sand bed 4" or more. Most likely its the corals.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Got any algae? It loves that stuff.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

20 gallon total volume
100% sps
Alk 9.0
Cal 450
Mag 1300
Sg 1.026
Phos .1
Temp 79

I'm feeding 1 cube of frozen emerald entre, pe mysis, or marine cuisine daily. Dosing 21.5ml of AFR in 12 doses over 24 hours.

In addition to feeding I have dosed 10ppm KN03 at 630 am three days in a row. Testing after 24 hours comes back 0ppm using Hanna tester.

No matter the nitrate consumption, I would stop dosing 10 ppm nitrate a day via KNO3, since you are boosting potassium by 6 ppm per day. In a month, you'd boost potassium from natural levels of 400 ppm to 580 ppm!

Use sodium nitrate, or ammonia dosing.

 

[nereefpat]

Use sodium nitrate, or ammonia dosing.

Using ammonia would be a net zero addition, in terms of alkalinity, right?

Conversion to nitrate consumes alk, and nitrate to nitrogen gas add it back. Do I have that right?

 

[ReefingDreams]

No matter the nitrate consumption, I would stop dosing 10 ppm nitrate a day via KNO3, since you are boosting potassium by 6 ppm per day. In a month, you'd boost potassium from natural levels of 400 ppm to 580 ppm!

Use sodium nitrate, or ammonia dosing.

Agree. My recommendation would be to consider ammonia dosing in your scenario.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

No matter the nitrate consumption, I would stop dosing 10 ppm nitrate a day via KNO3, since you are boosting potassium by 6 ppm per day. In a month, you'd boost potassium from natural levels of 400 ppm to 580 ppm!

Use sodium nitrate, or ammonia dosing.

It's stabilized and I'm giving.it 2 ppm every other day. I'll start reading on ammonia dosing now.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Using ammonia would be a net zero addition, in terms of alkalinity, right?

Conversion to nitrate consumes alk, and nitrate to nitrogen gas add it back. Do I have that right?

Ammonium bicarbonate is a net zero alk addition after it is consumed (with no nitrate change). Ammonium chloride is a net alk loss additive. My diy recipe thread provides for both.