Under dosing carbon

[juniorgomez708]

Does under dosing carbon still remove nitrates?
I’m doing an experiment where I’m dosing carbon but really small amounts for my 250g reef tank and was wondering if I still will see nitrates go down.

the reason I’m under dosing is bc I want to be very conservative on dosing.
My nitrates are currently at 50ppm and phosphates .5ppm

 

[ReefGeezer]

Nitrate will start to fall at the point where there is enough bacteria being created by the carbon dosing to bind the nitrate being produced daily. Since adding more carbon generally means creating more bacteria, under dosing, while binding some nitrate, might only slow the rise.