Zero no3 and po4 didn't expect those #s

Holy_makerel · Jul 13, 2017

Using API for nitrate and hanna for po4

Set my 60 cube up and transfered water+rock and livestock into it. It has been up and running for almost 2 weeks now. I use a dosing pump to deliver about 600ml of kalk/day and 6ml each of 2 part to maintain ca/alk.

I add 60ml of white vinegar to each gal of kalk i make to not only help keep the kalk in solution but ti provide some sugar dosing.

Using a curve 5 skimmer in the sump and also run a GFO reactor currently with about half the recomended media. No refugium. With a light bioload (6 fish) chalk basslet, bangaii cardinal, neon goby, possume wrasse, firefish, and a small kole tang.

Decided to test all my perameters yesterday and while i expected my po4 to be fairly low i didnt expect to see 0.00ppm (tested 2x) and really didnt expect to see 0 nitrates. My only nutrient export right now is just the skimmer and socks.

I feed a frozen mix every other day and pellets on the other days. Lightly fed once a day.

My question is does it seem like my carbon dosing would be enough to keep my nitrates at that level? I was expecting to see some result other than zero.

Fed my fish and corals heavily last night after getting test results.

Everything has been looking really healthy, LPS and SPS.

Thank!

leahfiish · Jul 13, 2017

I think it's definitely possible although api nitrate tests are very innaccurate and inconsistent imo.

Holy_makerel · Jul 13, 2017

leahfiish said:
I think it's definitely possible although api nitrate tests are very innaccurate and inconsistent imo.

In the past nitrate has been my least tested so i just never invested in a quality test. I figure the API would give me an indication of any issue coming up. Might just be time to get a better kit

CodyRVA · Jul 13, 2017

leahfiish said:
I think it's definitely possible although api nitrate tests are very innaccurate and inconsistent imo.

+1, very possible, but I would confirm with a better quality kit.

nervousmonkey · Jul 13, 2017

I think it's very possible, with a 60 gallon tank and dosing ~10 mL of vinegar (600 mL/day of kalk at total of 60mL/gallon, correct?). That's a pretty healthy amount of carbon to dose. Very good way to keep alkalinity up though; I used to use the same method. Works well and I bet you have awesome pH. Apparently you have a super well maintained bacterial population. It may be time to try nitrate dosing. Up to you though. Seems that it will be hard to lower the amount of carbon via vinegar though. You didn't ask that though, so in answer to your question, I think the reason why you have no no3 or PO4 is from carbon dosing.

XNavyDiver · Jul 13, 2017

I've been using the API nitrate kit also, and it's given me zeros every time. I just can't believe I don't have any nitrates, so I'm giving the Red Sea test kit a go. Should arrive in a day or two.

leahfiish · Jul 13, 2017

For people that are stuck with the api kit - make sure you shake the 2nd bottle really, really well. Like, bang it on the counter, throw it on the floor. Make sure it's not expired too.

Holy_makerel · Jul 13, 2017

Thanks,

nervousmonkey said:
I think it's very possible, with a 60 gallon tank and dosing ~10 mL of vinegar (600 mL/day of kalk at total of 60mL/gallon, correct?). That's a pretty healthy amount of carbon to dose. Very good way to keep alkalinity up though; I used to use the same method. Works well and I bet you have awesome pH. Apparently you have a super well maintained bacterial population. It may be time to try nitrate dosing. Up to you though. Seems that it will be hard to lower the amount of carbon via vinegar though. You didn't ask that though, so in answer to your question, I think the reason why you have no no3 or PO4 is from carbon dosing.

Thanks, and yes those #s are pretty accurate. I think i need to track this for a while before i decide if I'm going to change anything, also pick up a better quality kit.

What would you suggest for no3 dosing? I could increase feeding. I've been really cognizant about my feeding amounts after battling GHA in my last system for months on end.

nervousmonkey · Jul 13, 2017

Holy_makerel said:
Thanks,

Thanks, and yes those #s are pretty accurate. I think i need to track this for a while before i decide if I'm going to change anything, also pick up a better quality kit.

What would you suggest for no3 dosing? I could increase feeding. I've been really cognizant about my feeding amounts after battling GHA in my last system for months on end.

I would try potassium nitrate, or Spectracide Stump Remover. One of the best write-ups on it is from Todd, aka @twilliard . Here is the link for his write-up. I have used Seachem Flourish Nitrogen, as the concentration is known (15,000 mg/L) and can be used to calculate how much to give to achieve the ppm concentration that is desired. Either way, your system will probably eat up the nitrogen pretty quickly, but you'll soon settle into a daily amount to dose to keep a steady state concentration in your system.

Holy_makerel · Jul 13, 2017

nervousmonkey said:
I would try potassium nitrate, or Spectracide Stump Remover. One of the best write-ups on it is from Todd, aka @twilliard . Here is the link for his write-up. I have used Seachem Flourish Nitrogen, as the concentration is known (15,000 mg/L) and can be used to calculate how much to give to achieve the ppm concentration that is desired. Either way, your system will probably eat up the nitrogen pretty quickly, but you'll soon settle into a daily amount to dose to keep a steady state concentration in your system.

Thank you for the info and link!

Goslugsgo · Jul 14, 2017

nervousmonkey said:
I have used Seachem Flourish Nitrogen, as the concentration is known (15,000 mg/L) and can be used to calculate how much to give to achieve the ppm concentration that is desired.

The article you linked does contain a calculator for accurate dosing. If I have time later I'll go through and see if I can find it.