Raising nitrates

Dana Riddle · Feb 21, 2020

Fishko said:
My nitrates are currently at 1ppm and phos at .03. Ive tried to feed more to raise my nitrate but does not seem to be working. What products are available to slowly raise nitrates. Am i at risk to get dinos with my nitrate so low. My rocks are mostly algea free but ive been seeing occasionally almost hairlike brown algae. It like one or two strands then disappears. The rest of the algea my blenny and astrea snails have been slowly taking down.

The Hornimann museum in the UK is successfully spawning various corals species. They were adding a supplement to maintain elevated NO3 concentrations, but abandoned this approach in favor of adding more fishes to the system.

Fishko · Feb 21, 2020

Daddy-o said:
About 200 gallons. Lots of rock/flow & 2 skimmers. At least 50 fish.

Makes sense you would need to feed 8 cubes and probably more

Daddy-o · Feb 21, 2020

Fishko said:
Makes sense you would need to feed 8 cubes and probably more

But not at one time. Little meals all day long. If I were to dump 8 cubes (plus Nori) at one time, 50% would probably not get eaten and rot, which would drive my nitrates sky high.

Fishko · Feb 21, 2020

Daddy-o said:
But not at one time. Little meals all day long. If I were to dump 8 cubes (plus Nori) at one time, 50% would probably not get eaten and rot, which would drive my nitrates sky high.

Ive started to feed in the morning and feed my corals at night. Cant wait for my candy cane and Duncan to take off. Currently at 4 going to 5 heads for the candy cane

Daddy-o · Feb 21, 2020

Fishko said:
Ive started to feed in the morning and feed my corals at night. Cant wait for my candy cane and Duncan to take off. Currently at 4 going to 5 heads for the candy cane

Nice! We just sold a candy cane that had 70+ heads, now I have 6

45ZoaGarden · Feb 22, 2020

Keep an eye on your calcium! My Duncan sucks it up quick. I got mine as 3 heads in December and I have 8 now.

Fishko · Feb 22, 2020

45ZoaGarden said:
Keep an eye on your calcium! My Duncan sucks it up quick. I got mine as 3 heads in December and I have 8 now.

Ive been feeding rods coral blend and mysis. Its been getting what looks to be a second heads starting to develop

45ZoaGarden · Feb 22, 2020

Fishko said:
Ive been feeding rods coral blend and mysis. Its been getting what looks to be a second heads starting to develop

Yes! They love meaty foods and pellets.

mattfish · Feb 25, 2020

Idoc said:
I dosed LoudWolf brand sodium nitrate to elevate nitrates. It worked very well.

Took your advice and got some LoudWolf brand sodium nitrate , can you tell me how much you used ? ml per gal ? i have current NO3 at 5 , trying to go to 15 , hope you can help.

Idoc · Feb 25, 2020

mattfish said:
Took your advice and got some LoudWolf brand sodium nitrate , can you tell me how much you used ? ml per gal ? i have current NO3 at 5 , trying to go to 15 , hope you can help.

I use the calculator on this website to mix the solution and to find the approx increase in no3 per 1mL dosed.

They don't have Sodium Nitrate as an option, but you can use the Potassium Nitrate results. There is an additional calculation to convert the potassium nitrate results to Sodium nitrate results. But, it really isn't that big of a difference...and additional math makes my head hurt.

I typically mix my solutions with 500mL of RODI water... for example, if you mixed 10 tablespoons sodium nitrate with 250ml water, then every 1ml dosed would raise your nitrates by 1.17ppm (in a 100g total water system). It's ballpark figure... si it won't be exact but it is close.

James' Planted Tank - Dosing Calculator