0 nitrate in a sps tank: Good or Bad?

[Genicanthus-R-Us]

Settled, accumulated detritus is mostly benign. Dr. Holmes-Farley explained that nearly all phosphate leaves the creatures in urine - there are some great mega-posts on this when he was contributing on RC all the time. If the feces has any valuable organic matter, then it quickly scavenged by waterborne bacteria... or also very quickly once settling... none of this goes to waste. Stuff that has been settled for a while can certainly gum up the works for the microfauna, but is probably not contributing any N to your tank. I usually want to get it out, but I am in no hurry about it.

If anything, it might be lower in a few days with a new bulb to grow more macro.

Great info again jda, I probably had 3/4” in some spots, a lot I could tell was sand dust particulates so I probably did more harm than good.

 

[Genicanthus-R-Us]

108 gallon dt; 9 fish fed 3 x daily- frozen and pellets; no gfo, carbon, or socks; skimmer only; sps dominant with some lps and zoas.
calc 450
alk 8.68
ph 8.1-8.3
mag 1480
no3 9-10
phos .02 last I checked.
Some pics of my sps.

Wow! Great pieces how long have you had them? Did they start from frags? I wonder if GFO is the reason my NO3 is so low, amazing what a skimmeer can do!

 

[jwshiver]

I ran 0 NO3 and 0 PO4 for close to two years. Corals had little to no growth, color or polyp extension. After realizing I was doing the "keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result" I changed the way I was managing my numbers. Now I strive to keep my numbers in a range of 2.5 - 5 NO3 and .03 - .05 PO4. I have been keeping these numbers for approximately the last 8 months. Occasionally during the week I have to dose both to keep the numbers in range so they don't bottom out. For some reason my tank requires me to dose PO4 more than NO3. I use Brightwell Aquatics NeoNitro and NeoPhos. The corals growth, colors and polyp extension has been amazing over the last 8 months. I have had to double the amount of 2 part dosing to keep up with demand. I have found with my tank that polyp extension in particular is best when the PO4 is above .03. All of my corals have polyp extension during the day. Two of my older Mille's look like shag carpets. Do I have algae? Some, but my Magnificent Fox Face, Kole Tang and Blue Tuxedo urchin love it and keep it cropped down. This works for me but may not work for you. As stated above there are many factors. The trick for me was finding the balance for my tank between nutrients, lighting and flow along with stability. I wish I hadn't wasted two years of potential coral growth running 0 NO3 & 0 PO4. A lot of reefers are skilled enough to have a successful tank with 0 NO3 and 0 PO4 however it's just not for me.

 

[jda]

For some reason my tank requires me to dose PO4 more than NO3.

The PO4 is probably binding faster to the aragonite than it is getting used by things - nitrate does not really have this quality, but in my tank, if I added nitrate all that I would do is increase the anoxic bacteria and have .1 again really soon. Aragonite can hold a massive amount of P and this is probably where it goes when you add it... initially. I just did an experiment and the aragonite held over 350x the amount in the water column at a ratio of 1 pound of aragonite to 5 gallons of water. Eventually, the rock will fill up more and the levels will stay up.

Aragonite binding is reversible and will release when water levels fall. This is why having a low number in an established tank is not all that bad... even if all of mine gets consumed in the water column, the sand and rock will release some and I will be right back at .01 very quickly. GFO and LC can get you down too low since they can absorb it faster than it can be released. This can be VERY dangerous and hurt/harm corals.

 

[Dlealrious]

My tank is pretty new 7 months old, first time doing corals so still trying to figure this out. CA 420-430 Kh 7.6 Mag 1400 No3 0.5 Po4 2-6ppb. I struggle to keep nutrients in my tank. I run a fuge and activated carbon. No skimmer(started to run at night to see if it keeps ph up) and filter socks when i stir up the sand. Low bio load though, 7 smallish fish so i feed alot which just makes vermidit snails go nuts(didnt know what these were till it was too late). I have to dose kn03 just to register NO3. Now i know i have nutrients as my cheato grows well. Started with all dry rock that was cycled but never had any algae apart from diatoms.

 

[themcnertney]

I have never seen a trace in my tank using Salifert test kit since my cycle.

 

[happyhourhero]

ALK 9
SG 1.026
NO3 25ppm
PO4 .28 last time I checked
Mag 1500 (thanks Fritz)

Your average middle of the road SPS tank operated by HHH.

 

[Genicanthus-R-Us]

ALK 9
SG 1.026
NO3 25ppm
PO4 .28 last time I checked
Mag 1500 (thanks Fritz)

Your average middle of the road SPS tank operated by HHH.

You have pics? Curious to see sps coloration with such a high NO3

 

[Genicanthus-R-Us]

My tank is pretty new 7 months old, first time doing corals so still trying to figure this out. CA 420-430 Kh 7.6 Mag 1400 No3 0.5 Po4 2-6ppb. I struggle to keep nutrients in my tank. I run a fuge and activated carbon. No skimmer(started to run at night to see if it keeps ph up) and filter socks when i stir up the sand. Low bio load though, 7 smallish fish so i feed alot which just makes vermidit snails go nuts(didnt know what these were till it was too late). I have to dose kn03 just to register NO3. Now i know i have nutrients as my cheato grows well. Started with all dry rock that was cycled but never had any algae apart from diatoms.

