Hello,
This is my first post here so please let me know if any additional information is needed! I’m new to the reefing hobby and am having trouble obtaining detectable levels of nitrate. The tank is slightly more than 4 months old. I have read similar posts about this from other users, but wanted some feedback on my specific case because I already tried dosing nitrate once and it seemed to cause problems.
Tank: Red Sea Reefer S 1000, 210G display 55g sump for 265G total
Filtration: ReefMat 1200, Red Sea RSK 900 protein skimmer
Hannah checkers used for all measurements.
Started the tank with dry rock, lots of microbacter 7, and 2 maroon clowns. Ammonia/Nitrite were 0, and had 3.2 Nitrate after about a month. I added some Banggai cardinalfish, some leather corral, and one LPS. Over the next few days my nitrates rapidly dropped. I posted on reddit and multiple people suggested dosing some NeoNitro and stressed the importance of not letting nitrate get to 0. After dosing the NeoNitro for a few days my tank rapidly grew what I belive was diatoms and cyano. My local fish store recommended I stop dosing and my tank experienced a severe algae/bacterial bloom. Ammonia spiked, nitrates went to 0.0 and I lost 2 of the cardinal fish. Multiple 20% water changes and about 10 days later the water cleared and ammonia went back to 0. Since then its been almost 2 months with no detectable nitrate. Phosphate has been in the 0.03-0.1 range with GFO. LFS suggested adding more fish as due to the size of the tank there probably just wasn’t enough waste to keep nitrate up. The tank currently has 2 benggai cardinals, 2 maroon clowns, 1 hippo tang, 1 brown powder tang, 4 anthias, 1 hawkfish, and some more softies and a Duncan.
I use a Plank auto feeder to feed every hour for 14 feedings a day, as well as 2 frozen cubes per day with a mix flake and pellet food. It is an absolutely massive amount of food I’m dumping into this tank, but still 0.0 nitrates. I’m also continuing to dose the microbacter 7
Despite my 0.0 nitrate, I have only minimal red slime algae. There is now some green algae that is starting to grow on the rocks. I have to clean the glass every 2-3 days due to build up. My snails and tangs do an OK job of keeping up with it, but I likely need to increase my CUC. I had some scarlet hermits, but since I added them to the tank I’ve been unable to find them. I dose Alk, Calcium, and mag, and have been able to keep the levels pretty stable.
Current measurements:
Salinity: 1.025, Temp 77.9F, pH 8.1, Alk 8.9, Ca 450, Mag 1320, Phos 0.03, Nitrate 0.0, Ammonia 0.0
Overall, my corrals seems healthy, my Zoanthids maybe have lost a bit of color, but they are still making new heads. The Duncan and Goni are open and growing and seem healthy. I spot feed them reef chili 2-3 times a week. I tried bypassing my reefmat filter for 24 hours and had a significant increase in algae formation, but still 0 nitrates.
Question: Should I dose NeoNitro again?
I suspect the problem is my Reefmat and Protein skimmer are simply “overfiltering” the tank. My thought process is that because algae is forming there are clearly nitrates in the water, but they are just all being used up. I don’t want them to out compete the corral though. I don’t want to have to dose nitrate forever as I’m a “less is more” believer and want this tank to last for 10+ years. I am aware I probably added too much too soon, but this is where I am now.
Should I just keep doing what I'm doing and give it more time?
Advice from experienced reefers is greatly appreciated!
This is my first post here so please let me know if any additional information is needed! I’m new to the reefing hobby and am having trouble obtaining detectable levels of nitrate. The tank is slightly more than 4 months old. I have read similar posts about this from other users, but wanted some feedback on my specific case because I already tried dosing nitrate once and it seemed to cause problems.
Tank: Red Sea Reefer S 1000, 210G display 55g sump for 265G total
Filtration: ReefMat 1200, Red Sea RSK 900 protein skimmer
Hannah checkers used for all measurements.
Started the tank with dry rock, lots of microbacter 7, and 2 maroon clowns. Ammonia/Nitrite were 0, and had 3.2 Nitrate after about a month. I added some Banggai cardinalfish, some leather corral, and one LPS. Over the next few days my nitrates rapidly dropped. I posted on reddit and multiple people suggested dosing some NeoNitro and stressed the importance of not letting nitrate get to 0. After dosing the NeoNitro for a few days my tank rapidly grew what I belive was diatoms and cyano. My local fish store recommended I stop dosing and my tank experienced a severe algae/bacterial bloom. Ammonia spiked, nitrates went to 0.0 and I lost 2 of the cardinal fish. Multiple 20% water changes and about 10 days later the water cleared and ammonia went back to 0. Since then its been almost 2 months with no detectable nitrate. Phosphate has been in the 0.03-0.1 range with GFO. LFS suggested adding more fish as due to the size of the tank there probably just wasn’t enough waste to keep nitrate up. The tank currently has 2 benggai cardinals, 2 maroon clowns, 1 hippo tang, 1 brown powder tang, 4 anthias, 1 hawkfish, and some more softies and a Duncan.
I use a Plank auto feeder to feed every hour for 14 feedings a day, as well as 2 frozen cubes per day with a mix flake and pellet food. It is an absolutely massive amount of food I’m dumping into this tank, but still 0.0 nitrates. I’m also continuing to dose the microbacter 7
Despite my 0.0 nitrate, I have only minimal red slime algae. There is now some green algae that is starting to grow on the rocks. I have to clean the glass every 2-3 days due to build up. My snails and tangs do an OK job of keeping up with it, but I likely need to increase my CUC. I had some scarlet hermits, but since I added them to the tank I’ve been unable to find them. I dose Alk, Calcium, and mag, and have been able to keep the levels pretty stable.
Current measurements:
Salinity: 1.025, Temp 77.9F, pH 8.1, Alk 8.9, Ca 450, Mag 1320, Phos 0.03, Nitrate 0.0, Ammonia 0.0
Overall, my corrals seems healthy, my Zoanthids maybe have lost a bit of color, but they are still making new heads. The Duncan and Goni are open and growing and seem healthy. I spot feed them reef chili 2-3 times a week. I tried bypassing my reefmat filter for 24 hours and had a significant increase in algae formation, but still 0 nitrates.
Question: Should I dose NeoNitro again?
I suspect the problem is my Reefmat and Protein skimmer are simply “overfiltering” the tank. My thought process is that because algae is forming there are clearly nitrates in the water, but they are just all being used up. I don’t want them to out compete the corral though. I don’t want to have to dose nitrate forever as I’m a “less is more” believer and want this tank to last for 10+ years. I am aware I probably added too much too soon, but this is where I am now.
Should I just keep doing what I'm doing and give it more time?
Advice from experienced reefers is greatly appreciated!
