Dosing Nitrates- Get more fish, or stump remover?

Bill_Moorman · Jul 13, 2019

Hi all-

My 40b mixed reef has gotten to the point in LPS and SPS growth that I can’t get detectable (NYOS) nitrates anymore. I only have a mated pair of clowns in the tank.

I want to increase my nitrates a few ppm to see if it helps with coral growth and coloration.

My current params are:

Alk:9 (Hanna)
Calc: 450 (Red Sea)
Mag: 1600 (I use Fritz salt, never ever have I got a reading under or over this [emoji2375])(Red Sea)
Trate: 0 (NYOS)
Phos: .04 (Hanna)
Salinity 35 (Apex and Refractometer)
pH: 7.8-8.1
Temp: 78-80

Should I just get a few more fish (after QT and prophylactic copper treatment of course) or should I dose nitrates and see if I see results that I want?

I really don’t care to add more fish, the clowns I have are old, male is near 10 years old and the female is near 15 years old.

If I should dose the nitrates, can y’all recommend a write up for it?

Flippers4pups · Jul 13, 2019

I'd dose some KN03. Go slow, takes a little time to register.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 14, 2019

Bill_Moorman said:
Hi all-

My 40b mixed reef has gotten to the point in LPS and SPS growth that I can’t get detectable (NYOS) nitrates anymore. I only have a mated pair of clowns in the tank.

I want to increase my nitrates a few ppm to see if it helps with coral growth and coloration.

My current params are:

Alk:9 (Hanna)
Calc: 450 (Red Sea)
Mag: 1600 (I use Fritz salt, never ever have I got a reading under or over this [emoji2375])(Red Sea)
Trate: 0 (NYOS)
Phos: .04 (Hanna)
Salinity 35 (Apex and Refractometer)
pH: 7.8-8.1
Temp: 78-80

Should I just get a few more fish (after QT and prophylactic copper treatment of course) or should I dose nitrates and see if I see results that I want?

I really don’t care to add more fish, the clowns I have are old, male is near 10 years old and the female is near 15 years old.

If I should dose the nitrates, can y’all recommend a write up for it?

I do not recommend stump remover, but dosing a good grade of sodium nitrate is a fine plan.

Bill_Moorman · Jul 14, 2019

I do have some turf algae in the display. Would it be fine to dose nitrates and manually when or if needed? Not prolific but I have been actively trying to mitigate it.