I need some advice for raising my nitrates. I have a 55 gallon tank with 20 gallon sump, reef octo 110 skimmer, and not a crazy amount of live rock I would say less than most tanks. The tank has been running for about 5 months and while corals are getting growth the color is a bit bland. I have 6 fish now, I feed 2 to 3 times a day, and I still have undetectable nitrate. What can I do to safely raise the nitrate level?
Low Nitrate
- Thread starter Reefried
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Try opening up your gate valve on the skimmer so that its pulling less skimmate. There are a few more people including myself that is having the same issue. I even got a case of the dinos because of it.
There are quite a few folks dealing with this exact issue right now; must be something in the air. Here's what I've done:
- Turned off my skimmer (make sure you still have plenty of surface agitation with powerheads for oxygen exchange).
- Increased the amount of aminos and Reef Roids I feed my corals (every other day instead of 2x per week).
- Started dosing Sodium Nitrate (NaNO3) in a solutions using food grade (lab grade?) NaNO3 that @anit77 gave me from a purchase of it he made on amazon.
- Added 2 fish: Percula Clown & Tomini Tang.
- Doing "water changes" using water from my display tank that I know has nitrates and phosphate in it.
Dosing amino acids will help. I went with Acropower, mainly because it doesn't make a skimmer overflow.
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Amino Acid - Bulk Reef Supply
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I wish I had this problem with when my tank was up. Maybe the amount people feed is different, what's a lot to some maybe a little to others. I fed mostly frozen and nori. The 210 tank got the equivalent of about 6 to 8 cubes a day and the 60 frag got about 3 to 4. The whole system got 2 to 2.5 full sheets of nori a week. The NO3 was usually in the 7 to 10 range and PO4 was .05 to .1. PO4 was something that I was always struggling with. Other than mixing Brightwell Coralamino with the frozen, I never fed the corals. I blew detritus around for that.
The skimmer I have is pretty big and I have a large ATS. After retrofitting the ATS with better leds this time last year it grew GHA like a beast until on took the system down in October.
Coral reefs in the ocean are generally pretty low nutrient in the water column, but they feed on zooplankton at night and get a lot of their NO3 and PO4 that way. The vast majority of reef keepers don't feed zooplankton or phyto. Those that don't but have higher nutrients in the water column usually have good looking coral and growth is good too. When the nutrient load is low to nonexistent you have to either feed the coral or dose the tank. Dosing can be increasing the bioload with more fish, which means feeding more or directly dosing a form of nitrate.
If increasing livestock is not possible maybe start feeding the coral a few times a week and see it that bumps things up a bit or at least gets the coral looking better. Reef Frenzy, Reef Chili, something.
The skimmer I have is pretty big and I have a large ATS. After retrofitting the ATS with better leds this time last year it grew GHA like a beast until on took the system down in October.
Coral reefs in the ocean are generally pretty low nutrient in the water column, but they feed on zooplankton at night and get a lot of their NO3 and PO4 that way. The vast majority of reef keepers don't feed zooplankton or phyto. Those that don't but have higher nutrients in the water column usually have good looking coral and growth is good too. When the nutrient load is low to nonexistent you have to either feed the coral or dose the tank. Dosing can be increasing the bioload with more fish, which means feeding more or directly dosing a form of nitrate.
If increasing livestock is not possible maybe start feeding the coral a few times a week and see it that bumps things up a bit or at least gets the coral looking better. Reef Frenzy, Reef Chili, something.
Dosing amino acids will help. I went with Acropower, mainly because it doesn't make a skimmer overflow.
Amino Acid - Bulk Reef Supply
Find Amino Acid at Bulk Reef Supply to keep your saltwater aquarium looking its best.
I just got off a chat with BRS regarding coral aminos. I was going to go with Acropower because it specifically says it does not need to be refrigerated but the dude at BRS said it all should be kept cold to maintain the nutrient profile. What give? Do you keep your Acropower refrigerated @ichthyoid ?
I've never used anything other than the Brightwell, which to my knowledge doesn't need to be refrigerated. I'm interested in the Acropower too because I've heard good things about it.
Here's what I get.
CoralAmino - Free Form Amino Acid Supplement
Overview Complex of free-form amino acids in the same ratios found within tissues of stony corals. Beneficial to all corals (stony and soft), as well as solitary and colonial polyps. Formulated based on data compiled by oceanographers researching coral tissue profiles. Does not require...
www.bulkreefsupply.com
So... I’m not hopping onto the high nitrate trend that everyone else is. I’ve had undetectable nitrates (below 0.25 ppm) for years and my corals grow and look great! Feeding corals with amino acids or other food is great... I’m just not trying to add them in such high quantities.
That said; protein skimmers serve 2 main functions: 1) aeration, and 2) removing organics before they break down any further.
My question for people who dose nitrates; why wouldn’t you just replace your skimmer with an air pump? It would use less electricity, less space, and you would save month on dosing less nitrates.
That said; protein skimmers serve 2 main functions: 1) aeration, and 2) removing organics before they break down any further.
My question for people who dose nitrates; why wouldn’t you just replace your skimmer with an air pump? It would use less electricity, less space, and you would save month on dosing less nitrates.
