How to raise nitrates

[Idech]

My Evo 13.5 is about 5 months old and it has 8-10 softies and mushrooms, 2 oscellaris, 1 tailspot blenny and 5 snails.

My parameters are :
Salinity : 1.025-1.026
Alk : 8
PH : 7.8
Phosphate : close to 0 or 0
Nitrate : 0
Ammonia : 0
Nitrite : 0

I can tell the corals aren’t fully happy. I’ve been told I need to raise the nitrates. At the moment, I feed 1 little piece of flake food per day, per fish (so 3 small pieces of flake).

I also dose 12 drops of phytoplankton every other day. Bottle says everyday but I read you need to start slow. I’ve been feeding it for about 2 weeks. I also added copepods at the same time but I have never seen any in the tank.

I bought mysis shrimps but haven’t fed any yet. I plan on starting tomorrow. So how do I go about raising my nitrates slowly without causing algae blooms or other problems in the tank ?

How much mysis shrimps should I feed and how often (I have the cubes) ? Anything else I should do ?

Thank you !

 

[ying yang]

Im new to saltwater but feeding one flake per fish just seems so little.i would be thinking 5 flakes 2 times a day per fish depending on size of fish.i know when i had my first juvenile clowns i give them 4- 5 small 1mm pellets per day.now i got 8 fish in main dt i feed half a frozen cube 2 times a day ( i have 5 different frozen foods) as varied diet seems best.once a week i go to lfs and buy bag of live food and occasionally give pellets and 2 times a week i clip some algae sheets cut up to side of tank. Im trying give varied diet as i can and keep saying i will start a white worm culture to feed them but never get around to it.
As for the algae i would add more cuc as needed.
But i think you definately need feed more than 1 flake per fish per day and then they poo more and nitrates and phospates will rise maybe.i read pellets and flake generally have a higher phospate level than frozen.

 

[Siberwulf]

Your best bet is to start off slow with the mysis. Add some in addition to your flake and see how much is left. Then test. Keep going up in food until you see nitrates start to measure. Then keep it at that level. If they keep going up, ease back a little, then retest.

btw, your pods are probably hiding during the day. Get a flashlight and look when the lights are off. You'll probably find them!

 

[lazlodawg]

I feed four cubic centimeters (4ml) of mixed frozen food (a combination of multiple types) over the course of a day for four fish. Two clowns and two chromis. Everyone will have different opinions about how much to feed, but I think everyone here will say you are not feeding nearly enough.

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

I dose potassium nitrate. Because food creates phosphates faster than nitrates, you are creating a different problem. I dose pretty heavily because my cheato just tears through it..but my corals are happy.

 

[G Santana]

I dose potassium nitrate. Because food creates phosphates faster than nitrates, you are creating a different problem. I dose pretty heavily because my cheato just tears through it..but my corals are happy.

How do you determine how much to dose. I'm in the same boat where I am at zero nitrates and low phosphates, my skimmer, algae scrubber and chaeto keep my numbers low.
I'm just about to start cutting back on my skimmer time and scrubber light to try and raise my numbers.

 

[Idech]

Im new to saltwater but feeding one flake per fish just seems so little.i would be thinking 5 flakes 2 times a day per fish depending on size of fish.i know when i had my first juvenile clowns i give them 4- 5 small 1mm pellets per day.

I’m used to fresh water fish, where 98% of people over feed. I’ve been guilty of it too in the past and it ends up killing fish.

The clowns are still small, and so is the blenny. The blenny also eats algae off the rocks. The fish don’t eat more than what I feed at once. If I feed more, it’s just being wasted.

Maybe I should do 2 feedings per day then.

Everyone will have different opinions about how much to feed, but I think everyone here will say you are not feeding nearly enough.

The fish don’t have a sunken belly but I’m definitely considering feeding more, for the sake of the corals.

dose potassium nitrate. Because food creates phosphates faster than nitrates, you are creating a different problem. I dose pretty heavily because my cheato just tears through it..but my corals are happy.

That’s interesting. What is the product you use ?

 

[Uncle99]

Brightwell neo-nitro to bump nitrate.
Neo-phos for phosphate.
You need both…

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

I’m used to fresh water fish, where 98% of people over feed. I’ve been guilty of it too in the past and it ends up killing fish.

