What role does carbon have with nitrates?

[LuizW13]

Hello reefers,

I'm struggling to keep detectable levels of nitrates in my system and have been dosing Brightwell's nitrate supplement NeoNitro. In the directions it says that if you're struggling to keep levels of Nitrates even after dosing, it could be that the system is carbon limited, and goes on to suggest dosing their other carbon supplement. Why is that? Isn't the point of carbon dosing to reduce nitrates?

Could it be that dosing carbon would increase the population of bacteria that would ultimately process more waste into more nitrates? Is that right?

 

[ScottR]

I’m curious to know as well. I’ve read up on this and haven’t been able to find a clear answer.

Scientifically, I think it’s plausible that more carbon would feed the bacteria which in turn would increase their population. I guess for a young tank, it would increase NO3 levels (assuming smaller colonies of bacteria). But for a mature tank with loads of bacteria, carbon would just feed them more and they’d eat through all of the nitrates. <this is just me throwing a guess.