Dosing nitrates and phosphates increase

[Felix_Brown]

Hello everyone,

I've been dosing NeoNitro to increase my nitrates (which stay at 0) but, every time I do it I get a spike in phosphates.

Does anyone came across this and is there an explanation for this?

Thanks!

 

[SPR1968]

I can’t answer the specific question, but I can bump the thread to see if we can get you some help

 

[Bo.]

There's a correlation between bacteria that consume po4 and no3. What is your spike, how long have you been dosing, and how long have you been 0 on nitrates?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I do not see a reason for phosphate to rise with a small nitrate addition.

 

[diver22]

Hi guys, I have a problem with Low Phosphate and Nitrates, both are at 0 I have been dosing both Neonitro and NeoPhos for two weeks now, i just increased the dosage by double and things are still at 0, the Nitrates went up a tad to 0.02 but pretty much nothing.

The tank is 150 gallons and is a 1 1/2 year old, I only have 3 Tangs with some mushrooms. I had some Cyanobacteria which is gone now after treating it. I do have some Dino which is why I'm trying to increase the levels to at least 0.01 for Phosphate and 0.10 for Nitrates, I have also increased the white led an additional 5% a couple days and see if the lighting was also an issue for the Dino, but seems that I cannot get the levels up.

I have left my skimmer off for 3 weeks now, I do have a sock I change everyday and a small softball size Chaeto ball in my sump.

What a mission to get these values up, I do not want to purchase any corals because i want to stabilize my tank, I was thinking on getting two more tangs, and some crabs and cleaning crews and see if they help building up the levels.

Thanks for any advise in advance.

 

[homer1475]

3 tangs in a 150?

You need more bioload.

 

[diver22]

3 tangs in a 150?

You need more bioload.

Do you think getting a couple more tangs and 3 or 4 chromis will help ?or should I stay away from Chromis I'm not a fan of them..

Should I use chemicals to introduce bioload and what would you recommend ?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hi guys, I have a problem with Low Phosphate and Nitrates, both are at 0 I have been dosing both Neonitro and NeoPhos for two weeks now, i just increased the dosage by double and things are still at 0, the Nitrates went up a tad to 0.02 but pretty much nothing.

The tank is 150 gallons and is a 1 1/2 year old, I only have 3 Tangs with some mushrooms. I had some Cyanobacteria which is gone now after treating it. I do have some Dino which is why I'm trying to increase the levels to at least 0.01 for Phosphate and 0.10 for Nitrates, I have also increased the white led an additional 5% a couple days and see if the lighting was also an issue for the Dino, but seems that I cannot get the levels up.

I have left my skimmer off for 3 weeks now, I do have a sock I change everyday and a small softball size Chaeto ball in my sump.

What a mission to get these values up, I do not want to purchase any corals because i want to stabilize my tank, I was thinking on getting two more tangs, and some crabs and cleaning crews and see if they help building up the levels.

Thanks for any advise in advance.

The Brightwell products are fairly dilute. if you believe your test, just keep upping the dose.

When they run out, I'd switch the food grade sodium nitrate and sodium phosphate. Cheaper and with an assurance of purity.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Should I use chemicals to introduce bioload and what would you recommend ?

I'm not sure what you mean. You mean dosing nitrate and phosphate, or dosing ammonia?

 

[diver22]

I'm not sure what you mean. You mean dosing nitrate and phosphate, or dosing ammonia?

I'm currently dosing Brightwell Neonitro and NeoPhos, but seems to do nothing, not sure how to increase the Bioload without buying fishes, not sure if they have another chemical product that can help me increase the bioload to balance things out and then get more fish and start adding corals ...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm currently dosing Brightwell Neonitro and NeoPhos, but seems to do nothing, not sure how to increase the Bioload without buying fishes, not sure if they have another chemical product that can help me increase the bioload to balance things out and then get more fish and start adding corals ...

Dose more. Not sure what you even mean by bioload.

 

[homer1475]

I have found over the years that my tanks seem to respond better to an increase in bioload(more fish, inverts, etc), then bottled products.

 

[Righteous]

I’ve used the triton products with success. They are expensive, but they definitely brought my levels up quickly when they bottomed out recently.

For the Dinos, blowing of the rocks every night really made a difference as well. See if you can knock it back enough for other things to start to out compete it. I killed the Dinos in 3 weeks so it can be done.

Even though your tank is 1-1:2 years old, given the low bioload and dry starting rock, your tank is essentially still maturing, so give it time.

For adding a bunch of fish… I’m a big fan of 4-5 anthias (one male)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Certainly, increasing feeding will, at some point, give increased nitrate and phosphate. It may not provide the relative amounts you want, and does other things too, so dosing nitrate and/or phosphate is a perfectly reasonable way to go if you are trying to avoid levels too low.

That said, I'm not a fan of Brightwell products, and you can get less expensive nitrate and phosphate products with a better assurance of purity.

 

[diver22]

Certainly, increasing feeding will, at some point, give increased nitrate and phosphate. It may not provide the relative amounts you want, and does other things too, so dosing nitrate and/or phosphate is a perfectly reasonable way to go if you are trying to avoid levels too low.

That said, I'm not a fan of Brightwell products, and you can get less expensive nitrate and phosphate products with a better assurance of purity.

Dose more. Not sure what you even mean by bioload.

Above they mentioned about increasing Bioload, so is why I was referring to. Perhaps what can I use instead of Brightwell products that are super expensive...

 

[diver22]

I’ve used the triton products with success. They are expensive, but they definitely brought my levels up quickly when they bottomed out recently.

For the Dinos, blowing of the rocks every night really made a difference as well. See if you can knock it back enough for other things to start to out compete it. I killed the Dinos in 3 weeks so it can be done.

Even though your tank is 1-1:2 years old, given the low bioload and dry starting rock, your tank is essentially still maturing, so give it time.

For adding a bunch of fish… I’m a big fan of 4-5 anthias (one male)

Thank you for the advise will certainly will try blowing it daily... Thank you.

 

[homer1475]

You can certainly dose more, and cheaper with alternative(I'm not a fan of either of those too myself)products like randy suggested, but 3 tangs in a 150 isn't much.

IMO I think in the long run it would be cheaper and easier to just add more fish.

 

[diver22]

You can certainly dose more, and cheaper with alternative(I'm not a fan of either of those too myself)products like randy suggested, but 3 tangs in a 150 isn't much.

IMO I think in the long run it would be cheaper and easier to just add more fish.

Yes that is what I was thinking eventually be cheaper buying a fish weekly than buy two bottles weekly...lol thanks.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Above they mentioned about increasing Bioload, so is why I was referring to. Perhaps what can I use instead of Brightwell products that are super expensive...

If you feed more, with or without adding fish, that would be called increasing bioload, and one effect of increased bioload is increased nitrate and phosphate.

Since that may be the only effect you want, dosing those exact things is a good plan, and isn't called increasing bioload.

Food grade sodium nitrate and phosphate are the topics of dozens of threads here. They can be obtained from amazon for far less than the Brightwell products, and should not in any way be considered second rate. if anything, I'd use them over Brightwell even if they cost more since they are of known purity and the Brightwell products are not.


Examples:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

You can certainly dose more, and cheaper with alternative(I'm not a fan of either of those too myself)products like randy suggested, but 3 tangs in a 150 isn't much.

IMO I think in the long run it would be cheaper and easier to just add more fish.

Fish and fish foods are certainly not cheaper (except perhaps petco specials), but they might be "easier" and might be more fun.