The clowns are still small, and so is the blenny. The blenny also eats algae off the rocks. The fish don’t eat more than what I feed at once. If I feed more, it’s just being wasted.

Maybe I should do 2 feedings per day then.


The fish don’t have a sunken belly but I’m definitely considering feeding more, for the sake of the corals.


That’s interesting. What is the product you use ?

I used this:
But i hear stump remover works just as well. As far as how much i does, i generally do between 1/8 and 1/4 teaspoon per week in my 100 net gallon system. As my cheato grows i sometimes have to dose a little more

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

How do you determine how much to dose. I'm in the same boat where I am at zero nitrates and low phosphates, my skimmer, algae scrubber and chaeto keep my numbers low.
I'm just about to start cutting back on my skimmer time and scrubber light to try and raise my numbers.

See below. I put it in my ATO. You have to match the amount and your evaporation rate. The first time i dosed..i put in a tablespoon and my nitrates shot to 80 because of the evaportation. Start low...bump up until you find your equillibrium.

 

[Idech]

Brightwell neo-nitro to bump nitrate.
Neo-phos for phosphate.
You need both…

Brightwell neonitro description says it lowers phosphates. Doesn’t say anything about nitrates.

 

[anthonygf]

Brightwell neonitro description says it lowers phosphates. Doesn’t say anything about nitrates.

That is another reason to dose neo-phos. I also dose both to maintain 5 no4 and 0.1-0.4 po4, trying to raise no4 a little.

 

[Idech]

That is another reason to dose neo-phos. I also dose both to maintain 5 no4 and 0.1-0.4 po4, trying to raise no4 a little.

I must be dense, but why would I dose something that lowers phosphates combined with something that raises them ? Don’t they cancel each other ? And how does that help with nitrates ?

 

[anthonygf]

I must be dense, but why would I dose something that lowers phosphates combined with something that raises them ? Don’t they cancel each other ? And how does that help with nitrates ?

I must be dense also, well I need to raise po4 and no4 a little and I think no4 does not lower po4 all that much. If it does you just need to dose no4 a little bit more to compensate. That is a good question though. I am going to stop dosing to see if the cyano gets better or worse, if the latter I will start dosing again but it seems to be getting better when I started dosing no4 and po4. We will see.

 

[Uncle99]

I must be dense, but why would I dose something that lowers phosphates combined with something that raises them ? Don’t they cancel each other ? And how does that help with nitrates ?

Fair question.
It will raise nitrates and by doing so allow for further take up of phosphorus.
I need to dose both to find the daily balance and just auto dose from that point.
Corals are one consumer of both.

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

Fair question.
It will raise nitrates and by doing so allow for further take up of phosphorus.
I need to dose both to find the daily balance and just auto dose from that point.
Corals are one consumer of both.

Exactly. This is why i dose nitrates. Cheato takes up nitrates faster than phosphates. As such, with the feeding method, you eventually get to zero nitrates but you start seeing a spike in phosphates. this is why i dose nitrates...so that the Cheato keeps them both in check appropriately.

 

[anthonygf]

I must be dense also, well I need to raise po4 and no4 a little and I think no4 does not lower po4 all that much. If it does you just need to dose no4 a little bit more to compensate. That is a good question though. I am going to stop dosing to see if the cyano gets better or worse, if the latter I will start dosing again but it seems to be getting better when I started dosing no4 and po4. We will see.

I am getting lazy (my mind) since I retired. I wish someone would correct me when I make mistakes, no3 instead of no4.

 

[FMF0331]

This is what i use :​

Green Leaf Potassium Nitrate (KNO3)​

 

[danilo.bautista.756]

Hello Guys! I started dosing Neonitro yesterday and at night I notice a white mucus around the filter sock. Any advice why this is happening? Is it normal? Ot should I stop dosing. I dose 5ml to raise .5ppm My nitrates were in 0.7 ppm before start dosing. @Randy Holmes-Farley any advice? Thanks

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Hello Guys! I started dosing Neonitro yesterday and at night I notice a white mucus around the filter sock. Any advice why this is happening? Is it normal? Ot should I stop dosing. I dose 5ml to raise .5ppm My nitrates were in 0.7 ppm before start dosing. @Randy Holmes-Farley any advice? Thanks

What size aquarium, what are your nitrates now, and are you dosing anything else at the same time?