Zero nitrates dull sps

[landlubber]

I don't really care to join the squabble over AI reefing here but in general It encouraged to keep nutrients low but NEVER let them bottom out.
If I were OP i'd taper off on nutrient management (skimming, gfo, bio-balls, gfo etc) or water changes until the tank water test readable levels and then slowly implement what allows you the 5-10ppm Nitrate and 2-10 Phosphate you need to keep corals living.

 

[js-3Design]

Agreed with one exception. It recommends to dose both. Nitrate daily and ammonia 2x weekly. Listing ammonia as optional or secondary Thoughts here?

Yeah that makes sense.

Ammonia takes time to be converted to nitrite and then to nitrate.

So with also dosing nitrate you increase the nitrate straight away and then the converted ammonia can take over.
I won't say the ammonia is optional but I would turn it around. The nitrate is optional and the ammonia is not.

 

[386reeftrader]

I like Neonitro for raising No3. I don't use it too often.. mainly just keep it around for dinos, but its worked well to raise nitrates anytime I've used it.

That said I highly doubt with 21 fish in a 180 that you are actually at zero available no3. I'd throw in some cheap test frags and see how they do. Many times I've tested zero nitrates while my SPS are thriving.

 

[Ryan15236]

I like Neonitro for raising No3. I don't use it too often.. mainly just keep it around for dinos, but its worked well to raise nitrates anytime I've used it.

That said I highly doubt with 21 fish in a 180 that you are actually at zero available no3. I'd throw in some cheap test frags and see how they do. Many times I've tested zero nitrates while my SPS are thriving.

I agree I don’t see how my corals aren’t getting nutrients however the speculation, the zero nitrates on Hanna and possible dino issues are hard for me to get past. I have stocked about 10 sps frags at 2 different times but i think both were too soon. I would lose a few and then a few others would partial RTN but then stop and still have quite recovered. This was about 4 months ago and then 3 months ago. I haven’t added since

 

[Ryan15236]

Some ideas.

Go to 400 micron mesh socks, clean maybe once a month or when needed.

Reduce WC to every 2 weeks.
I do 5% a month on all systems.

Feed more. I feed heavy 4-5× a day in my 150, 90% acros.This always brings up no3 and po4 in my 22 month old system. 5-6 cubes plus some pellets for 10 fish.

If that does not work you can look at dosing no3, or as above mentioned ammonia.
My 150 22 months
Po4 runs .1-.2.
No3 runs 5-20
This sytem runs 2 oversized skimmers and I control
Po4 with gfo when needed and no3 with vodka daily.

I’m in a routine and I would like to continue but if I’m not getting results that I want then I do need to make adjustments. I may try filter sock idea. That would lighten my load considerably

 

[Ryan15236]

I’ll post a video. When I say zero algae issues. I get some algae growth but it is controlled and herbivores have some natural grazing areas. I get some on sand and maybe mixed with Dino/diatom.
Maybe these are issues not sure but doesn’t see to affect livestock you can see some corals look good some have dead spots, there’s a pale goldenrod and dull digitata

 

[Ryan15236]

View attachment 20260217_131009_95EBBCCF-8324-4119-803F-A291EF14C1AE.mov

 

[Ryan15236]

Video via YouTube. Maybe better?

 

[exnisstech]

Agreed with one exception. It recommends to dose both. Nitrate daily and ammonia 2x weekly. Listing ammonia as optional or secondary Thoughts here?

Only ammonium in my SPS tank to keep NO3 results above 0. When I was dosing nitrate it seemed like test results were up and down. Dosing ammonium they are more consistent and don't require the tweaking that nitrate did. If the ammonium is being dosed daily I would expect a constant supply for coral after the first couple of days. I'm not a science guy tho so can't really say which is best but my acros are growing well along with more consistent test results so I just continue.

 

[CHSUB]

21 fish with nitrogen deficiency? Impossible….nuf said.

 

[landlubber]

I agree I don’t see how my corals aren’t getting nutrients however the speculation, the zero nitrates on Hanna and possible dino issues are hard for me to get past. I have stocked about 10 sps frags at 2 different times but i think both were too soon. I would lose a few and then a few others would partial RTN but then stop and still have quite recovered. This was about 4 months ago and then 3 months ago. I haven’t added since

So this is starting to sound familiar.
You have plenty of nutrients... the issue is your problematic algae is grabbing them before they collect in the water column allowing your corals to absorb them or to give a readable test.
For me to resolve this was a bit of a process. I had to sort out my dinos before things went back to good and I suspect the same is true for you.

