Tank livestock = Nitrates ?

[Reef_Tank_Fan_SC]

So I have had my 54 gal corner tank up and going for about 7 month now and I am about to the point where I wanna start pumping some corals I to it. I have been monitoring parameters and everything is nice and stable. Only thing I don't like is that my nitrate is staying very low.. like 0-1 low. I have had a few people tell me I needed to add more fish and that would increase the nitrate levels naturally. Is there any truth to that? Currently I have (2) OC Clowns (1) Flame Angel (1) Scooter Blenny (1) Watchmen Goby (1) Bangi Cardinal... one didn't make it and (1) Neon Dottyback. If it is true that I should add something more to my tank what do you guys suggest?

 

[Jason mack]

Yes more fish = more fish poop ... then ammonia , nitrite then nitrate .. the nitrogen cycle .. as you add more fish you add more food into the system as Well .. iT all counts !!

 

[Daniel Waters]

That seems like a full tank in my opinion. More fish can certainly help to increase nutrients, but I would not advocate adding fish JUST to increase nutrients. You'll find you have less margin for error if you have too many fish...fish are more stressed, nutrients start to rise above what the system can handle daily, more maintenance has to be kept up, etc..

If you are dosing carbon, you can decrease or stop this. You can run your algae scrubber or chaeto for shorter lighting periods, you can run your skimmer less, or you can simply feed more. I think feeding more is the easiest solution.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

A little extra food alone will actually do the trick.
But honestly, I’d also try some tester corals.
Ime with super low nutints , Xenia will die before gsp. And also get very small. Zoa and paly will die before both of those.

So ime , it can be a trick Of available nutints Before tested nutrients so to speak. So if your feeding well and the fish are pooping and excreteing ammoina , the corals still do well even when the tests read low.
Ime , we see a lot of tanks with zero tested nutints with great coral. I think that’s why, even though the n/p is still reads low.

 

[Reef_Tank_Fan_SC]

A little extra food alone will actually do the trick.
But honestly, I’d also try some tester corals.
Ime with super low nutints , Xenia will die before gsp. And also get very small. Zoa and paly will die before both of those.

So ime , it can be a trick Of available nutints Before tested nutrients so to speak. So if your feeding well and the fish are pooping and excreteing ammoina , the corals still do well even when the tests read low.
Ime , we see a lot of tanks with zero tested nutints with great coral. I think that’s why, even though the n/p is still reads low.

Right now there is 4 little zoa frags and a neon blasto. They all seem happy that's why I was asking about the nitrates. I feed everyday, every other day they get mysis. I don't want to start chasing numbers so I guess I will try the extra feeding and see how that does.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yea, I’m like that. Feed the fish healthfully, and keep an eye on the corals.

 

[mort]

I agree you have a sensible stocking as it is. If your fish are small than your bioload will increase naturally anyway so you can up the feeding a little then. I will also say my tank runs at near zero nitrate and I have no problems with corals at all so I wouldn't worry until I saw negative signs.
Feeding more will also increase your phosphate which can be more of an issue if your not prepared for it. The overly simple rule is nitrate comes from fish and phosphate food.

 

[ntayler]

At my 6-7 month mark I struggled with 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates...gsp slowly withered away, few lps I had faded to near death, and few monti bleached and almost died off completely. Palys actually were ok as they have a good feeding response and grabbed food during fish feeding. Zoas were alive but bland and not growing.

Some people have great success with super low nutrients, I have not. My nutrient levels have increased since then with more fish and more feeding. I dosed stump remover one time to increase no3 and it is stable under 10. All corals that were in decline have improved, some drastically and some still recovering. New corals seem to be flourishing including my new acros. Still can’t grow chaeto worth a dang, so I’m going to restock it and see how the new batch goes with nutrients in the water.

I say give some corals a try since params are stable, and adjust based on how they react. I ultimately only lost a cheap hammer and torch frag despite my experience with too low nutrients.

Happy new year all!