High nitrate powdered food?

[elysics]

Since i am quite happy with my combination of automatic feeding of powdered food and carbon dosing, but am running a bit into a low nitrate situation, i am wondering if there is a powdered food or ingredient that has a higher ratio of nitrate to phosphate impact. Doesn't have to be a commerical fish/coral food, can also be a raw ingredient.

 

[sfin52]

Can you cut back on the carbon dosing. Seems to be the issue

 

[elysics]

I know that the carbon dosing is the reason nitrate is low. But i don't want to cut back, i want to dose more lol. The goal isn't to keep nutrients low, the goal is to breed bacteria to feed filter feeders (sponges, clams, tunicates). The actual issue is that all my regular (automated) nutrient input right now is commercial dry food and as far as i know those are skewed a little towards phosphate, i want to correct that.

 

[Deep]

I know that the carbon dosing is the reason nitrate is low. But i don't want to cut back, i want to dose more lol. The goal isn't to keep nutrients low, the goal is to breed bacteria to feed filter feeders (sponges, clams, tunicates). The actual issue is that all my regular (automated) nutrient input right now is commercial dry food and as far as i know those are skewed a little towards phosphate, i want to correct that.

Are you asking about total nitrogen in fish food? As far as I know the total nitrogen content in dry fish food always exceeds the phosphorus content. So if you are feeding dry fish food, then the fish excreta should be releasing Phospates and Ammonium. So if you are seeing your nitrates levels are low - it is because there is something which is exporting/consuming it from your aquarium. It is not low because your fish food is deficient.

 

[elysics]

Are you asking about total nitrogen in fish food? As far as I know the total nitrogen content in dry fish food always exceeds the phosphorus content. So if you are feeding dry fish food, then the fish excreta should be releasing Phospates and Ammonium. So if you are seeing your nitrates levels are low - it is because there is something which is exporting/consuming it from your aquarium. It is not low because your fish food is deficient.

Well yeah there is more nitrogen than phosphorous, but is the ratio between nitrogen and phosphorous equal/higher than that consumed by bacteria and corals? I always heard that dry food will raise phosphate/phosphorous more in comparison to other food, is that a myth?

No fish and no fishfood btw, only powdered coral food and occasionally crab rings, FM Min S and phytoplankton dosed by Hand.

My current levels are 0.03 mg/l PO4 and 0.5 mg/l NO3. Id rather have NO3 in the realm of 1-2 mg/l. If what i am asking for here doesn't really exist then I'll go with liquid dosing via dosing pump but that's more expensive, more complex and has worse failure modes than mixing in another powder to the ones i am already dosing.

 

[Deep]

Well yeah there is more nitrogen than phosphorous, but is the ratio between nitrogen and phosphorous equal/higher than that consumed by bacteria and corals? I always heard that dry food will raise phosphate/phosphorous more in comparison to other food, is that a myth?

No fish and no fishfood btw, only powdered coral food and occasionally crab rings, FM Min S and phytoplankton dosed by Hand.

My current levels are 0.03 mg/l PO4 and 0.5 mg/l NO3. Id rather have NO3 in the realm of 1-2 mg/l. If what i am asking for here doesn't really exist then I'll go with liquid dosing via dosing pump but that's more expensive, more complex and has worse failure modes than mixing in another powder to the ones i am already dosing.

if you want your levels up, then you could just feed more of that same coral food. Again, I am not sure what you are trying to achieve here? Are you thinking that bacterial growth in your tank is limited because of Nitrogen availability? How do you know that to be true ?

 

[elysics]

if you want your levels up, then you could just feed more of that same coral food. Again, I am not sure what you are trying to achieve here? Are you thinking that bacterial growth in your tank is limited because of Nitrogen availability? How do you know that to be true ?

I want more nitrate, i don't really want more phosphate. I want a different ratio to what i have, i think the current one is the cause of my cyanos, and i want higher NO3 in general.

 

[Brett S]

Since i am quite happy with my combination of automatic feeding of powdered food

What are you using to automatically feed powdered food? I’ve been looking for a solution for this for a while now. I actually just ordered a Plank from Avast Marine on Cyber Monday and I just got the email that it has shipped, but it hasn’t arrived yet. I’m hoping that will be a good solution.

For what it’s worth, I’ve recently started dosing potassium nitrate to help increase my nitrates and that has made quite an impact to the amount of cyano that I’ve been seeing.

 

[elysics]

What are you using to automatically feed powdered food? I’ve been looking for a solution for this for a while now. I actually just ordered a Plank from Avast Marine on Cyber Monday and I just got the email that it has shipped, but it hasn’t arrived yet. I’m hoping that will be a good solution.

For what it’s worth, I’ve recently started dosing potassium nitrate to help increase my nitrates and that has made quite an impact to the amount of cyano that I’ve been seeing.

Graesslin Rondomatic. It is pricy (probably even more so if you have to import it somewhere else), but it works wonderfully and has few failure modes since it is electromechanical, not electronical. It has individual drawers that you can fill with whatever you want that drop down.

Yeah, potassium nitrate is my backup plan, but i'd rather mix in another powder than add a dosing pump and reservoir if at all possible. Putting potassium nitrate directly into the food would be too concentrated i think and proper mixing could be an issue

 

[Deep]

I want more nitrate, i don't really want more phosphate. I want a different ratio to what i have, i think the current one is the cause of my cyanos, and i want higher NO3 in general.

If you want to raise only Nirates then you are better off dosing. Your residual phospate levels at 0.03 ppm are quite low though so you might want to up that as well.

 

[Lasse]

In general - macro algae has a high N/P rate - many times around 70-80/1. If you have algae eating fish like tangs - test with feeding lot of Nori or macroalgae based dry food. It is not sure it helps but it is worth a try.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[elysics]

In general - macro algae has a high N/P rate - many times around 70-80/1. If you have algae eating fish like tangs - test with feeding lot of Nori or macroalgae based dry food. It is not sure it helps but it is worth a try.

Sincerely Lasse

I dont have any fish at all, put i could pulverize some nori. Will try that out. Do you know if the same is true for spirulina or kelp? I could get those as bags of powder.

 

[Lasse]

If you do not have any fish (or other animals) - you will not have any that produce ammonia directly for further conversion into nitrate. In that case - you must relay on the more slow bacterial ammonification. Both spirulina and kelp are rich in N. But in your case - I do not think that feeding is the right tool in order to rise the NO3. IMO - you will probably need to dose sodium nitrate.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[elysics]

If you do not have any fish (or other animals) - you will not have any that produce ammonia directly for further conversion into nitrate. In that case - you must relay on the more slow bacterial ammonification. Both spirulina and kelp are rich in N. But in your case - I do not think that feeding is the right tool in order to rise the NO3. IMO - you will probably need to dose sodium nitrate.

Sincerely Lasse

I do have hermits, a boatload of reproducing snails of different kinds, a flame scallop and a bunch of random small mussles, some peppermints and crabs.Planning on getting some oysters. Just no fish.

But yeah, trying to grind nori wasn't that great of a success either, maybe because mine wasn't kept all that super dry and brittle in the kitchen. Seems like i might have to bite the bullet and use a dosing pump. Might try kelp powder first though, it's not all that expensive.