I am running 500ltr mixed reef on full triton method with refugium with only a small ball of cheato / carbon / and rowaphos !! My problem is my nitrate too low ?? It is undetectable on my test kits !! My cheato won't grow and my corals look dull and are not growing !! How can i fix this or is it a problem to have 0 nitrate ?? Thanks Noel....
Nitrate too low !!
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Randy Holmes-Farley
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Feeding more is easy, as is lowering the light time on the chaeto. Dosing nitrate is also a fine option.
NY_Caveman
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+1 on more feeding. It is an easy way to start trying to raise Nitrate. High or low Nitrate being a problem depends on the reef and the reefer really.
Welcome to R2R!
Welcome to R2R!
biophilia
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Some tanks break down nitrate "too" well even in the presence of heavy feeding. It can happen if you have a lot of anaerobic surface area within your rock or sand or are carbon dosing a bit too much and is a problem many aquarists would love to have! Corals will tend to fade out if you have undetectable nitrates, so it's best to try to maintain at least a few ppm (5ppm is a good, albeit arbitrary number to shoot for).
Feeding more is the best option because corals in reef tanks are always food-limited compared to their wild counterparts, but often times that can drive up phosphate levels along with nitrates and cause some algae issues in newer tanks that don't have a large population of herbivores, micro-herbivores, sponge life, coralline cover, etc. That being said, there are lots of really nice tanks out there with high phosphate levels and no issues at all.
I've had really good results dosing KNO3 by way of "Spectracide Stump Remover" for what it's worth. You can get it at most hardware stores. Crush up 1 Tbsp. of the pellets and dissolve in 1 cup of RODI water. Dosing 1 mL of the resulting solution will raise 10 gallons of tank water ~2 ppm NO3.
Feeding more is the best option because corals in reef tanks are always food-limited compared to their wild counterparts, but often times that can drive up phosphate levels along with nitrates and cause some algae issues in newer tanks that don't have a large population of herbivores, micro-herbivores, sponge life, coralline cover, etc. That being said, there are lots of really nice tanks out there with high phosphate levels and no issues at all.
I've had really good results dosing KNO3 by way of "Spectracide Stump Remover" for what it's worth. You can get it at most hardware stores. Crush up 1 Tbsp. of the pellets and dissolve in 1 cup of RODI water. Dosing 1 mL of the resulting solution will raise 10 gallons of tank water ~2 ppm NO3.
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Tank has been running 10 years now but only changed to Triton method in november last and then started to introduce hard corals to add a bit of colour to the diaplay !! I have only been feeding once a day as i was afraid of starting algue problems !! My nitrate and phosphate are undetectable at the moment !! I run my skimmer 24/7 and 4 hours on fuge light ( kessil h380 ) !! carbon and rowaphos 24/7 !! My corals are growing slowly but are lacking colour and polyp extension !! When i buy them they look great in store but fade when i put them in my system !! Will they come back if i raise nitrate/phosphate ?? Thanks for your replies so far ! Noel.....
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Many factors influence coral colors, only one of which is adequate N and P. So to conclude they will look like when you bought them is perhaps not clear.
Ok !! After turning off my skimmer, stopped running rowaphos, and increased feeding to 3 times a day after 2 weeks still 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate !! So is it time to start dosing nitrate ?? If so do i start my skimmer and rowaphos reactor again or leave them off till i get a high nitrate level !! And what about phosphate do i just leave that at 0 ??
Thanks Noel...
Thanks Noel...
Randy Holmes-Farley
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I'd either feed even more or dose both.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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So i went for the feeding even more option for a while and still no detectable nitrate or phosphate !! So its time to start dosing !! I picked these up on amazon !! Are they ok to dose
And will i use (the planted tank ) calculator ?? Thanks...
And will i use (the planted tank ) calculator ?? Thanks...
