Dosing Nitrates/Phosphate in low nutrient nano

[Zer0]

I'm starting to dose nitrates and phosphates because my tank reads 0/0 for both and I'm under attack by dinos. Trying to figure out how much to dose and what not. I'm using brightwell aquatics neophos and neonitro. I was going to attempt to keep it at 5ppm nitrates and .02ppm phosphates. Does that sound okay? I'm trying to figure out how much of the solutions I need to add to get to those target values. The formula on the bottle says tank capacity x ppm increase desired x .1261 = ml of product to add. I have a 10 gallon tank. So does that mean I should add 10 x 5ppm x .1261?? So 6 ml's of neonitro? And do I add all of that at once? Then test nitrates after 24 hours and see where levels are at?

Sorry just trying to make sense of all of this.

 

[olonmv]

I just recently started the same. Dosed and got from 0 nitrates to 5.6 ish nitrates. tested for a few days and got my daily consumption. Now I’m dosing per the calculation on the side and my daily dose is about .45ml a day in a 13.5 evo. I’ll let that ride a few days, see where I’m at and adjust dosage. But yes….do your desired initial dosage. Test 24 hrs later. Then test again for a few days and note the decline. That’ll give you an idea of daily consumption. Then recalculate new daily dosage to maintain your desired level.

 

[Zer0]

I just recently started the same. Dosed and got from 0 nitrates to 5.6 ish nitrates. tested for a few days and got my daily consumption. Now I’m dosing per the calculation on the side and my daily dose is about .45ml a day in a 13.5 evo. I’ll let that ride a few days, see where I’m at and adjust dosage. But yes….do your desired initial dosage. Test 24 hrs later. Then test again for a few days and note the decline. That’ll give you an idea of daily consumption. Then recalculate new daily dosage to maintain your desired level.

Nice, thank you. I appreciate your input!

 

[olonmv]

Nice, thank you. I appreciate your input!

Note: you dose to what you have in net volume water. Take away what you have in rock n sand n equipment volume to the total tank volume. Ie, I got a 13.5 but I figure about a gallon and a half worth of rock and sand and equipment. So about 12 gallons of water give or take.

 

[Nate Chalk]

Raise slowly, do some based on tank volume and text next day. Continue process until you get there.

nothing happens quick in a reef you’ve probably heard.

 

[Zer0]

I’m glad I dosed conservatively, because my nitrates raised pretty quickly. I let it get to 15-20ppm accidentally, but did a 50% wc. Everything is fine though, aside from a goni that is super angry. It’s not wasting away or anything, it’s just been closed up for a couple days now. I think it will be fine, hopefully. If I had been dosing the full amount, I might have crashed the whole tank… Phosphates are good though, right now it’s at 0.03, which is where I would like to keep it.

I do have another question though. Since I do 25% water changes weekly, does that mean I’ll need to adjust my dosage whenever I do a water change? It’s a bit confusing, just trying to nail down what I have to do without ruining my tank lol

 

[BrianAnthony]

How in the name of all things good and natural are you at 0/0? I have a 12g and was thinking on putting a refugium on somehow. Please share your secrets?

 

[olonmv]

How in the name of all things good and natural are you at 0/0? I have a 12g and was thinking on putting a refugium on somehow. Please share your secrets?

I have an evo 13.5 and am starting to dose nitrate and a lil phos daily along with AFR daily. I like to think it’s the tiny Refugium the reason why I’m having to dose nutrients. It’s just a tiny bit and I don’t mind it because I know the refugium is doin it’s job.

 

[olonmv]

I’m glad I dosed conservatively, because my nitrates raised pretty quickly. I let it get to 15-20ppm accidentally, but did a 50% wc. Everything is fine though, aside from a goni that is super angry. It’s not wasting away or anything, it’s just been closed up for a couple days now. I think it will be fine, hopefully. If I had been dosing the full amount, I might have crashed the whole tank… Phosphates are good though, right now it’s at 0.03, which is where I would like to keep it.

I do have another question though. Since I do 25% water changes weekly, does that mean I’ll need to adjust my dosage whenever I do a water change? It’s a bit confusing, just trying to nail down what I have to do without ruining my tank lol

I suggest you start testing more often and tweak you water change percentages based on your preferred parameters. You may need to do less water changes. Maybe 25% a month.

 

[MaxTremors]

I’m good on nitrates, but have been dosing phosphates (neophos) for several months, I dose the equivalent of 0.03ppm per day, which maintains the level in the tank at around 0.02ppm. I had super high nitrates until I started dosing phosphates, as high as the 50’s, but they are now consistently in the 5-10ppm range. It’s also made my corals look healthier and made my macroalgae take off. Overall, I would absolutely recommend dosing one or both nutrients if you are consistently limited.

 

[BrianAnthony]

I have an evo 13.5 and am starting to dose nitrate and a lil phos daily along with AFR daily. I like to think it’s the tiny Refugium the reason why I’m having to dose nutrients. It’s just a tiny bit and I don’t mind it because I know the refugium is doin it’s job.

Nice. I'm looking at making my own HOB refugium.

 

[MaxTremors]

Nice. I'm looking at making my own HOB refugium.

I didn’t make my own, I got the Fijicube HOB refugium, but it’s kind of crazy how productive even a little refugium can be, definitely worth it for smaller tanks that don’t have a sump.

 

[BrianAnthony]

I didn’t make my own, I got the Fijicube HOB refugium, but it’s kind of crazy how productive even a little refugium can be, definitely worth it for smaller tanks that don’t have a sump.

Ok.. cool. I'm guessing there are different sizes. Which one you have?

 

[olonmv]

Didn’t make my own either. I turned chamber 2 into the fuge with one of these timed on a wifi plug.

Innovative Marine ChaetoMax Refugium LED Light

 

[Zer0]

I have low nutrients because I only have a porcelain crab, 2 hermit crabs, and 2 money cowries, so I only feed the crab an algae wafer daily. The rest of them graze on algae.

Seems like my corals are sucking up phosphates because after 24 hours, my phosphates went from .03 to undetectable. Not sure if that’s normal or not, but I do have a decent amount of coral packed in here.

 

[BleuDude]

I'm starting to dose nitrates and phosphates because my tank reads 0/0 for both and I'm under attack by dinos. Trying to figure out how much to dose and what not. I'm using brightwell aquatics neophos and neonitro. I was going to attempt to keep it at 5ppm nitrates and .02ppm phosphates. Does that sound okay? I'm trying to figure out how much of the solutions I need to add to get to those target values. The formula on the bottle says tank capacity x ppm increase desired x .1261 = ml of product to add. I have a 10 gallon tank. So does that mean I should add 10 x 5ppm x .1261?? So 6 ml's of neonitro? And do I add all of that at once? Then test nitrates after 24 hours and see where levels are at?

Sorry just trying to make sense of all of this.

Following this thread, I have an 8 gallon pico that has zero phosphate and .07 ppm nitrate according to hanna checkers. Net gallons are 6.5 so a very small volume of water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Following this thread, I have an 8 gallon pico that has zero phosphate and .07 ppm nitrate according to hanna checkers.

If you used the HI781 for the nitrate, that value could be anything between 0.000 and 0.32 ppm nitrate, but the whole possible range is low and I'd raise it.

I'd either feed more or dose both N and P.