Beautiful reef! What are your dimensions? Love the choats wrasse and the euphyllia garden, im trying to start one myself.

 

[Genicanthus-R-Us]

Here’s one of the only frags I have pics of, first pic was beginning of January, second is last Thursday. 0 ppm nitrate.

 

[happyhourhero]

You have pics? Curious to see sps coloration with such a high NO3

I would be lying if I said I didnt have any that were browned out though.

 

[markalot]

So I think ( I do not know) the answer depends on the age of the tank and fish load.

If I remember all my reading correctly corals prefer ammonia to Nitrate so if you have a high fish load and corals consume all the ammonia prior to it becoming nitrate then your experience will show 0 Nitrated to be fine. In my tank, which is over 2 years old, 0 nitrates = pale corals. I prefer to run just detectable but I know of one acro that looks absolutely drop dead amazing at 15 nitrates. The others, not so much. I just succeeded in dropping nitrates too low and after dosing CaNO3 over a week I can visually see the color increase.

 

[RUNVS]

hmm so my tank has been running for about 14 months now with great growth and coloration of my SPS Dominant tank. I have about 8 fish in a 65 gallon display with 100 gallon sump, 50 gallon fuge, and 45 gallon Frag tank. I just run a skimmer rated for 500 gallons plus and my fuge with cheato.

Parameters are as follows:

SG- 1.024
Measurable NO3- 0
Measurable PO4- 0
Alk- Stable @ 7.8 DKH
Calcium- 450
Mag- 1500

I do a 15 gallon water change once a month with Fritz salt and yea i clean the glass every few days I guess, I feed my fish everyday 2 cubes of mysis, one good chunk of Rods food, and 1 tablespoon of Reef Roids Every night.

 

[Chris Villalobos]

Running Bio-pellets to reduce NO3 and PO4 to 0 PPM killed all my hard corals and algae eating snails.

 

[jda]

Artificially lowering the N and P can be very dangerous. Very. This is not an issue with low N and P, it is a misuse of the tool of organic carbon. Low N and P that are there naturally are fine since they drive an equilibrium that always requires some.

I think that people cannot really differentiate between natural management and using GFO, OC, etc. There is a HUGE difference.

It has been a long time for me too, but Ammonia and light for energy (food) and N and P for building blocks. Both are necessary. I do not think that corals are good at competition for ammonia, though... the waterborne bacteria will quickly make waste of it... clams can get some ammonia since they filter so much water. Anoxic bacteria in the sand and established rock will quickly destroy nitrate and turn it into N Gas... but this takes a mature tank. Bare bottom, dry rock started and minimalistic aquascaped tanks can struggle to lower NO3 naturally.

Genicanthus-R-Us - how old is your tank? The photos look young. If you are before/at/near a year and/or started with some dry rock, then I would not do anything and just wait this out...

 

[Genicanthus-R-Us]

Artificially lowering the N and P can be very dangerous. Very. This is not an issue with low N and P, it is a misuse of the tool of organic carbon. Low N and P that are there naturally are fine since they drive an equilibrium that always requires some.

I think that people cannot really differentiate between natural management and using GFO, OC, etc. There is a HUGE difference.

It has been a long time for me too, but Ammonia and light for energy (food) and N and P for building blocks. Both are necessary. I do not think that corals are good at competition for ammonia, though... the waterborne bacteria will quickly make waste of it... clams can get some ammonia since they filter so much water. Anoxic bacteria in the sand and established rock will quickly destroy nitrate and turn it into N Gas... but this takes a mature tank. Bare bottom, dry rock started and minimalistic aquascaped tanks can struggle to lower NO3 naturally.

Genicanthus-R-Us - how old is your tank? The photos look young. If you are before/at/near a year and/or started with some dry rock, then I would not do anything and just wait this out...

Tank is 2 years old, was a lps reef but I sold most of my corals and did a complete rescape. Just getting back into filling my tank with corals after making sure my params are stable.

 

[Dlealrious]

Beautiful reef! What are your dimensions? Love the choats wrasse and the euphyllia garden, im trying to start one myself.

Thanks, they will be going soon once i get some more sticks. Tank will be sps only

 

[Robink]

Wow! Great pieces how long have you had them? Did they start from frags? I wonder if GFO is the reason my NO3 is so low, amazing what a skimmeer can do!

Yes, all started from frags and I started this tank the end of last February, so it just hit a year old.

 

[Robink]

ALK 9
SG 1.026
NO3 25ppm
PO4 .28 last time I checked
Mag 1500 (thanks Fritz)

Your average middle of the road SPS tank operated by HHH.

I use Fritz too, never have to dose magnesium.

 

[bif24701]

Thank you for the kind words. Use some stump remover. That is what I used at one point and it worked really well! Just go really slow and test daily. Ton of info if you search stump remover about dosing amounts.

I use this too. However I have stopped doing water changes and keep my water clean with ROX. NO3 hovers around 5-8ppm and PO4 .01-.05ppm