Should I Dose Nitrates?

[dangalang]

My nutrients have been low with .01ppm Phosphates and 0-1ppm Nitrates in these early stages of my tank, but the corals have looked in good shape to me. I noticed recently that my zoas have not been happy, with only few polyps opening during the day.

I feed pellets and decided to start feeding heavier for the past week (my clowns stomach’s look like they’re gonna explode). I’ve also direct fed aminos and Reef Roids twice in that time span.

I just tested and my phosphates are up to .06ppm but my nitrates are at 0ppm. I’m using Hanna checkers for testing. I would like to get my zoas to open as well as prevent the possibility of getting dinos.

I don’t have any nuisance algae except this green film algae that grows pretty fast, as in it will cloud up the glass again within an hour of cleaning.

My guess is the corals, coralline that is growing rapidly, and the film algae is using up all my nitrates.

All other corals look in good shape to me.

Should I start dosing nitrates? Feed fish even heavier, so there is even more leftover/uneaten food? Feed aminos and Reef Roids more? Do nothing and continue as is?

 

[Invictus]

There are a large number of reasons why your nitrates may be staying low. But unusual that phosphates would 6x while Nitrates stayed the same or decreased. Are you confident in the calibration for your Nitrate test?

I would caution against making any drastic changes, as the rest of your corals look happy and healthy. Try to determine if something else is eating up the nitrates (algae scrubber, refugium, excessive bacteria, etc)

 

[JVU]

I have to dose nitrates as well, with a similar story. I accumulate P with 0 N with regular feeding. Feeding more makes more P accumulate, which I don’t want. Dosing nitrate is the easy solution. It’s easy since you can just add it periodically as needed- changes don’t have to be slow (you can raise a couple ppm in one dose no problem) and the exact number isn’t too important as long as it doesn’t bottom out or get crazy high. I use Neo-Nitro but there are other good options.

 

[dangalang]

There are a large number of reasons why your nitrates may be staying low. But unusual that phosphates would 6x while Nitrates stayed the same or decreased. Are you confident in the calibration for your Nitrate test?

I would caution against making any drastic changes, as the rest of your corals look happy and healthy. Try to determine if something else is eating up the nitrates (algae scrubber, refugium, excessive bacteria, etc)

I tested my quarantine tank and that had .03 phosphate and 5.4ppm nitrate so I think it's ok, but I'll order the Hanna calibration vials to check and eliminate that possible variable.

I have to dose nitrates as well, with a similar story. I accumulate P with 0 N with regular feeding. Feeding more makes more P accumulate, which I don’t want. Dosing nitrate is the easy solution. It’s easy since you can just add it periodically as needed- changes don’t have to be slow (you can raise a couple ppm in one dose no problem) and the exact number isn’t too important as long as it doesn’t bottom out or get crazy high. I use Neo-Nitro but there are other good options.

Good to know someone's been in my current situation before. I'm going to double check that my Hanna HR Nitrate checker is up to par and if it is, I'll try out dosing nitrates.

Thank you both!

 

[RandyC]

There are a large number of reasons why your nitrates may be staying low. But unusual that phosphates would 6x while Nitrates stayed the same or decreased. Are you confident in the calibration for your Nitrate test?

I would caution against making any drastic changes, as the rest of your corals look happy and healthy. Try to determine if something else is eating up the nitrates (algae scrubber, refugium, excessive bacteria, etc)

Not unusual at all. Pellets have a lot of phosphate. In general, any food high in protein will have high phosphates that will end up in the water column regardless if it’s eaten or not.

 

[RandyC]

I tested my quarantine tank and that had .03 phosphate and 5.4ppm nitrate so I think it's ok, but I'll order the Hanna calibration vials to check and eliminate that possible variable.


Good to know someone's been in my current situation before. I'm going to double check that my Hanna HR Nitrate checker is up to par and if it is, I'll try out dosing nitrates.

Thank you both!

There are many people in this predicament. Some people just end up letting their phosphates go high and everything in their tank is perfectly fine. Others have problems with the phosphates. If you’re seeing issues with your tank with high phosphates (algae blooms, coral suffering, etc.), then dosing nitrates may help you out.

I myself dose Sodium Nitrate in just about every tank I’m running.

 

[Alexander1312]

I am not a big BRS fan but they recently changed their view on nitrate vs phosphate parameters, which seem to more broadly align now with current thinking that nitrates do not matter as much as phosphates and can be lower while phosphates can be higher than previously thought.

Looking at the phosphates here, if correctly measured, would not be the better course of action be feeding more, which would get both up, as there is still sufficient buffer for phosphates while having some nitrates would be sufficient? And only add nitrates if phosphates are above 0.1 - 0.15 and nitrates still do not rise?

Arent algae issues from phospates in the above range not rather from lack of proper inverts or fish vs them being too high?

I have been thinking about this a lot recently, so wanted to throw this out here for discussion as the scenario above seems indeed to be very common.

 

[dangalang]

There are many people in this predicament. Some people just end up letting their phosphates go high and everything in their tank is perfectly fine. Others have problems with the phosphates. If you’re seeing issues with your tank with high phosphates (algae blooms, coral suffering, etc.), then dosing nitrates may help you out.

I myself dose Sodium Nitrate in just about every tank I’m running.

