Anyone dose nitrate?

[tonymission]

So no matter what I do, I can't seem to get my nitrates above .25-.50 on a good day. Obviously tons of feeding gets it up a bit, but that comes with a less desirable increase in PO3.

Since my export seems to be on point, I'm going to stick with what's working and go with a more controlled method of getting to 2-5ppm nitrate. Picked up some pure KNO3 (potassium nitrate) powder and mixed 1 tsp with 500ml RODI... upped my nitrates to 1.0 from 0.25. I'm going to go slow and monitor this based on coral reaction and hopefully increased coloration.

Wondering if anyone else has messed with this.
Maybe seems silly in a hobby obsessed with ridding nitrates, I know...

 

[nickh06]

thought this was a joke when I first read it lol. Have you tried skipping water changes? What is your goal here? Increase color?

 

[tonymission]

Nickh06;1011425 wrote: thought this was a joke when I first read it lol. Have you tried skipping water changes? What is your goal here? Increase color?

I do 3 gallon / 150 automated water changes per day on 240g volume.
I just feel like all the normal pieces of advice: take macros out of fuge, skip water changes, feed more, skim more dry, turn skimmer off, etc... Feel like that doesn't give me a lot of control and has other ancillary effects on my parameters, where this allows me to very carefully control this number without bumping anything up except potassium by a very small amount. Small enough to be consumed daily.

The goal is for better color, yes. My old 90g, which was dirty as hell, had the best colors out of all my tanks. I've done a lot of research on this and a lot of SPS keepers are doing the same. The details are a little murky but 2-5ppm nitrates seems to be the sweetspot for SPS. The idea of 0 NO3/0 PO3 I think is dated...

 

[stacy22]

:fish:First world reefer problems.

 

[shrimpy brains]

Interesting. Tuning in to see how it works out. Never thought lack of nitrates would be an issue! lol

 

[nickh06]

tonymission;1011427 wrote: I do 3 gallon / 150 automated water changes per day on 240g volume.
I just feel like all the normal pieces of advice: take macros out of fuge, skip water changes, feed more, skim more dry, turn skimmer off, etc... Feel like that doesn't give me a lot of control and has other ancillary effects on my parameters, where this allows me to very carefully control this number without bumping anything up except potassium by a very small amount. Small enough to be consumed daily.

The goal is for better color, yes. My old 90g, which was dirty as hell, had the best colors out of all my tanks. I've done a lot of research on this and a lot of SPS keepers are doing the same. The details are a little murky but 2-5ppm nitrates seems to be the sweetspot for SPS. The idea of 0 NO3/0 PO3 I think is dated...

makes sense, I have seen a few of my friends tanks that are dirtier than mine and they all seem to do very well in both growth and color. I think finding that balance is key to a healthy reef. Interested to see what you come up with.

 

[tonymission]

Bgcoop8784;1011468 wrote: Have you tried feeding reef roids or other powdered foods?

I've used coral frenzy and the new powder from NLS... I think all that stuff really works but I also feed plenty and all of that contributes to phosphates. I want to have direct control over this one parameter. Now my curiosity makes me wonder if it's the nitrates that we're going for or the food that actually contributes to the nitrate. Apparently the presence itself can be helpful, but I'm not sure why.

Nickh06;1011470 wrote: makes sense, I have seen a few of my friends tanks that are dirtier than mine and they all seem to do very well in both growth and color. I think finding that balance is key to a healthy reef. Interested to see what you come up with.

I'll update the thread as I go along here. Ive heard that WWC even keeps their tanks at 30-40 nitrate with insane color and actually a big believer in this. That seems outrageous, but I'm definitely going to mess around with it. My grow tanks have already been going in the right direction so it might be hard to attribute all/any color "success" to just this. Failure OTOH, maybe so lol

 

[dawgface]

Try looking into alk and its influence on color versus growth. If I remember correctly Dana Riddle wrote something on this years and years ago.

Essentially
Higher Alk - higher Po4 and/or No3
Lower Alk - lower Po4 and/or No3 - High intensity lighting.

 

[dawgface]

Low being 6.5 DKH
High 9 DKH

 

[tonymission]

DawgFace;1011481 wrote: Low being 6.5 DKH
High 9 DKH

Yeah I've moved down from 9.5 to 7.5 very slowly with that TMBA salt. I think that's been the key component in balancing out my system.

The question then is what range are high nutrients? I've read/seen good arguments for PO4 =>.1 ppm and coloration also. If some people are having success with 30-40ppm nitrates then maybe 2-3ppm can still be considered low. I'd have to assume WWC has higher alk then... I'm sure that info is out there if I wasn't being lazy

 

[skriz]

Higher alk levels have been shown to increase a coral's resiliency.

 

[dawgface]

Skriz;1011493 wrote: Higher alk levels have been shown to increase a coral's resiliency.

With higher ALK also accounting for more growth, correct?

 

[tonymission]

DawgFace;1011521 wrote: With higher ALK also accounting for more growth, correct?

I've heard that. Lower alk more color.

 

[mattgee87]

tonymission;1011524 wrote: I've heard that. Lower alk more color.

Thats what the red sea coral program says, Whether not its true IDK

 

[mcphock]

tonymission;1011427 wrote: The idea of 0 NO3/0 PO3 I think is dated...

As chemosynthetic organisms, corals require</em> both nitrate and phosphate for growth. Lots of people seem to have forgotten that, and are just beginning to realize it again.

 

[demifelix]

following. I'm battle similar issues too. My tank had good growth an colors at 0 phosphate and 2-3 nitrates. Now that nitrates are 0 there's absolutely no growth. Some acros browned out as well. How could they loose colors at phosphate and 0 nitrate? Driving me nuts! Hopefully you figure something out to share to all of us Tony.

 

[dawgface]

demifelix;1011530 wrote: following. I'm battle similar issues too. My tank had good growth an colors at 0 phosphate and 2-3 nitrates. Now that nitrates are 0 there's absolutely no growth. Some acros browned out as well. How could they loose colors at phosphate and 0 nitrate? Driving me nuts! Hopefully you figure something out to share to all of us Tony.

In my experience browning of corals is typical with either high nutrients or insufficient lighting. Since you don't have a nutrient issues I'd lean towards lighting. However, beings it's driving you nuts I'd consider getting another different set of test kits to compare with or take to a reputable place for a second opinion. That's is before you completely discount nutrients as the problem.

ULNS commonly see paling of corals due to lack of sustenance.

 

[skriz]

DawgFace;1011521 wrote: With higher ALK also accounting for more growth, correct?

Correctomundo!

tonymission;1011524 wrote: I've heard that. Lower alk more color.

Not entirely true. The colour will be different. AND each particular coral will "prefer" a different level of x.

 

[demifelix]

DawgFace;1011558 wrote: In my experience browning of corals is typical with either high nutrients or insufficient lighting. Since you don't have a nutrient issues I'd lean towards lighting. However, beings it's driving you nuts I'd consider getting another different set of test kits to compare with or take to a reputable place for a second opinion. That's is before you completely discount nutrients as the problem.

ULNS commonly see paling of corals due to lack of sustenance.

I didn't really believe in my test Salifert test kits at the time so I took the water to Purereef to test, and they register the same as mine. Alk 10, pH 8, salinity 1.024, 0 NO3, 0 PO4. Maybe I should try to do like Tony to get my nitrates up by feeding more?

 

[dawgface]

How about lighting?