How long does it take pellet food to become NO3/PO4

[vanguard]

I have a 150g tank that's fully cycled. It's 8 months old, I've been carbon dosing for three months, acros are thriving, etc.

Yesterday I was trying to adjust the pellet feeder and I spilled a good cubic inch of pellets, which is far too much. The fish ate until they were full, I removed what I could with a turkey baster, but a LOT escaped.

My NO3/PO4 are normally about 10 and .1. Is 24 hours too soon to test the impact of my spill?

 

[Dan_P]

I have a 150g tank that's fully cycled. It's 8 months old, I've been carbon dosing for three months, acros are thriving, etc.

Yesterday I was trying to adjust the pellet feeder and I spilled a good cubic inch of pellets, which is far too much. The fish ate until they were full, I removed what I could with a turkey baster, but a LOT escaped.

My NO3/PO4 are normally about 10 and .1. Is 24 hours too soon to test the impact of my spill?

You might never see a nitrate increase in that large of an aquarium. Here is a way to estimate the damage.

To figure out the maximum nitrate possible from the spill, estimate the grams of fish pellets lost and multiply by the percent protein content of the product and divide by 100 to get the g of protein. Multiply this by 0.16 (protein is about 16% nitrogen) to get g of nitrogen. Multiply this result by 4 to obtain the grams of nitrate. Multiply this number by 1000 to get milligrams of nitrate. Divide this result by the liters of water in your aquarium to get ppm nitrate.

 

[randomfishdude]

I doubt you will if you have alot of coral. I spilled a crap more on several occasions. Once when I had dinos it brought po4 to .32 and dropped to .22 in a day(where it settled) now I have a slightly larger tank and much more established did the same thing 2twice in one week and no change in perams.

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

You might never see a nitrate increase in that large of an aquarium. Here is a way to estimate the damage.

To figure out the maximum nitrate possible from the spill, estimate the grams of fish pellets lost and multiply by the percent protein content of the product and divide by 100 to get the g of protein. Multiply this by 0.16 (protein is about 16% nitrogen) to get g of nitrogen. Multiply this result by 4 to obtain the grams of nitrate. Multiply this number by 1000 to get milligrams of nitrate. Divide this result by the liters of water in your aquarium to get ppm nitrate.

That’s intense.

You’ll be fine.

 

[Lavey29]

Pellet food raises phosphate much more so then nitrates. I doubt you will see any noticeable changes in your system.

 

[Miami Reef]

That’s intense.

You’ll be fine.

Haha. I agree. My head exploded lol.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I have a 150g tank that's fully cycled. It's 8 months old, I've been carbon dosing for three months, acros are thriving, etc.

Yesterday I was trying to adjust the pellet feeder and I spilled a good cubic inch of pellets, which is far too much. The fish ate until they were full, I removed what I could with a turkey baster, but a LOT escaped.

My NO3/PO4 are normally about 10 and .1. Is 24 hours too soon to test the impact of my spill?

I don’t think you’ll have a huge spike in nutrients, but my best guess for a timeline to retest is about 5-7 days.

 

[vanguard]

Thanks for the replies. 5-7 days longer than I expected so I'm glad I asked. Our water change is Monday and the protein skimmer removed a lot more than normal last night. Those things will reduce the impact.

I think you guys are right, I'm probably over thinking it. Still, we'll test it and make sure it's all good. If it's fine next weekend, it's in the past.

 

[GARRIGA]

I've seen uneaten pellets to the extent probably there months considering how much was still in the system. Might be the preservatives.

 

[taricha]

@Dan_P I occasionally find it interesting how people measure NO3 and PO4 and argue about such measurements but almost nobody puts their food on a scale, multiplies by the label values for protein and phosphorus and calculates their PO4 and NO3 inputs to the system.
They just say they "feed heavy" or "feed light"

I find it interesting because people often assume that hobbyists feed similarly, but we don't. I've calculated some people's N inputs are maybe 10x bigger in mg/L than others and almost nobody bothers to quantify it.
And they assume they feed similar inputs when they switch from one kind of food to another. Again - often not true.

 

[vanguard]

They just say they "feed heavy" or "feed light"

Oh man, I couldn't agree more. My wife and I learn a lot from R2R and youtube.

When it comes to light, the hobby has a pretty good vocabulary. We talk about spectrum, PAR, duration, etc. I can set up my lights and feel pretty good about the fact that we're in the middle of the "happy place".

When it comes to flow, ugh, who knows? Nobody says a coral needs about 3 centimeters per second. They just say, "high, medium, or low" flow. It's nearly meaningless. I've blown the flesh off or corals and I've gone too low on flow because flow is poorly explained.

The same is true for food. People feed "heavy or light" but it's really tricky to know what that means. If they just said how many frozen cubes they used it would help me a lot.

 

[Miami Reef]

almost nobody puts their food on a scale, multiplies by the label values for protein and phosphorus and calculates their PO4 and NO3 inputs to the system.
They just say they "feed heavy" or "feed light"

I feel like it would be more common practice if there was a nutrition label that uses calories, nitrates, and phosphates based on a standard 2,000 calorie diet lol

But seriously, there’s gotta be a calculator for Dan’s formula above. It’s a lot to take in for me.

 

[Dan_P]

@Dan_P I occasionally find it interesting how people measure NO3 and PO4 and argue about such measurements but almost nobody puts their food on a scale, multiplies by the label values for protein and phosphorus and calculates their PO4 and NO3 inputs to the system.
They just say they "feed heavy" or "feed light"

I find it interesting because people often assume that hobbyists feed similarly, but we don't. I've calculated some people's N inputs are maybe 10x bigger in mg/L than others and almost nobody bothers to quantify it.
And they assume they feed similar inputs when they switch from one kind of food to another. Again - often not true.

The scientific method is an acquired taste

 

[Dan_P]

I feel like it would be more common practice if there was a nutrition label that uses calories, nitrates, and phosphates based on a standard 2,000 calorie diet lol

But seriously, there’s gotta be a calculator for Dan’s formula above. It’s a lot to take in for me.

Yes, a calculator would be better than my ham-handed explanation.

 

[Reefer Matt]

Yes, a calculator would be better than my ham-handed explanation.

It’s not hard to follow, imo. However I prefer formulas to help visualize the equation. Story problems aren’t everyone’s forte with math. I’m gonna try this tonight with the flakes I use. My nitrates are always 25 ppm or higher. Thanks!

 

[taricha]

But seriously, there’s gotta be a calculator for Dan’s formula above. It’s a lot to take in for me.

give it a look...

How much NO3 and PO4 do you feed in a day? (Plug in your feeding and find out)

Occasionally it's come up that people often test, share, and compare their numbers on nitrate and phosphate tests of their aquarium water, but when talking about feeding, the discussions are much less quantifiable: "Light" "heavy" "a small pinch of this and a fat pinch of that". For some...

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