I have only been in the hobby for almost a year and could use some help.
Currently I have zero nitrates in my tank. Almost 90% of my tank is zoas and they have always struggled. They were faded, small polyps, and partially closed. I consulted with a couple of LFS and other ppl in the reefing community and was told zoas like a higher nutrients in the tank and I was told to increase my nitrate level. My tank makeup and parameters are listed below and the actions I have taken.
1. 60 gallon tank
2. 30 gallon sump with refugium with macro algae
3. Running Chemipure Blue
4. Marine pure block
5. Vertex 150 skimmer
6. Radion G4 XR30 lights they run 9 hours per day
7. Fish consist of sailfin tang, and six line wrasse
8. Alk runs between 8-9
9. Cal around 450
10. Mag 1400
11. Temp 78.5
12. Nitrates Zero
13. Phosphates 0.03ppm
14. No ammonia
15. No nitrites
16. pH runs around 8.15 to 8.3
17. Normal CUC
18. Fed the fish frozen food once per day
19. Dry rock in the refugium that has been cured.
Following are the steps I have taken to boost nitrate level with no success
1. Removed the marine pure block
2. Removed the chemipure blue
3. Removed 90% of macro algae (was the size of a volleyball now smaller than a baseball)
4. Adjusted skimmer. Before skimmate was tea like in color, now it is almost black.
5. Added two clowns and two cardinals.
6. Feed twice a day
7. Bought a different nitrate test kit to verify results
The only way I was successful in raising nitrates was to dose nitrates. At first I went slow and was dosing 5ml of ME Nitrate daily. I would verify after an hour the nitrate level went up to 2ppm. Within 24 hours my nitrates were back to zero. I am now dosing 8-10ml of ME Nitrate daily and when I retest the nitrate levels have fallen to 0.25ppm.
So where are my nitrates going? I can't figure out what is stripping my nitrates out of the water. The dosing of nitrates is addressing a symptom and not the problem. Any advice would greatly be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help,
Currently I have zero nitrates in my tank. Almost 90% of my tank is zoas and they have always struggled. They were faded, small polyps, and partially closed. I consulted with a couple of LFS and other ppl in the reefing community and was told zoas like a higher nutrients in the tank and I was told to increase my nitrate level. My tank makeup and parameters are listed below and the actions I have taken.
1. 60 gallon tank
2. 30 gallon sump with refugium with macro algae
3. Running Chemipure Blue
4. Marine pure block
5. Vertex 150 skimmer
6. Radion G4 XR30 lights they run 9 hours per day
7. Fish consist of sailfin tang, and six line wrasse
8. Alk runs between 8-9
9. Cal around 450
10. Mag 1400
11. Temp 78.5
12. Nitrates Zero
13. Phosphates 0.03ppm
14. No ammonia
15. No nitrites
16. pH runs around 8.15 to 8.3
17. Normal CUC
18. Fed the fish frozen food once per day
19. Dry rock in the refugium that has been cured.
Following are the steps I have taken to boost nitrate level with no success
1. Removed the marine pure block
2. Removed the chemipure blue
3. Removed 90% of macro algae (was the size of a volleyball now smaller than a baseball)
4. Adjusted skimmer. Before skimmate was tea like in color, now it is almost black.
5. Added two clowns and two cardinals.
6. Feed twice a day
7. Bought a different nitrate test kit to verify results
The only way I was successful in raising nitrates was to dose nitrates. At first I went slow and was dosing 5ml of ME Nitrate daily. I would verify after an hour the nitrate level went up to 2ppm. Within 24 hours my nitrates were back to zero. I am now dosing 8-10ml of ME Nitrate daily and when I retest the nitrate levels have fallen to 0.25ppm.
So where are my nitrates going? I can't figure out what is stripping my nitrates out of the water. The dosing of nitrates is addressing a symptom and not the problem. Any advice would greatly be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help,
