Zero nitrates and nitrites and something wrong with Duncan coral.

at44 · Aug 18, 2023

Hi I have a 36 gallon saltwater aquarium that I have had for the last 2 years but I have had other saltwater aquariums in the past. I have two medium sized canister filter and a 100 gallon rated protein skimmer. I have two leather corals that are growing great but recently I was doing water tests and it shows that I have no nitrates or nitrites, I do 25% water changes every two weeks. I feed twice a day with one cube of frozen food. Ammonia has been a little high so I treated it, but I was wondering why I have zero nitrates and nitrites.I also bought a Duncan coral and it has not opened up for at least a month so I also don’t know the reason for that.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Aug 18, 2023

It certainly might be due to low nutrients, if nitrate is actually undetectable. I'd try feeding more if you believe the nitrate test.

Garf · Aug 18, 2023

at44 said:
Hi I have a 36 gallon saltwater aquarium that I have had for the last 2 years but I have had other saltwater aquariums in the past. I have two medium sized canister filter and a 100 gallon rated protein skimmer. I have two leather corals that are growing great but recently I was doing water tests and it shows that I have no nitrates or nitrites, I do 25% water changes every two weeks. I feed twice a day with one cube of frozen food. Ammonia has been a little high so I treated it, but I was wondering why I have zero nitrates and nitrites.I also bought a Duncan coral and it has not opened up for at least a month so I also don’t know the reason for that.

Welcome

Why would the ammonia be a little high on a 2 year tank, are you talking a little green on an API test?
Sounds odd with little relevance but have you calibrated your salinity measurement? I suppose you used Prime to treat the high ammonia?

biom · Aug 18, 2023

at44 said:
Ammonia has been a little high so I treated it, but I was wondering why I have zero nitrates and nitrites.

High ammonia and zero nitrate in 2 year old tank is quite strange. It looks like something went wrong with the N cycle. Canister filter and oversized skimmer could be reason for zero nitrate