 

[Ryan15236]

I agree I don’t see how my corals aren’t getting nutrients however the speculation, the zero nitrates on Hanna and possible dino issues are hard for me to get past. I have stocked about 10 sps frags at 2 different times but i think both were too soon. I would lose a few and then a few others would partial RTN but then stop and still have quite recovered. This was about 4 months ago and then 3 months ago. I haven’t added since

So this is starting to sound familiar.
You have plenty of nutrients... the issue is your problematic algae is grabbing it before it collects in the water column allowing your corals to absorb them or to give a readable test.
For me to resolve this was a bit of a process. I had to sort out my dinos before things went back to good and I suspect the same is true for you.

I have had outbreaks where this is true. Especially in early stages. I’ll agree that there is some uptake from algae but I don’t think it’s at the point it’s taking up all nutrients. I might be wrong.

If dinos are present must be LCA on sand bed. Not seeing anything anywhere else

 

[Ryan15236]

21 fish with nitrogen deficiency? Impossible….nuf said.

So no dosing recommended?

 

[CHSUB]

So no dosing recommended?

Hobby testing on my tank reads 0 no3, last ICP had no3 @.1 ppm. I do however feed corals daily RS ab+ and reef Roids, so maybe that helps; feeds corals directly vs increasing inorganic nutrients that only feeds zooxanthellae is better imo.

 

[mook1178]

Dosing ammonia can be a bit trickier as it needs to be converted to nitrite then nitrates. Plus it consumes alkalinity in the conversion. It is not a direct dose, ie 1 to 1 addition. also an accidental high dosage can be harmful. Bad calculations and measurements can lead to harmful dosages as well as carelessness.

Therefore I does nitrates, Sodium nitrates. It is a direct dose and can be directly calculated. Not all ammonia will be turned into Nitrates. Ammonia is used by a fair amount of biology in saltwater, nitrates less so.

 

[MikeB]

You trust an hallucinating word generator that has no knowledge about anything nor understands anything with the life of your pets? Wow.

Op, please educate yourself and learn what to do and how to do it. Understanding your reeftank is very important. And a LLm won't help you with that.

Maybe learn how to use AI and seed it properly to bring it up to speed with your current situation and it does wonders. Always verify of course

 

[JBNY]

I would first look at easing up on an export a bit before adding anything. You have a heavy fish load and you’re feeding heavily, but nitrate is sitting at zero. That means the system is removing nitrogen faster than it’s being produced. With phosphate at 0.08–0.1 ppm, you’ve got an imbalance. SPS can look dull or pasty in that situation because the zooxanthellae don’t have enough nitrogen to build proteins efficiently, even though phosphate is available.

I would try relaxing one export chain, skim a little drier or prolong sock changes and see if nitrate begins to creep up over a week or so. If that doesn’t happen, then I would dose nitrate and bring it up slowly into the 5–8 ppm range and hold it steady there. I wouldn’t use ammonium, it is too easily intercepted by other things like bacteria and algae (and they have much larger numbers) to be certain that it is making it's way to the coral.

I wouldn’t use to amino acids. In a system that’s already stripping nitrate to zero, organic nitrogen from AA is easily intercepted by bacteria and skimmed out before it can help the coral. Dosing nitrate is more direct and you can test for it.

And yes, keep working on alkalinity stability. Moving from 7.0 to 7.7 over a few days isn’t that extreme, but bouncing alk combined with zero nitrate can increase coral stress.

Good luck!

 

[SeaDweller]

OP just unlocked NSW Zeo style pastel-colored corals achievement.

Having low N and P isn't necessarily a bad thing, but obviously that's not the look you're going for, and then it was a fad and thing years ago.

if you want richer colors, just decrease export or increase your feeding. You can still have low N and P with excellent throughput, which should still give you non pastel colors, heavy in and out

 

[Science/G]

Leave the filter sock in a little longer, feed a little more, and start a polyp boost and reef roids combo. Easy does it. The quickest and easiest way IMHO is with a little Brightwell Neo nitro.