Is 0.00 nitrate a problem?

[ClownSchool]

I have a 55 gallon tank with a canister filter, protein skimmer and small refugium. I dose 10 ml of distilled white Apple vinegar (22ml is recommended for my tank size) with B-ionic 2 part daily. I feed 4 ml of frozen food diluted in r/o water once per day.
pH 8.3
Alk 9.8
Cal 390
Sal 1.025
PO3 0.89 (a little high, I know)
NO3 0.00
The tank will be one-year-old next month.
My Hanna nitrate test showed 0.00 for the second week in a row, so i got worried.
I added Brightwell’s nitrate for the first time yesterday.
A recommended does is 7ml to raise it to 1.00, so I started with 3 ml yesterday.
I added another 3 ml this morning.
It’s 10pm, I just ran the test again and it’s still 0.00???
Is that even possible? I don’t know if my Hanna checker is bad? Is my carbon dosing offsetting the NO3? Is my skimmer stripping it out?
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[piranhaman00]

Yes

 

[Dburr1014]

Are you sure of the po4 reading?
Yes, you do need no3. I would keep dosing and get the po4 down.

 

[The Farmer]

What other items do you have to export nitrate?

 

[CoralB]

Never let nitrate or phosphates zero out , it’s a recipe for Dino’s

 

[ClownSchool]

What other items do you have to export nitrate?

I usually put a new carbon and GFO bag in my filter monthly, but my GFO hasn’t been changed in two months. That’s why I was surprised by the test results.

 

[The Farmer]

If I’m not mistaken GFO removes nitrates right? Remove it completely and stop carbon dosing and see if nitrate start to rise

 

[ClownSchool]

Never let nitrate or phosphates zero out , it’s a recipe for Dino’s

Thank you. I actually had a small patch of cyano start, but dosing 30 ml of phytoplankton daily has cleared it up.

 

[131696]

No problem if you have them in your tank after you feed and hours later there's none ,thats is ok lots have it that way.

 

[ClownSchool]

If I’m not mistaken GFO removes nitrates right? Remove it completely and stop carbon dosing and see if nitrate start to rise

Yes, it does. I’ll start by skipping carbon dosing for a few days, test again, then pull it out of my canister.
The problem is opening the canister usually requires a partial water change, which can throw my parameters off even more. So, I’ll take small steps toward that option over the next few days while continuing to dose and see what happens.
I had forgotten about that old GFO bag, so thank you for reminding me.

 

[laezur]

Bottom line is you are using nitrates much quicker than you are creating them, especially if you are dosing nitrates and then carbon, your skimmer will just work overtime to get rid of those nitrates you’re dosing.

Stop dosing carbon, or at least lower it, run your skimmer drier if possible and try to find out what’s exporting all of your nitrates. GFO, carbon, skimmer all culprits. Make a few changes and test over the coming week or two

 

[The Farmer]

If your GFO and carbon are in a reactor just turn it off for the time being

 

[vetteguy53081]

Assure youre not getting false readings and even get a second test taking a water sample to a trusted LFS that does NOT use Api test kits

 

[Dburr1014]

If I’m not mistaken GFO removes nitrates right? Remove it completely and stop carbon dosing and see if nitrate start to rise

No, it removes phosphates.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

On the original question of whether zero nitrate is undesirable, the only times I'd say it is not undesirable is if you are dosing significant ammonia or amino acids, or maybe nitrate. That way you can be sure there is significant N available.

 

[Garf]

Since when did GFO start removing nitrate, lol

 

[The Farmer]

No, it removes phosphates.

Thanks for that I don’t use it hence the lack of knowledge about it

 

[flyingscampi]

To check the Hanna is working, would putting some of the NeoNitro into a small sample of seawater and testing it work?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

To check the Hanna is working, would putting some of the NeoNitro into a small sample of seawater and testing it work?

Yes.

 

[ReefGeezer]

Neonitro is very dilute. It takes a lot to raise nitrates. You'll need to add more than directed to actually raise the nitrate level.