Low Nitrates

[Shallow Planet]

my readings are always 0 or somewhere around 0.5. Not yellow enough on test to be 1.0. Everyone says to aim for 5.0 ppm

My phosphates were kind of high. 0.08.

I dosed Neonitrate and that dropped phosphates closer to 0.02 but still no readings for Nitrates.

I started to see diatoms and red cyano so I stopped dosing.

Nitrates remain at 0 and phosphates are at 0.078.

Should i worry? A bit of diatom bloom still. Im assuming my tank is just consuming the nitrates so not sure i should try to raise them.

Thoughts? Should I run gfo?

 

[Fourstars]

No, I would dose sodium nitrate. Phosphates are fine.

 

[kwirky]

What kits are you using and do you have past measurements & can describe how nitrate & phosphate has trended over the past while? Any changes to the tank recently?

If photosynthetic stuff is nitrate starved then phosphates won't move much on their own since algae & symbiotic zooxanthalae need nitrate as part of their photosynthetic needs. Dosing the nitrate probably dropped the phosphates because stuff was finally able to photosynthesize.

0.00 nitrates is more likely to cause nuisance algae & bacteria, no matter the phosphate level, than 0.08ppm phosphates coupled with adequate (0.02ppm) nitrate.

If you aren't already on the threshold of giving them bloat, can you increase your feeding amount and/or frequency for your fish? If you're only feeding them 1x per day they'll love getting more feedings per day and you'd improve the health of your fish, too. I used to auto-dose potassium nitrate but now I feed reef roids daily to keep my nitrate up since a wider range of flora & fauna can use it than inorganic nitrate. I was battling zero nitrate and cyano and dosing reef roids starting 2 weeks ago, plus 2x per day feedings instead of 1x per day, cleared it up after a week. Your mileage may vary, though. I run a chaeto fuge with a very powerful light so that's a variable which may lead to different results for you (lots of nutrient export so I feed like crazy).

I use Jame's Planted Tank Calculator for dosing dry ferts for my planted tank and I've used the same ocassionally for my reef with similar ppm changes but it's for potassium nitrate, not sodium nitrate like @Fourstars recommended. It'll obviously increase your potassium if you use potassium nitrate.

 

[Shallow Planet]

What kits are you using and do you have past measurements & can describe how nitrate & phosphate has trended over the past while? Any changes to the tank recently?

If photosynthetic stuff is nitrate starved then phosphates won't move much on their own since algae & symbiotic zooxanthalae need nitrate as part of their photosynthetic needs. Dosing the nitrate probably dropped the phosphates because stuff was finally able to photosynthesize.

0.00 nitrates is more likely to cause nuisance algae & bacteria, no matter the phosphate level, than 0.08ppm phosphates coupled with adequate (0.02ppm) nitrate.

If you aren't already on the threshold of giving them bloat, can you increase your feeding amount and/or frequency for your fish? If you're only feeding them 1x per day they'll love getting more feedings per day and you'd improve the health of your fish, too. I used to auto-dose potassium nitrate but now I feed reef roids daily to keep my nitrate up since a wider range of flora & fauna can use it than inorganic nitrate. I was battling zero nitrate and cyano and dosing reef roids starting 2 weeks ago, plus 2x per day feedings instead of 1x per day, cleared it up after a week. Your mileage may vary, though. I run a chaeto fuge with a very powerful light so that's a variable which may lead to different results for you (lots of nutrient export so I feed like crazy).

I use Jame's Planted Tank Calculator for dosing dry ferts for my planted tank and I've used the same ocassionally for my reef with similar ppm changes but it's for potassium nitrate, not sodium nitrate like @Fourstars recommended. It'll obviously increase your potassium if you use potassium nitrate.

I currently feed fish 3 times a day (twice pellets and once frozen) and reef roids every few days. Was looking at the ESV Nitrate to dose.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Was looking at the ESV Nitrate to dose.

Why? Because you ran out of the Neonitro, or think it wasn't working well?

 

[Shallow Planet]

Why? Because you ran out of the Neonitro, or think it wasn't working well?

Dosing Neonitro seemed to cause a red cyano bloom in my tank

 

[YankeeTankee]

Your phosphate is ok IMO, have you tried a different test kit? I'm sure the product your using is fine however I do like ESV.

 

[Shallow Planet]

Your phosphate is ok IMO, have you tried a different test kit? I'm sure the product your using is fine however I do like ESV.

Used Salifert and Nyos nitrate test kits. Phosphate with Hanna

 

[blasterman]

What problem are you trying to fix? Diatom or cyano blooms indicate a young tank or one that doesn't have an established biomass, so artificially adding fertilizer is just asking for trouble. Those really cool showcase SPS tanks with nitrate levels of 20 and no nuisance blooms take years to get there.

Yes, corals like nitrate, but there's a difference between '0' nitrate vs nitrate being consumed to trace levels. Up your feeding with frozen food and you will see nitrate. Go by what your corals look like.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Dosing Neonitro seemed to cause a red cyano bloom in my tank

Dosing the same amount of nitrate with a different brand is likely going to give similar results.

 

[Shallow Planet]

Right now diatom. Tank has been up for 2 years. I used chemi clean for the cyano.

 

[Shallow Planet]

Should i just increase feedings and ride the diatoms out? Dose nitrates and ride the diatoms out?

 

[Fourstars]

Just dose nitrates. This way you have more control then if your over feeding the tank. Seems counterintuitive.

 

[Shallow Planet]

Just does nitrates. This way you have more control then if your over feeding the tank. Seems counterintuitive.

This was my plan but so many opinions.

 

[Fourstars]

That’s the problem with people in general, they all have opinions. Once your tank matures to a point, there should be no reason to dose Nitrate.

 

[ggNoRe]

This was my plan but so many opinions.

Bump!! I'm dealing with a similar issue. Curious on how things worked out for you and if you have any recommendations?

 

[ninjamyst]

I had to dose nitrate during my battle with dino. I just get stump remover from home depot and mix a teaspoon with reef water and dump it in.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I had to dose nitrate during my battle with dino. I just get stump remover from home depot and mix a teaspoon with reef water and dump it in.

That product (potassium nitrate) certainly raises nitrate, but IMO, it is less of a risk tot eh tank to use a product of known purity (such as food grade or ACS reagent grade) and sodium is preferable to potassium if you are not monitoring potassium.