HELP! NITRATE LEVELS AT 0!

BubbleCoralLover · Jun 28, 2018

Hello. I recently went to Reefapalooza and got a lot of corals and fish! All fish are doing excellent but my Nitrate levels are at 0ppm!!!! All my corals are starting to bleach and this is a huge emergency to me! One store said to over feed them much more and nitrates will go up. I need them to be raised to 5-10ppm for my corals! Help please!
WQ:
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
There is also enough oxygen in the tank as my filter is making a current and putting a lot of oxygen in.
It’s also a 70g corner tank.
I have a coral life protein skimmer(turned off) and a UV steralizer!
Please tell me the fastest was to up nitrates!
My light is a Radion xr15w pro. I have a xr30w pro coming in next week. Thank you!

Mikedawg · Jun 28, 2018

Overfeeding is a good strategy in many cases. Might also search on this site about using Spectracide stump remover; I have never used it but it seems to be a popular remedy for low nitrates. Go slow of course and watch how your corals and fish react.
Assume your tank is established; what have been your long term nitrate parameters? Is this 0 reading sudden or have you been trying to raise nitrates for awhile?

Good luck.

LuizW13 · Jun 28, 2018

I had that problem before my crash and over fed to compensate which might have been a factor in my crash. In my resurrected system, i still have zero nitrates and the only two corals i have (GSP and Frogspawn) aren't doing well. Yesterday i ordered a Nitrate supplementation by Brightwell Aquatics- i'm hoping i can accurately and safely increase my nitrates in a predictable manner.

mcarroll · Jun 28, 2018

BubbleCoralLover said:
Nitrate levels are at 0ppm!!!! All my corals are starting to bleach[...]
My light is a Radion xr15w pro. I have a xr30w pro coming in next week. Thank you!

A Nitrate Dosing Calculator For Better Tank Health (And Better Coral Color!)

Measure phosphates before you put anything in the tank though. If phosphates are also registering zero, then you have to take care of that first, or at the same time as the nitrates.

You can use the DIY on that article, or commercial additives like those from Seachem or Brightwell, etc. Any of them work great.

Do not make any lighting changes until nutrients are stabilized. If you have to add the new fixture, make sure you don't increase the peak intensity over the tank – so you'll need to use a light meter before and during setup. (A simple lux meter will be fine if you have nothing right now.)

LuizW13 · Jun 28, 2018

mcarroll said:
A Nitrate Dosing Calculator For Better Tank Health (And Better Coral Color!)

Measure phosphates before you put anything in the tank though. If phosphates are also registering zero, then you have to take care of that first, or at the same time as the nitrates.

What happens if you don't?

mcarroll · Jun 28, 2018

LuizW13 said:
What happens if you don't?

Off the cuff....

Potentially you'll cause a spike in dino photosynthesis with the nitrates.

Without phosphates, the dino's AND the coral will be at mortal risk from photo-damage.

This can cause bleaching as the host and symbionts both try to survive, and mortality from the damage is possible, since phosphates are also needed for repair outside of photosynthesis.

biophilia · Jun 28, 2018

Dosing nitrates if your tank is both nitrate and phosphate limited can possibly drive down phosphate levels even more and cause coral to starve or fuel nuisance algae outbreaks so it's something to be careful of, but unless you are running a ton of GFO, dosing a bunch of lanthanum chloride, or not feeding at all, PO4 is probably at a safe range Most hobby grade phosphate test kits aren't sensitive/accurate enough to detect ultra low levels that would lead to major problems anyway, though.

If my phosphates are already really low, I generally just feed a little extra at the time I dose potassium nitrate to counteract any drop in PO4 that might happen.

LuizW13 · Jun 28, 2018

Yikes, I guess i'll have to test my phosphates this weekend!

Vahanyos · Jun 28, 2018

My system has been running with zero nitrate readings for a while now. My corals are thriving.

Are you keeping your parameters stable? Check the big 3, calcium magnesium and alkalinity before you make any changes. Perhaps the corals went through too much shock?

mcarroll · Jun 28, 2018

Vahanyos said:
My system has been running with zero nitrate readings for a while now. My corals are thriving.

Are you keeping your parameters stable? Check the big 3, calcium magnesium and alkalinity before you make any changes. Perhaps the corals went through too much shock?

Good point on chemistry! What is your CUC like?

But, BTW, the nutrient levels you're keeping might have caused your algae/cyano issues. I would not recommend those levels to others. IMO zero's are a very hard balance to maintain without causing additional issues – especially on new tanks.

Remember: Nitrates and phosphates are not waste and are not harmful. Not unless you're overfeeding or something else is going wrong.

In fact, they are two of the most important of all nutrients.

Phosphate even has a special significance to photosynthetic critters vs just it's role as a macronutrient.

Further, algae are only one class of microbes in the tank than need these nutrients.

Unfortunately, algae can get nitrogen and phosphorus from sources other than the water column, but most of the "good microbes" we want to foster cannot.

That's how algae find a nice home in nutrient limited tanks so frequently – no competition thanks to no nutrients.