I've been lucky so far and have not had any algae issues (**knock on wood**). My worry is having nitrates bottom out and having the possibility of dinos showing up.

I am not a big BRS fan but they recently changed their view on nitrate vs phosphate parameters, which seem to more broadly align now with current thinking that nitrates do not matter as much as phosphates and can be lower while phosphates can be higher than previously thought.

Interesting, can you link the video/article on that when you get a chance?

Looking at the phosphates here, if correctly measured, would not be the better course of action be feeding more, which would get both up, as there is still sufficient buffer for phosphates while having some nitrates would be sufficient? And only add nitrates if phosphates are above 0.1 - 0.15 and nitrates still do not rise?

I'm not sure if I can feed more, I feed until my clowns are stuffed, puking up food, and not going after the food with intent anymore. I feed twice a day, maybe I should try for 3? Or maybe my bioload is too small for the amount of corals I have? I have 5 fish but they are all small.

 

[RandyC]

I've been lucky so far and have not had any algae issues (**knock on wood**). My worry is having nitrates bottom out and having the possibility of dinos showing up.


Interesting, can you link the video/article on that when you get a chance?


I'm not sure if I can feed more, I feed until my clowns are stuffed, puking up food, and not going after the food with intent anymore. I feed twice a day, maybe I should try for 3? Or maybe my bioload is too small for the amount of corals I have? I have 5 fish but they are all small.

I’d try to feed more to start. Doesn’t have to be fish food. You could food BRS reef chili, reef frenzy, coral snow or some other coral food. Or feed something fish and coral can eat.

 

[Alexander1312]

I've been lucky so far and have not had any algae issues (**knock on wood**). My worry is having nitrates bottom out and having the possibility of dinos showing up.


Interesting, can you link the video/article on that when you get a chance?


I'm not sure if I can feed more, I feed until my clowns are stuffed, puking up food, and not going after the food with intent anymore. I feed twice a day, maybe I should try for 3? Or maybe my bioload is too small for the amount of corals I have? I have 5 fish but they are all small.

Like I said, not a huge fan of them anymore, just a data point.

 

[Alexander1312]

I've been lucky so far and have not had any algae issues (**knock on wood**). My worry is having nitrates bottom out and having the possibility of dinos showing up.

Dinos need double zeros from what I know, 0 nitrates while having phosphates would be risking cyano, which is much easier to manage. I might be wrong though, but I had dinos/prorocentrums twice a year ago and had to become intimately familiar with this nasty issue and how to effectively fight this when UV is not an option.

 

[p_rodman_]

I also have had high po4 .336 and 0 nitrate. I have started dosing nitrate and my po4 has been coming down with no other changes.

 

[under_water_ninja]

Reef roids and very high in phosphorus! Switch to a different powder food that is lower in phosphorus like the captive8 aquaculture foods or one that has a good red field ratio like benepets benereef powder foods. Feed corals more often with those foods and see how that ends up. Dosing nitrate is super easy and your corals will thank you for it! They want their food! Corals consume nitrate and phosphate. I dose a strong ass potassium nitrate I make myself(10x the strength of Randy Holmes farleys recipe) to keep my nitrates from falling below 20ppm. I use the potassium nitrate because I had a minor deficiency in potassium. As far as the algae film building on glass so fast sounds like light intensity. Have you checked par? I’ve never used par meters in the past, only time is when someone brings one by the shop, my gauge on adjusting light intensity was always the algae film buildup on the glass. I carry the benepets, captive8 foods as well as captive8 nitra8. You can always come by and pick my brain. You might also want to beef up your clean up crew a bit if your going to bump your nutrients up.

 

[under_water_ninja]

I also have had high po4 .336 and 0 nitrate. I have started dosing nitrate and my po4 has been coming down with no other changes.

Ya most of my tanks run about .45-.65 po4 and 40-50ppm nitrate and I don’t dose anything because the fish bioload is heavy in all my tanks and a feed corals heavy. when po4 gets to high(.80+) a water change brings it right back down to were I want it. My coral system is the only system I have to dose nitrates to (only about 16 fish in a 350gl system, compared to 19 fish in my 112 display) to keep them from falling below 20. I always want my corals to have food(no3, po4) constantly available. Clean up crew keeps the algae away and corals have a readily available food source

 

[dangalang]

Reef roids and very high in phosphorus! Switch to a different powder food that is lower in phosphorus like the captive8 aquaculture foods or one that has a good red field ratio like benepets benereef powder foods. Feed corals more often with those foods and see how that ends up. Dosing nitrate is super easy and your corals will thank you for it! They want their food! Corals consume nitrate and phosphate. I dose a strong ass potassium nitrate I make myself(10x the strength of Randy Holmes farleys recipe) to keep my nitrates from falling below 20ppm. I use the potassium nitrate because I had a minor deficiency in potassium. As far as the algae film building on glass so fast sounds like light intensity. Have you checked par? I’ve never used par meters in the past, only time is when someone brings one by the shop, my gauge on adjusting light intensity was always the algae film buildup on the glass. I carry the benepets, captive8 foods as well as captive8 nitra8. You can always come by and pick my brain. You might also want to beef up your clean up crew a bit if your going to bump your nutrients up.

Thanks Kenny! I'll look into the other coral foods you mentioned and beefing up my CUC.