How much nitrate should I start with to dose?

[Yates273]

Okay so my dilemma is my nitrates keep bottoming out. Instead of that happening and me forgetting to check and dose I plan on dosing with a 1.1 ml BRS doser. I have used the calculator to figure out my dosage to be 6.6 ml to achieve a raise of nitrates to .55 a day but my question is should I start conservative and adjust like this or dose more. According to my testing within the last five days I went from 10 ppm to 0 but we all know testing sometimes is not that accurate. Please give me your input. I do have macro algae in Refugium also which I noticed has not been doing so good. I can only assume it’s because of my nitrate issue. Tank is still new only 6-7 months old. TYIA

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Adding 0.55 ppm a day is already conservative. You may still not detect any 24 h later, and if you overshoot, the result will be a slight elevation to nitrate.

I'd personally start with 2 ppm per day.

 

[DannoOMG]

Adding 0.55 ppm a day is already conservative. You may still not detect any 24 h later, and if you overshoot, the result will be a slight elevation to nitrate.

I'd personally start with 2 ppm per day.

May I hijack this thread and ask my own question about having 0 nitrates and phosphates?

Before I jump into details the topic of my post is: I have 0 nitrates and phosphates currently most likely due to GHA. As I battle the GHA, would it be a bad idea to dose nitrates during this battle?

Okay, here are the details. I have included a spreadsheet of my entire testing and water change history. I also included a DNA analysis of my tank for laughs cause for the most part I don't know what it means.

I have a nano tank. 13.5 gallons. Tank is 1 year and 2 months old. For a long time I battled higher nitrates around the 15-25 ppm levels. Now they have bottomed out and GHA in the tank has increased. I believe since my Nitrates and Phosphates are 0 that is assisting me in removing this GHA? However it is bad for the corals that I have. I have 2 montiporas, some LPS and Zoanthids and Mushrooms.

I suspect the cause of my GHA algae is due to dumping in the food and letting land on the rocks where it may or may not get eaten. Now I suspend it towards the top of the water by turkey baster and let them eat. (Clownfish, Tailspot Blenny and Skunk shrimp the main big pigs during the feast) or maybe I did not cure my rocks properly.

I have a modest clean up crew :

1 - Tuxedo Urchin
1 - Skunk Shrimp
1 - Snapping Shrimp
3 - Trochus Snails
2 - Turbo snails
1 - Sand sifting cucumber
4 - Bumblebee snails
1 - Emerald crab
5 - Blue legged hermit crabs
1 - Tailspot blenny (I count him)

Here is a full tank shot and an example of what the rock looks like when before I scrub it and after.

Since I need nitrates in this tank for corals to be successful would...

(A) Dosing nitrates be better than using increased feedings given my GHA problem? Am I danged if I do and danged if I don't sort of a situation?
(B) Should I just leave things be and see what happens?

I have used some AlgaeFix but I can tell a couple corals aren't happy about that so I am cutting it off. My filtration is nothing fancy. I just have a media basket with filter floss on the top, some sponge underneath it, 2 small bags of carbon and for the past week I am running a UV sterilizer. That's it. I did have this skimmer that fits in the tank but it wasn't very good at skimming to be honest. Water level changes so much it would stop skimmer properly.

Let me know what other details you need.

 

[Yates273]

How are you removing all of that GHA off of your rocks? That’s A lot

 

[DannoOMG]

How are you removing all of that GHA off of your rocks? That’s A lot

By hand and a grout brush. I pick at it by hand once a week and when it gets nuts like that I bring out my old grout brush.

My clownfish hates my guts and constantly strikes my hand when remove this stuff.

 

[Yates273]

Do you try to weaken it with peroxide?

 

[DannoOMG]

Do you try to weaken it with peroxide?

I had some stuff in the medicine cabinet. Standard peroxide. I tried it on one spot and it barely punched through it.

I'm not sure if that was the correct peroxide to use.

 

[Sarlindescent]

While I have no idea of the best strategy, I started with 0.5ppm per day. I had some indicator corals that were not happy. I up'ed the dose to 1ppm/day. The indicators (acan lord would shrink with no nitrates) looked better. I stuck with 1ppm/day for around 2 months before I had a detectable level. Then I stopped dosing and tested daily until they were undetectable again. Then I would dose 2ppm. At the time, I needed about 4ppm/week to sustain. Worked for me for around 4 months. Then I moved and setup a new tank, so my experience ended.