How I increased my NO3

[niQo]

I think my tank suffered from lack of nitrates. I was dealing with some GHA and always testing zero for NO3 and PO4. I think my nitrates were actually too low, but the phosphates were used by the GHA. A few weeks back I dosed a few capfuls of Seachem flourish nitrogen over a few days, but then I had another idea...
I have a Bubble Magnus 5, cheato with H80 and BRS reactor with 1/4 cup of carbon and the rest Aquaforest Life Bio Fil in my sump. The total water volume for my system is about 55 gallon. I had this reactor running 24/7 and thought it may not help my lack of nitrates. So I plugged it into my apex and used the OSC command to make it come on only 15 min/hour.
The last two times I tested I had 5 ppm NO3 and my PO4 has stayed below 0.1.

Interestingly enough the GHA has slowed down drastically! It's far too early to conclude my nutrient issues are over, but I thought this was interesting enough to share. It seems more "controlled" compared to closing a valve a bit more. Now I'm hoping for my corals to start showing some growth! Some of them are still not impressed.

 

[zachxlutz]

You decreased contact time with GAC and it's increased your NO3 levels?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You slowed the flow to an algae reactor that has chaeto? That's certainly a fine way to reduce its growth and possibly bring up nutrients. You could also alter the lighting time and/or intensity and keep the water flowing 24/7.

One risk of stopped flow is the water becoming anaerobic in pipes, but in 45 min that may not happen.

 

[niQo]

You decreased contact time with GAC and it's increased your NO3 levels?

You slowed the flow to an algae reactor that has chaeto? That's certainly a fine way to reduce its growth and possibly bring up nutrients. You could also alter the lighting time and/or intensity and keep the water flowing 24/7.

One risk of stopped flow is the water becoming anaerobic in pipes, but in 45 min that may not happen.

Apparently my post was not as clear as I thought. My apologies for that. My BRS reactor has Carbon AND Aquaforest Life Bio Fil (which is a filter media pre-seeded with nitrifying bacteria). It is fed by a maxi jet pump.
My sump also has a fuge with Cheato and a Kessil H80, which is on for 15 hours a day.

Thanks for the replies

 

[zachxlutz]

Apparently my post was not as clear as I thought. My apologies for that. My BRS reactor has Carbon AND Aquaforest Life Bio Fil (which is a filter media pre-seeded with nitrifying bacteria). It is fed by a maxi jet pump.
My sump also has a fuge with Cheato and a Kessil H80, which is on for 15 hours a day.

Thanks for the replies

I see. It sounds like that Life Bio Fil is an efficient product in lowering nitrates for you. Maybe a little TOO efficient!

 

[niQo]

I see. It sounds like that Life Bio Fil is an efficient product in lowering nitrates for you. Maybe a little TOO efficient!

It certainly seems like it!

 

[Cnidoblast]

@Randy Holmes-Farley A bit unrelated but do you think urea would be a way of upping nitrate as it's not subject to some countries regulations on firework components?

 

[wattson]

@Randy Holmes-Farley A bit unrelated but do you think urea would be a way of upping nitrate as it's not subject to some countries regulations on firework components?

would like to see some one dose urea in a separate qt tank first..Im 2 weeks away from my qt/experiemnet tank being close to cycled,,already have reagent grade urea prills reeady to go..
biggest thing is how would you test for Urea?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Some people use and like it. Hans Werner, IIRC

 

[wattson]

Some people use and like it. Hans Werner, IIRC

please elaborate,,especially the testing method for Urea

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Apparently my post was not as clear as I thought. My apologies for that. My BRS reactor has Carbon AND Aquaforest Life Bio Fil (which is a filter media pre-seeded with nitrifying bacteria). It is fed by a maxi jet pump.
My sump also has a fuge with Cheato and a Kessil H80, which is on for 15 hours a day.

Thanks for the replies

I’m not sure why you saw the effect you did unless that media also denitrifies, but Aquaforest does not make that claim that I could see.

 

[niQo]

I’m not sure why you saw the effect you did unless that media also denitrifies, but Aquaforest does not make that claim that I could see.

No, Aquaforest does not make that claim, but I thought that this type of media can denitrify if oxygen is low, which I assume to be the case in a reactor with decently low flow (and perhaps even more so if it only flows for 15 out of 60 minutes). Not sure though, I'm curious what would happen if I make the reactor run 24/7 again, although I do not want to get rid of my NO3 again!