Ideas on getting nitrates up

tang daddy · #1 10-21-2016, 09:20 AM

Wow math....

Having bit of phosphates is not a bad thing especially when you mentioned that your corals were pale, I guess if you have algae in your system that wouldn't help. I have almost the same fish load as you and feed the crap out of my tank, corals have definately darkened up abit lately but I'd rather have healthy corals than pale ones. I guess the prodibio method was working a little too efficient for you. I am currently waiting for the brightwells brick to see if that makes a difference.

Did you get your skimmer fixed yet?

I know by experience that ripping out phosphates too fast can have really bad effects on your tank, I am starting to dose reef bio fuel which is suppose to decrease nitrates and phosphates, just started today so cant really see if it works yet or not.

Keep us posted and hopefully your corals will bounce back soon!

warriorcookie · #2 10-21-2016, 01:31 PM

Agreed, some phosphates is good. But i have to run gfo to keep them below .1ppm.

And normally I'd leave it alone, but i'm trying to get nitrate off the floor. As i raise nitrate by feeding fish and corals phosphate is rising way faster.

My ideal range would be 1-2ppm nitrate and .05ish phosphate. I know I can't control that, but i'd like to get it close and balanced.

Yup skimmer is fixed and pulling some thick stinky crap out again.

warriorcookie · #3 10-21-2016, 02:50 PM

I couldn't get a read on nitrates last night. Am I the only one that has a hard time with the shades of pink on Salifert NO3?

So, this morning NO3 was .2ppm? Maybe?
And PO4 was .135ppm

GFO is just a small trickle so PO4 doesn't run away on me.

So, NO3 needs to go up and PO4 needs to go down. But that's why I'm here.

Added ~6mL solution last night.
Added ~12mL solution this morning.

I'll test again this afternoon and probably dose again.

For those of you just tuning in, ~12mL of NaNO3 solution should be a dose of ~1ppm NO3 for my volume of water in my reef.

Tankboy · #4 10-21-2016, 04:16 PM

I got some extra nitrates I can sell ya!!
LOL

Myka · #5 10-21-2016, 06:52 PM

I'm interested to see how this works out for you in the next 4-8 weeks. I think there will be significant improvement. Now, in my tank I need to add BOTH nitrate and phosphate. I can't even get a whiff in my tank.

tang daddy · #6 10-21-2016, 07:48 PM

Any pics of your tank before now and later when you have fixed it?

So we can get an idea of how your tank is now vs before and if adding nitrates will make a difference, this could be useful to other members suffering the same syndrome.

warriorcookie · #7 10-21-2016, 09:41 PM

I'll have to get the wife to whip out the camera. But ya, it's a good idea.

NO3 is 1 ppm now (I think)
PO4 is .02ppm now???

I took the first measurement (.135ppm) this morning before the lights were on. Has the algae, macro, and corals used that much phosphate? Or is this a testing issue? (Using Hanna)