What do you do to increase no3 and why?

[twilliard]

Hi all!
No3, is it important in a reef?
How do you maintain your levels?
Is no3 important for photosynthesis?

I am looking for thoughts and opinions
Lets share together!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

A nitrogen source is important for photosynthetic organisms, but it need not be nitrate. Ammonia can work fine for that purpose.

In situations where algae have a choice between ammonia and nitrate, many will use the ammonia.

 

[twilliard]

Thank you Randy for sharing.
I understand the importance of no3

People strive for 0 no3 when in reality its starving the basic fundamentals of photosynthesis.

 

[KingTriton]

I have to dose no3 in order to get above zero. I've been dosing spectracide potassium nitrate and anytime my nitrites get above 0.2-0.5 my algae goes into a feeding frenzy "Dino" I believe. This stringy algae has me no longer dosing it. Anyone know why this keeps occurring only when I dose no3?

 

[Vaughn17]

I just started dosing Seachem's Flourish Nitrogen (yesterday). I don't have skimmers on either of the two tanks I'm dosing and only a few fish in each. As the tanks have matured and corals have grown my nitrates have become depleted. I already feed heavily, and feeding even greater amounts would add more phosphates, which could potentially lead to algae problems. I don't want to add more fish right now, so I'm trying NO3 in a bottle; although, I believe it's actually potassium nitrate and urea.

 

[Lenny_S]

This topic has perplexed me for a long time. Aren't ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate constantly being produced in a system with living organisms, especially fish?
So if testing all three read 0 with whatever test you use does that mean the system is balanced and just consuming at the same rate it's producing?
It's just too complicated for my very limited knowledge and understanding of these biological processes. Anyone have an answer?

 

[KingTriton]

I have to dose no3 in order to get above zero. I've been dosing spectracide potassium nitrate and anytime my nitrites get above 0.2-0.5 my algae goes into a feeding frenzy "Dino" I believe. This stringy algae has me no longer dosing it. Anyone know why this keeps occurring only when I dose no3?

Nitrates not nitrites

 

[Vaughn17]

This topic has perplexed me for a long time. Aren't ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate constantly being produced in a system with living organisms, especially fish?
So if testing all three read 0 with whatever test you use does that mean the system is balanced and just consuming at the same rate it's producing?
It's just too complicated for my very limited knowledge and understanding of these biological processes. Anyone have an answer?

I don't think any parameters stay balanced very long in this hobby, lol. IME, initially, my tanks had too many nutrients, then corals grew and, from a nutrient standpoint, the tank became balanced. Then corals grew more and more and now the tank is unbalanced again, having too few nutrients to support the ever growing corals.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

This topic has perplexed me for a long time. Aren't ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate constantly being produced in a system with living organisms, especially fish?
So if testing all three read 0 with whatever test you use does that mean the system is balanced and just consuming at the same rate it's producing?
It's just too complicated for my very limited knowledge and understanding of these biological processes. Anyone have an answer?

If nitrogen sources are very low (they are never zero) they can become limiting to the growth of organisms. That is often true in the ocean, where nitrogen sources are very low, and folks are trying to keep that from being the case for corals in their aquaria. It seems to be especially important in many reef tanks to not be as low as the ocean (or lower) because many tanks do not have as much available foods for these organisms that will also contain nutrients.

Balanced, as a technical concept, would be a steady level at any number, 0.003 ppm nitrate, 30 ppm nitrate, etc. The actual value doesn't imply balanced or not, only whether it is changing over time.