How to rise the Nitrates?

BurgerFish · Jan 21, 2023

I guess my chaeto reduce the nitrates to 0.
I dose Element N to rise it to 2ppm, and 24h after the Nitrates are 0.3ppm...

How do keep it at 5, if I cannot dose more then 2ppm daily?

My fuge photoperiod is from 22h to 08h. Do I need to reduce it even more?

BirdFish5000 · Jan 21, 2023

What's your fish stock like? Adding fish will actually help keep nitrates up.

MACHO · Jan 21, 2023

BurgerFish said:
I guess my chaeto reduce the nitrates to 0.
I dose Element N to rise it to 2ppm, and 24h after the Nitrates are 0.3ppm...

How do keep it at 5, if I cannot dose more then 2ppm daily?

My fuge photoperiod is from 22h to 08h. Do I need to reduce it even more?

i wouldn't do anything right this moment since its only been a day since you started dosing.

BurgerFish · Jan 21, 2023

BirdFish5000 said:
What's your fish stock like

2 tangs, 1 foxface, 2 dwarf angels, 3 green chromis, 2 clown, wrasse.

Many crabs, snails, starfish, crevettes.

90g tank.

MACHO said:
i wouldn't do anything right this moment since its only been a day since you started dosing

I dose 2ppm every day for a week. Next day is alwas arround 0.3 ppm.

MACHO · Jan 21, 2023

BurgerFish said:
2 tangs, 1 foxface, 2 dwarf angels, 3 green chromis, 2 clown, wrasse.

Many crabs, snails, starfish, crevettes.

90g tank.

I dose 2ppm every day for a week. Next day is alwas arround 0.3 ppm.

is there any other filtration on the tank? filter socks skimmer?

BurgerFish · Jan 21, 2023

MACHO said:
there any other filtration on the tank? filter socks skimmer

Skimmer. When I turn it off for 2 days - no difference.

No other filtration.

MACHO · Jan 21, 2023

BurgerFish said:
Skimmer. When I turn it off for 2 days - no difference.

No other filtration.

how long has the tank been up? are there any coral in the system currently? also you said you aren't able to increase the dosage for the nitrates? why is that?

thelonereefer1 · Jan 21, 2023

I have a similar struggle. Mine never seem to go past 2

BurgerFish · Jan 21, 2023

MACHO said:
how long has the tank been up? are there any coral in the system currently? also you said you aren't able to increase the dosage for the nitrates? why is that

3.5y old tank. They say that the Nitrates need to be increased to 2ppm daily max.

Corals: many mushrooms, bubble anemone, some SPS, montys.

BurgerFish · Jan 21, 2023

thelonereefer1 said:
I have a similar struggle. Mine never seem to go past 2

Did you try to dose them via doser?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 22, 2023

BurgerFish said:
I guess my chaeto reduce the nitrates to 0.
I dose Element N to rise it to 2ppm, and 24h after the Nitrates are 0.3ppm...

How do keep it at 5, if I cannot dose more then 2ppm daily?

My fuge photoperiod is from 22h to 08h. Do I need to reduce it even more?

There's no rule that you cannot dose however much is needed. IMO, 2 ppm is a fine starting dose, not a max.

thelonereefer1 · Jan 22, 2023

BurgerFish said:
Did you try to dose them via doser?

I have not yet. I’m just starting my research on what people are using/how they’re doing it

BurgerFish · Jan 27, 2023

After dosing nitrates, the phosphates was reduced from 0.1 to 0.046.

BurgerFish · Jan 27, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
IMO, 2 ppm is a fine starting dose, not a max.

What is the max safe dose?

ReefHunter006 · Jan 27, 2023

i have a similar issue. I cannot keep nitrates up in my frag tank. I resorted to dosing last year. Added fish and no help. Increased feedings, no help. I recently got fed up with all the trouble after doing it for a year and stopped dosing and said I’m just going to let the tank figure it out. Well about 35% of acros are dead now after nitrates dropped to 1-2ppm and po4 rose to .36. Started dosing nitrates again and a few days later po4 is .1 and no3 is 15.

Coral are slowly coming back after the adjustment.

i wish I could figure out the imbalance and correct it with food. Haven’t found it yet though.

I dose 30mls throughout the day of Neonitro in 90ish gallon frag tank. Take dosing slow and measure it. Inkeep a close eye on calcium and potassium with monthly ICP(not necessary) and be ready to adjust those if needed. I’ve only had to make small adjustments to calcium. Water changes are typically sufficient.

exnisstech · Jan 27, 2023

I have one tank I have to dose nitrates and phosphates even feeding multiple times a day. I use sodium nitrate and sodium phosphate and just manually dose it.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 28, 2023

BurgerFish said:
What is the max safe dose?

I am not aware of a max safe dose, if you are accurately measuring nitrate and it is not at your target. My recommended target is 2-10 ppm nitrate. If you dose 2 ppm and none is detected 24 h later, I'd use a larger dose.

BurgerFish · Feb 7, 2023

1ml of Element N every 2 hours for 100g total water volume works fine. Nitrates are at 2.44.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 8, 2023

BurgerFish said:
1ml of Element N every 2 hours for 100g total water volume works fine. Nitrates are at 2.44.

Sounds good.

pygoplites77 · Mar 17, 2023

I have noticed that every time I dose sodium nitrate or any product containing nitrate, I have an increase in nitrite values and this is negative, the sps do not strip and tend to darken. I believe the increase in nitrites is due to the second phase of the nitrogen cycle, that of the reduction of nitrates into gaseous nitrogen, with the intermediate transformation into nitrites. Wouldn't it then be suitable to dose organic nitrogen or ammonium so that these are then oxidized into no2 and no3 by bacteria? Maybe dosing carbon to help them. If the reasoning were right, what would be a source of ammonium and organic nitrogen to dose?