When I set up my tank, I made a big mistake of not curing my rock. There was a lot of decay and decomposition that happened as a result and after my cycle was complete my nitrates were sky high (like 200-300 ppm). Water changes were not bringing these levels down at all so I started dosing vinegar. I followed Randy’s guide on carbon dosing and cut my levels in half once I reached 5 ppm.
Well they continued to creep down, sometimes they are at zero but mostly at 1 ppm. I had just 3 fish at the time I was monitoring my nitrates so I kinda figured as I stocked the tank that the more fish would raise my nitrates a bit. So I’m up to 7 fish and my nitrates are still ultra low. I also have a vacation coming up and my tank sitter is only coming 2-3 times the week that I’ll be away. For the past two weeks I’ve been feeding heavy. Like 3 times a day to try to fatten them up for the week that I’ll be away when they won’t be fed every day. I also thought this would raise my nitrates too. I was wrong. My PO4 went from .025 to .075 but nitrates are still at 1. I’m all LPS with a couple softies but I’m wanting to get my nitrates up to the 5-10 mark.
Should I reduce the carbon dosing to achieve this? Or would it be better to dose nitrate and phosphate? If reducing the carbon dosing is the way to go, how much should I reduce it? I’m dosing 5 mls 6x a day right now.
Also I’m running GFO but haven’t been for the past week.
Well they continued to creep down, sometimes they are at zero but mostly at 1 ppm. I had just 3 fish at the time I was monitoring my nitrates so I kinda figured as I stocked the tank that the more fish would raise my nitrates a bit. So I’m up to 7 fish and my nitrates are still ultra low. I also have a vacation coming up and my tank sitter is only coming 2-3 times the week that I’ll be away. For the past two weeks I’ve been feeding heavy. Like 3 times a day to try to fatten them up for the week that I’ll be away when they won’t be fed every day. I also thought this would raise my nitrates too. I was wrong. My PO4 went from .025 to .075 but nitrates are still at 1. I’m all LPS with a couple softies but I’m wanting to get my nitrates up to the 5-10 mark.
Should I reduce the carbon dosing to achieve this? Or would it be better to dose nitrate and phosphate? If reducing the carbon dosing is the way to go, how much should I reduce it? I’m dosing 5 mls 6x a day right now.
Also I’m running GFO but haven’t been for the past week.
