Kessil

Nitrate drop to 0. Should I do something?

newfly

Supporting Member
Nitrate have been slowing dropping from 5-10 to 0 ( redsea test kit) in the last couple of months. Is there anything i need to do? Corals and fish seems to be doing fine. No major algae bloom.

Other parameters are stable:

Alk: 8.3-8.4
Phosphate btw 0.04-0.06 (Hanna)
Calcium: 425
Msg: 1320

I’m dosing small amount of carbocalcium ( 12ml )daily.
 
I thought mine had dropped to 0 but then I realized my Salifert test kit has a low range mode (duh) so I measured again and I have 2.5 ppm.
 
I thought mine had dropped to 0 but then I realized my Salifert test kit has a low range mode (duh) so I measured again and I have 2.5 ppm.

Thanks! the nitrate have been dropping steady for the past couple of months. Finally hit zero last week. For the my sanity sake, i just tested again and its showing zero or close enough to zero that my redsea test kit is not picking it up. Next time if i meet up with a local reefer, i'll bring some water if they can help verify.

Just ordered 1lb Sodium Nitrate from Amazon. This should last me a long time.
 
How old is tank? Do you have and feed fish?

Tank about 7 months. Feed 3-4 times a day, mostly pellets & freeze dry mysis w/ selcon & 1 serving of frozen chopped clams everyday. 1 small 3x3 inch nori for tang every day. Purple tang, pair of clowns, 5 chromis, 1 azure and 1 neon dottyback. BRS reef chili targeted feeding twice a week.

I should add that i change out the filter floss every 2-3 days. I have an 65g AIO. If the floss get clogged, the water in the back chamber will drop and my ATO will continuously pump water to the tank. Fixed that with a sensor to detect high water in the main display. I'll probably remove the filter floss if i go vacation. @H2OPlayar commented my tank is too sterile and clean. :)

I figure dosing nitrate have less negative side-effect than increase feeding. The fish can only eat so much. I think i overfeed already.
 
If your nitrates and phosphates get too low and you get a "sterile" tank, then you'll risk the dreaded dinos! Once you get dinos you'll be hating life.
Dinos suck big time and can be very hard to get rid of and are toxic to coral and sometimes fish.
I learned this the hard way. :(
 
My reason for dosing is also to keep from bottoming out.

If you are keeping your tank nitrates as low as you are, I recommend testing with the Red Sea / Hanna Phosphate ULR method. Easiest way to figure out exactly how low your nitrates are.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/accurately-test-nitrates-using-hanna-phosphate-checker.674457/ (R2R sucks, but this is where the instructions are)

Thanks! I have both test kit. Will try this approach to see if indeed my Nitrate = 0 or just close to zero. I also set my skimmer on timer for 8 hours a day.
 
Here's my plan. Received the Sodium Nitrate from Amazon. Going to increase 1.5ppm Nitrate a day ( ~7.5ml of the solution mix). Dose for 5 days, measure and will increase the dose as needed.
Taking it slow and easy.
 
1625778320827.png


Your corals when they get more nitrates
 
Back
Top