My nitrates finally dropped! And now what?

Nikita1981 · Jun 15, 2018

I have had my nitrate level up for years and years. In every tank I owned it was on the higher end of the scale. I love healthy, full fish so I tend to feed too much. At my worst I had around 70 nitrates, at my best 15-20..
Needless to say my sps was not thriving. I focussed on lps instead and got away with higher nutrients. Hammers, torches, acans, zoas, rock nems etc all thriving at 20 ppm nitrates.

But the sticks kept calling and I kept tweaking. Just a little. Add some po4. A bit of nopox dosing. I just meant it as a maintenance dosage so my nitrates would not skyrocket again.

And now suddenly....2 ppm nitrates. Barely. Maybe less. I am panicking. How will my corals who are used to high nutrients react? What to do now? Cut back the Nopox? How much? Or am I finally where I wanted to be for the last 10 years and should I leave it be?

I currently have a Reefer 250 and dose 0.7 ml phosphate a day and 7 ml of Nopox.

I don't know if I have to laugh or cry....

Nikita1981 · Jun 15, 2018

My happy lps tank at 20 ppm nitrates...afraid how it will react...

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 15, 2018

2 ppm nitrate is fine. If it worries you, feed more.

I personally like organic carbon dosing beyond nutrient reduction, but cutting back the NOPOX is also a fine plan.

Silverking90 · Jun 15, 2018

My lps just went through a fairly sudden drop in nitrates. My tank also used to be around 20 or so nitrates, and now they are at 5. At first some were not happy, others didn’t seem to care. About a week after all of them were looking great. I’m going to keep my system low in nitrate now, I’m 2 weeks in and they all look great

Nikita1981 · Jun 15, 2018

Thanks guys

. Now just find the sweet spot to keep it around 5 ppm. I allready feed 4 times a day to keep my 5 evansi anthias happy.

If it stays low should I consider starting Red Sea reef energy a plus b or something similar?

fishplace817 · Jun 15, 2018

Nice tank btw

Nikita1981 · Jun 24, 2018

Hi guys. Me again.

So since my last message I lowered my nopox dosage to 5 ml a day instead of 7 ml. Nitrates are now between 3 and 5. Not bad.

However I did not change my phosphate dosing (0.7 ml per day) and now my phosphate has risen to 0.08- 0.12...a little too much for my taste. Probably the nopox also kept the phosphate down a bit and now I have lowered nopox my phosphate dosing hits harder.

Looking to keep no3 around 5 and phosphate between 0.03 and 0.08. I guess I should lower my phosphate dosing now, but how much? Or should I try something different?

Not so easy to find the sweet spot. Any help appreciated.