The Opinionated Reefer
Well-Known Member
yeah just trying to understand why my nitrates are so low.
The Third Nutrient
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sixty_reefer
5000 Club Member
Just keep in mind that nitrifying bacteria will be transforming ammonia into nitrite to nitrate, less ammonia available will mean less nitrates that is not a bad thing to have as long as the reason you having less ammonia available is due to rapid coral growth. If I was in your situation I would just correct nitrates with calcium or sodium nitrate as mentioned before and observe
Dburr1014
7500 Club Member
But why? Did you just post that coral prefer ammonium over nitrate? That it's an extra expense that coral have to go thru?
Can you feed more? Let the fish feed the coral.
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sixty_reefer
5000 Club Member
It’s widely known and many peer reviewed articles on the subject that zooxanthellae and other photosynthetic organisms will prefer ammonium over nitrate (coral itself is heterotrophic and prey on organisms to acquire nitrogen), for this organism to use nitrates they have to waste energy in converting nitrates back to ammonia to be able to use it for protein and aminos (energy). It’s the same process for organisms that can use atmospheric nitrogen like Cyanobacteria they have to convert n2 into ammonia to be able to use it although if nh4 is available in the water column there is no need to waste energy to acquire a nutrient that is already in their preferred form and more easily assimilate without wasting energy.
Feeding more is not always a good solution as it can often create other issues depending on the particular situation.
The conclusion is that if we follow the consumers of ammonia we often can find the solution to a particular issue.
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Dburr1014
7500 Club Member
Yes, so why dose nitrates?It’s widely known and many peer reviewed articles on the subject that zooxanthellae and other photosynthetic organisms will prefer ammonium over nitrate (coral itself is heterotrophic and prey on organisms to acquire nitrogen), for this organism to use nitrates they have to waste energy in converting nitrates back to ammonia to be able to use it for protein and aminos (energy). It’s the same process for organisms that can use atmospheric nitrogen like Cyanobacteria they have to convert n2 into ammonia to be able to use it although if nh4 is available in the water column there is no need to waste energy to acquire a nutrient that is already in their preferred form and more easily assimilate without wasting energy.
Feeding more is not always a good solution as it can often create other issues depending on the particular situation.
The conclusion is that if we follow the consumers of ammonia we often can find the solution to a particular issue.
Just for the sake of having a number to read? I'm not sure that is beneficial.
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sixty_reefer
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It’s more than just a number if your system runs out of nitrates you are likely to cause a dinoflagellates bloom or allow other nuisance that thrive on ammonia to bloom, this is due to some heterotrophic species having the ability to oxidise ammonia hence raising the overall ammonia levels greatly this limitation isn’t a issue usually in mature and diverse tanks that have many beneficial photosynthetic organisms growing on the aquascape that can make use of the extra ammonia although in young systems with bare rock and a few corals nuisance usually is the result. It’s fairly common to see this mistake happening in young systems were folks try to limit the algae growth by depleting phosphates or nitrates, limiting one or both is usually beneficial to the algae having a different effect than expected by the average aquarist.
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