Raising nitrates

[bhodges82]

I've been dealing with nutrient imbalances for a couple months, first they were too high, now to low. I'm trying to raise nitrates up from 2.5ppm to around 10-15ppm. I'm always thinking outside the box so my question is, has anyone tried dosing skimmate from the skimmer to raise nutrient levels?

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[snowmansnow]

You don't want to dose skim mate because you're adding other elements other than NO3. If I want to add NO3 I simply add NaNO3. The only additional element is sodium which, I think, you'd have to really pump it to have an adverse effect. Its easy to obtain, clean, and you know exactly what you're putting in.
The other obvious solution, although requiring much more patience is more fish / more feeding, but then again you're adding more than your selective target

 

[Adam]

Like Brandon, pouring skimmate back into the system is a bad idea. In addition to what he said about NaNO3 or more fish/feeding, you could also shut the skimmer down for some time during the day and see what effect that has. If you try that, I would do it during the day while the lights are on vs at night. That way the tank won't suffer from lack of gas exchange at night.

Why do you think 2.5 is too low? I target 5 and try to keep it under 10.

 

[bhodges82]

I generally see happier coral at the 10-15 range, it seems like my polyp extension is not as good at the lower level.

As far as adding fish, I need to catch and evict my powder brown before I can add anything. He's like an mma fighter on roids. Hmm, I e seen cbd dog treats, how about cbd fish food?? That might calm him down.

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[hzheng33]

i got the fish trap if you need to borrow it for the powder brown

 

[bhodges82]

i got the fish trap if you need to borrow it for the powder brown

Thank you

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[cbj25isback]

What about dosing phyto, reef roids or feeding more?

 

[bhodges82]

What about dosing phyto, reef roids or feeding more?

I feed alot and dose reef roids daily. I could start using some phytoplankton

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[snowmansnow]

Again... the issue with feeding more is that food is made of more than NO3, so yes the NO3 is being raised as the food decomposes, however other elements (likely PO4 and the lot) are also being raised. It can be done, but if you want
To ONLY raise NO3 then ONLY add NO3


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