Advice on Nitrate & Phosphate

MVsea1 · Sep 16, 2023

Hey reefers..have a reefer 525 (140gl) that’s been up and running for a little over 2 months now. Started it with ocean live rock from the Fl keys. At first had decent nitrate and phosphate readings but now I’m struggling to get any nitrate readings at all. Phos is at .03. Concerned this could eventually lead to a Dinos outbreak. My bio-load is pretty small right but will go adding little by little.

- 6 blue/green chromis
- 2 Chalk bass
- Bengai cardinals

My question is this..should I start dosing some nitrate (neonitro) to bring up my nitrates? Or wait it out and let the tank do its thing? Hoping with adding livestock it will eventually solve itself but don’t want to take a chance with Dinos. This is the whole reason I decided on ocean live rock vs dry rock! Are nitrates being consumed faster than the testing can pick up? Don’t have a fuge - just a skimmer and Red Sea fleece roller. Maybe my filtration is too efficient right now for the bio load?

The_Paradox · Sep 16, 2023

Since you currently do not have corals, I would leave it alone until you finish stocking. As tank ages and fills up it will start to stabilize. Where those numbers will be who knows. I have two tanks that’s are ULNS despite heavy feeding and no filtration other than a skimmer. Sometimes it just works out that way and you have to end up dosing.

Lavey29 · Sep 16, 2023

I agree with the above. New tanks always experience this. I had to double dose neophos and neonitro for multiple months before things stabilized. Get more fish in there. Feed heavy. If no corals leave lights off first 3 or 4 months to allow tank to develop biodiversity and microfauna before you start to add corals and lights.

MVsea1 · Sep 16, 2023

The_Paradox said:
Since you currently do not have corals, I would leave it alone until you finish stocking. As tank ages and fills up it will start to stabilize. Where those numbers will be who knows. I have two tanks that’s are ULNS despite heavy feeding and no filtration other than a skimmer. Sometimes it just works out that way and you have to end up dosing.

Thanks, yes not so much worried about it coral-wise since I don’t have any yet like you said. My concern is getting a dino outbreak. Happened in my last tank because I ran it too clean and was an absolute nightmare. Trying to avoid that this time around.

The_Paradox · Sep 16, 2023

MVsea1 said:
Thanks, yes not so much worried about it coral-wise since I don’t have any yet like you said. My concern is getting a dino outbreak. Happened in my last tank because I ran it too clean and was an absolute nightmare. Trying to avoid that this time around.

Not sure if this will make you feel better but one of my tanks runs <3ppm nitrate and <27ppb phosphorus. It bounces off 0 for both numbers if I don’t remember to increase dosing pumps periodically. It gets a dino outbreak maybe once a year but I can clear it in 3-4 days max. So sure I have that to deal with, but I also haven’t changed the water in 3+ years. Just part of the hobby. You’re gonna put in the time and grief somewhere.

biom · Sep 16, 2023

Very nice scape. I would increase bioload adding some more fish and invertebrates, some easy corals, increasing feeding with protein rich food and definitely adding CUC to help with the ugly stage.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Sep 16, 2023

MVsea1 said:
My question is this..should I start dosing some nitrate (neonitro) to bring up my nitrates?

Just feed more.

FrugalReefer · Sep 16, 2023

Feed heavier, more often and get more fish.

MVsea1 · Sep 16, 2023

The_Paradox said:
Not sure if this will make you feel better but one of my tanks runs <3ppm nitrate and <27ppb phosphorus. It bounces off 0 for both numbers if I don’t remember to increase dosing pumps periodically. It gets a dino outbreak maybe once a year but I can clear it in 3-4 days max. So sure I have that to deal with, but I also haven’t changed the water in 3+ years. Just part of the hobby. You’re gonna put in the time and grief somewhere.

No it doesn’t make me feel better lol. But yea, agreed.

MVsea1 · Sep 16, 2023

biom said:
Very nice scape. I would increase bioload adding some more fish and invertebrates, some easy corals, increasing feeding with protein rich food and definitely adding CUC to help with the ugly stage.

Thank you. Yes, def going to increase bio load. Slowly. The tang gang is coming!

MVsea1 · Sep 16, 2023

FrugalReefer said:
Feed heavier, more often and get more fish.

Im def going to do that. Thinking phos will rise much higher than nitrate with the heavier feeding though.

Idech · Sep 16, 2023

MVsea1 said:
Im def going to do that. Thinking phos will rise much higher than nitrate with the heavier feeding though.

I feed 3-4 times a day, lightly (mostly frozen with a bit of Vitalis pellets) and my phos is at 0.03.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 16, 2023

I would begin feeding more or dosing now. Waiting risks dinos , IMO.

ninjamyst · Sep 16, 2023

How long have you had the chromos??

Dan_P · Sep 16, 2023

MVsea1 said:
Hey reefers..have a reefer 525 (140gl) that’s been up and running for a little over 2 months now. Started it with ocean live rock from the Fl keys. At first had decent nitrate and phosphate readings but now I’m struggling to get any nitrate readings at all. Phos is at .03. Concerned this could eventually lead to a Dinos outbreak. My bio-load is pretty small right but will go adding little by little.

- 6 blue/green chromis
- 2 Chalk bass
- Bengai cardinals

My question is this..should I start dosing some nitrate (neonitro) to bring up my nitrates? Or wait it out and let the tank do its thing? Hoping with adding livestock it will eventually solve itself but don’t want to take a chance with Dinos. This is the whole reason I decided on ocean live rock vs dry rock! Are nitrates being consumed faster than the testing can pick up? Don’t have a fuge - just a skimmer and Red Sea fleece roller. Maybe my filtration is too efficient right now for the bio load?

I am looking closely at the rock surfaces and I possibly see algae growth. By upping your nutrients, you will be feeding that stuff. I am guessing the current algae growth and bright lights are behind the depleted nitrate. If you are patient, hold off adding anything more to the aquarium until to resolve this tug of war of dose and feed algae vs no dose and fear dinos.

By the way I have a school of green Chromos and keep them happy by feeding them several times a day. Each feeding is about 0.3 mL of brine shrimp and Mysis shrimp. My dose of food is based on how much food is required to change their response to food from crazed, rapid eating to just slowly eating. Never experienced aggression in two years.

MVsea1 · Sep 17, 2023

ninjamyst said:
How long have you had the chromos??

little over 2 weeks

MVsea1 · Sep 17, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I would begin feeding more or dosing now. Waiting risks dinos , IMO.

What would you use for dosing nitrates? neonitro?

Idech · Sep 17, 2023

Neonitro for nitrates. Neophos for phosphate.

billyocean · Sep 17, 2023

MVsea1 said:
What would you use for dosing nitrates? neonitro?

Neonitro works great but can get expensive in comparison to a diy mix. I use loudwolf calcium nitrate but most people use sodium nitrate I believe. For me, the calcium increase is negligible. Neophos is also good but again I diy with loudwolf trisodium phosphate.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 18, 2023

MVsea1 said:
What would you use for dosing nitrates? neonitro?

I personally would never give my business to Brightwell since they mislead consumers with false information.

You can buy food grade sodium nitrate, calcium nitrate, and sodium phosphate for much lower cost than the expensive Brightwell products that lack any purity assurance..