Brightwell only says to refrigerate if you get tank water in the bottle.
Do you regularly feed your coral?
@ActiveAngel You definitely have much more experience in the hobby than I do. And you're comment above got me thinking beyond feeding the coral, (Which I'd still like to know 
)
Sometimes it's easy to forget that each system is slightly different. No two systems are going to have the exact same parameters on everything, even two or more tanks plumbed through a common sump will be slightly different. What works for one may be a crash for another. I'm not saying low nutrient systems are bad it's just not something I striven for. Though, I do think there is a difference between low nutrient and non-measurable Zero nutrient. I think keeping NO3 below .5 is probably a good thing but how hard was it for you? Was it a balancing act or did it just happen naturally?
These articles that were posted in my second year in the hobby are a big reason why I stopped using GFO and worrying so much about nutrient levels unless there was a problem with nuisance algae or Cyano. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, I've never dealt with them being really low or zero.
www.reef2reef.com
www.reef2reef.com
)Sometimes it's easy to forget that each system is slightly different. No two systems are going to have the exact same parameters on everything, even two or more tanks plumbed through a common sump will be slightly different. What works for one may be a crash for another. I'm not saying low nutrient systems are bad it's just not something I striven for. Though, I do think there is a difference between low nutrient and non-measurable Zero nutrient. I think keeping NO3 below .5 is probably a good thing but how hard was it for you? Was it a balancing act or did it just happen naturally?
These articles that were posted in my second year in the hobby are a big reason why I stopped using GFO and worrying so much about nutrient levels unless there was a problem with nuisance algae or Cyano. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, I've never dealt with them being really low or zero.
Tank Parameters Of Some Masters
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Tank Parameters Of Some Masters
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Still can't edit...
This is the 2nd link I meant to post. If someone can clean it up for me that would be great.
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This is the 2nd link I meant to post. If someone can clean it up for me that would be great.
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Following the Masters Part Two When I decided to write the first article looking at the tank parameters for people who I consider masters in the hobby I did so thinking that their tanks would be pretty similar and that their success was at least...
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I refrigerate all of my amino acids including acropower.
The OP said he has 6 fish, what types of fish? Size? Also, actual test results aren't given, what are your parameters?
The OP said he has 6 fish, what types of fish? Size? Also, actual test results aren't given, what are your parameters?
Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are all undetectable. Ph is 8.2, alk is 8, not sure on phosphate but I am running a reactor with a small amount of GFO (I always ran it on my tanks in the past). Fish are Coral Beauty, pair of clowns, six line wrasse, fire fish, and a bi-color blenny. Shallow sand bed about 2.5 inches deep, 36 x 18 55 gallon with 20 gallon sump I am not growing any macro algae in the sump.
A couple of thoughts-
I am a firm believer in the gas exchange abilities of skimmers. I don’t think any type air stone is capable of producing the degree of gas exchange & oxygenation that a good skimmer does. No data, just my experience here.
Corals are known to be hosts to bacteria & there is evidence that the relationship is symbiotic (both benefit). The bacteria may help cycle nutrients on the reef and in corals. I have read that aminos may benefit those bacteria directly and consequently corals as well.
www.whoi.edu
I am a firm believer in the gas exchange abilities of skimmers. I don’t think any type air stone is capable of producing the degree of gas exchange & oxygenation that a good skimmer does. No data, just my experience here.
Corals are known to be hosts to bacteria & there is evidence that the relationship is symbiotic (both benefit). The bacteria may help cycle nutrients on the reef and in corals. I have read that aminos may benefit those bacteria directly and consequently corals as well.
Corals’ Indispensable Bacterial Buddies
Coral reefs, like human beings, may be superorganisms that depend on communities of microbes living within and around them for their survival.
www.whoi.edu
Sounds like all small fish and not much bioload to contribute to your nitrate. I would recommend a few more fish to add some more poop. You may also see benefits from feeding more often with quality frozen food.
As far as your filtration that you described, I would not recommend using media like gfo without having appropriate testing equipment. What test kits are you using to get undetectable results?
Using API and Sera I know API is not very accurate but it is showing 0. I may add a couple more fish but going to take my time adding so that I dont end up with too many. I will run to Pure Reef in the next couple of days and have them test my water to confirm. I think for now I will give aminos a try and up the feeding a bit
Ok I am looking for suggestions, I started a want to buy thread to add some live rock but several have suggested that that will not help. I started the tank with dry rock and it is probably best not to take the chance of adding unwanted pests from another tank. I dont quite understand how I am still not showing any measurable nitrates. I have been keeping the filter sock in long after it gets dirty hoping to raise the nitrates and heavy feeding 3 times a day. The aminos sure helped the coral coloring all of the corals look really good now. I am starting to see dinos and I want to get control of that issue before it gets control of my tank. I am going to add another fish that is bigger than the small ones that I have but there is a limit to what fish I am willing to put in my small 65 gallon. Will a bacterial additive help the issue? I started the cycle with Microbacter 7. I guess I will look to add a UV which might take care of the dinos and there is no negative of adding the UV. I am open to suggestions. Thanks in advance.
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