Zero phosphate and nitrate

[nlutfi]

Looking for some help raising nitrates and phosphates. For the last few months they have been stuck at 0. I have around a 100g system, skimmer, filter roller, ATS, I do auto water changes (around 2g a day), I tried taking out the filter roller, turning off the ATS, less and even no water changes but still just stuck at 0. I feed 4 times a day with a Avast plank auto feeder, feeding a mix of pellet and powdered foods. I also dose Aquaforest power amino acids. Any tips would be great! Looking for a way to raise both nitrate and phos to a good number and hold it. TIA!

 

[Jekyl]

You can directly dose both of them for the easiest method.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

How are you determining these 0-0 numbers?

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

How old is your tank? What is the bio-load? fish vs. corals? Sand or Bare? New rock or Live?
Just a few clues so we may be able to help you.

 

[VintageReefer]

Why do you want to raise the numbers? Are you having issues with corals?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

IMO, feeding more is easiest, even if you feel you already feed a lot.

If you don't want to do that, dosing N and P is not a problem.

 

[nlutfi]

How are you determining these 0-0 numbers?

I am testing with Hanna checkers ulr phosphate and hr nitrate

 

[nlutfi]

How old is your tank? What is the bio-load? fish vs. corals? Sand or Bare? New rock or Live?
Just a few clues so we may be able to help you.

The tank is almost 4 years old, sand bottom, it started with dry rock. Fish are: yellow tang, tomini tang, one spot foxface, starry blenny, flame hawk fish, possum wrasse, mandarin goby, maroon clown (I think that is all of them) it's pretty well established with coral, lps, mushrooms, stick, Monti's I will try and attach a photo.

 

[nlutfi]

IMO, feeding more is easiest, even if you feel you already feed a lot.

If you don't want to do that, dosing N and P is not a problem.

Thanks Randy! I was hoping to avoid dosing if possible but I may need to set up a dosing pump for N and P

 

[nlutfi]

Why do you want to raise the numbers? Are you having issues with corals?

I feel like growth has really slowed down, I have a hard time keeping zoas and corals that seem to like "dirtier water" but maybe that's just me

 

[Magic031707]

Ime, feed more flake/pellet food to get those PO4 numbers up and frozen for the nitrates. Or you cane dose as mentioned above.

 

[Ziggy17]

You didn’t mention having a fuge or reactors, so I guess those can be ruled out. 0-0 is a sure recipe for dinos so I can appreciate you wanting to get them up a bit.

 

[Spare time]

Put the skimmer on a timer to be off durning the day.

 

[Troylee]

Reef roids will nasty your water right up and feed your corals also… it sounds like you got way to much filtration on your tank also.. I run nothing but a skimmer and that’s always worked best for me.. I got tired of feeding my tank for a fuge to grow and compete with my corals for nutrients and I think filter rolls just strip everything before the tank can process it..

 

[twentyleagues]

if you are not having algae issues and other corals look good I wouldnt change your parameters to try to keep 1 type of coral. I know people that can grow all kinds of stuff but have issues with zoas, and its not low nutrients for them either.

Its possible that your tank is mature enough that your current corals and bacteria are just that efficient at using them up. Feed heavier, dose but I wouldnt do it for 1 type of coral.

 

[MIke Wood]

Thanks Randy! I was hoping to avoid dosing if possible but I may need to set up a dosing pump for N and P

do you have an automatic fish feeder? if not get one so that way you are continuously adding nutrients to the tank

 

[Dburr1014]

Many good suggestions here. Especially using reef roids.
My only added comment is to get a reading on po4 first before no3 if that is your intentions. And reef roids would accommodate that perfectly.

 

[jda]

If you have a 4 year old tank with sand, there is likely nothing that you can do to get no3 to rise. Even if you dose no3, the bacteria in the sandbed will adjust, multiply and use it all again. This is no problem. There are other ways for your corals to get nitrogen. You likely have some no3 in the .1 to .5 range, which is OK.

The Hannah ULR says 0 ppb of phosphate? This is very rare in tanks with lots of aragonite, IMO. The aragonite acts like a buffer and never really lets it get that low.

 

[Jekyl]

If you have a 4 year old tank with sand, there is likely nothing that you can do to get no3 to rise. Even if you dose no3, the bacteria in the sandbed will adjust, multiply and use it all again. This is no problem. There are other ways for your corals to get nitrogen. You likely have some no3 in the .1 to .5 range, which is OK.

The Hannah ULR says 0 ppb of phosphate? This is very rare in tanks with lots of aragonite, IMO. The aragonite acts like a buffer and never really lets it get that low.

Sand matters much less than rocks when it comes to nitrifying bacteria. In the scheme of things, could remove all sand without much of an impact. As someone with lots of rock and using crushed coral substrate, you can absolutely end up with rising nitrate despite environmental make up.

 

[jda]

I don't think that anybody is talking about nitrifying bacteria or crushed coral. Sand and denitrifying bacteria are completely different.