Any problem with having undetectable nitrate

Jonathan Troutt · Jun 17, 2018

hey guys quick run down of what I have 40g breeder with 29 sump. I have chaeto in my sump which I light 24/7. Grows like some not real. I do skim. Tanks been up for about 5 months now. Running a viparspectra 165w over it and yes I need another one but I’m running blues at 80 and whites at 35
Live stock is one clown, one springer damsel, one royal gramma.

Duncan, small colony of zoas, acan, chalice, hammer, ricordea, Goni, And a BTA.

So for the longest time I had a nitrate issue like I couldn’t get it below 50ppm.

So I started some light carbon dosing and did that for about 2 weeks. That was a month ago and have stopped dosing at that two week mark. So at this point my nitrate are zero. Salifert kit is crystal clear. Phosphates don’t register at all either, I feed twice a day and twice a week I feed corals reef roids and some times I throw in oyster feast and roti feast. I had a booming pod population.

So at this point I am not really seeing any new growth from my zoas, the chalice and acan are newer members only been in my tank a week. The BTA is coming back from some bad advice.

My Goni has not extended in weeks now. And it has me wondering if the issue is because the water is too “clean”.
What are thoughts?

I’ve done some light reading about nitrates and how certain corals like a bit of but my goal is to run a mixed reef with sps. I was waiting to add some until my nitrates are down and I can see they stay down but if it’s gonna affect my lps then I might stay lps only. I want to see some growth out of my corals.

A tank shot is included although it’s fairly bare currently but still kind of new.

vector824 · Jun 17, 2018

My tank is very similar, dosing NoPox now for algae and nitrates are 0, Phos is .03 as of today. Following!

Jonathan Troutt · Jun 17, 2018

I am not dosing anything currently and haven’t for a month now. Oh and I am harvesting chaeto every week. Stuff grows like it is possessed. I am lighting it with a custome made light. Royal blue and red 3w cree leds running them at 80%. 13 leds total with no optics. The light is performing better than I thought it would.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 17, 2018

The concerns with undetectable nitrate are:

1. Maybe not enough N available for photosynthetic organisms --> slow growth
2. Potential for dinos to get a foothold and become a problem

Jonathan Troutt · Jun 17, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
The concerns with undetectable nitrate are:

1. Maybe not enough N available for photosynthetic organisms --> slow growth
2. Potential for dinos to get a foothold and become a problem

That’s kind of what I was reading. Not too worried about Dino’s thought to be honest. Just want to see coral growth. So what can I do to bring up the nitrates a bit. Stop skimming? Ive been overfeeding and honestly don’t want to waste food.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 17, 2018

First step is to back off on the refugium lighting, not the skimmer. Maybe light only 8 h at night.

Jonathan Troutt · Jun 17, 2018

Ok I will go buy a new timer. The only reason I’ve been running for 24/7 is because the timer I had will not turn on. It turns off just fine but won’t turn on. Been procrastinating going and getting a new one. I will go today and get one.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 18, 2018

Let us know how it turns out.

Sold4jc7 · Jun 19, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
First step is to back off on the refugium lighting, not the skimmer. Maybe light only 8 h at night.

Thanks for the advice on changing the refugium lighting before the skimmer. I'm in a similar situation with 0 nitrates and only run the refugium light 8 hours a night. Should I knock another hour off the light?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 19, 2018

Sold4jc7 said:
Thanks for the advice on changing the refugium lighting before the skimmer. I'm in a similar situation with 0 nitrates and only run the refugium light 8 hours a night. Should I knock another hour off the light?

Is phosphate elevated? If so, I'd dose nitrate. if not, I'd feed more or light less.

Sold4jc7 · Jun 19, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Is phosphate elevated? If so, I'd dose nitrate. if not, I'd feed more or light less.

I've increased feeding and didn't replace my filter sock for a few weeks. My phosphate reading Sunday was .07 before that I was at .02-.05 with the extra feeding. The phosphate increase could be from the dirty filter sock or the addition of reef roids to the feeding regiment. I have been feeding frozen and flakes. Thanks for the help.