nitrates and sps
- Thread starter Jmcdaniel0
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Steve Dillon
Valuable Member
What's not to say that the Vodka isnt feeding a unknown source of nitrates... I have both bubble algea and hair algeas in my tank.. its thriving.. i have a 250 gph pump and a 150 gph powerhead pointing across 25 gallons of water.. calcium is 440. Salinty is 1.025. Mag is 1320 ph 8.2-8.4 nitrates at 10ppm
Steve Dillon
Valuable Member
But you have sps. Right?
Yes. SPS & LPS. As far as I know, acetic acid and/or ethanol only energize bacteria, which in turn eat NO3 and PO4. The vodka is to bacteria what light is to algae, and the both bind up nutrients for manual removal.
My pH runs a little low due to the CO2 and my Ca reactor, usually 7.8-8.0. This probably makes things even more cyano friendly.
My pH runs a little low due to the CO2 and my Ca reactor, usually 7.8-8.0. This probably makes things even more cyano friendly.
I never saw a decrease in cyano with elevated ph.
Steve Dillon
Valuable Member
I wish I could remember what I did.. I know I lived in Knoxville. Did you fill it completely with r
R/O water?
R/O water?
kewadiak
New Member
Okay so if your test kits read zero both on nitrate and phos with the red sea pro test kits but your tank has algae and some hair algae you really don't have a nutrient deficient tank and phos? So what steps do you take do you dose nitrate for the corals even tho you have algae? Do you still run gfo? I Defiantly need some help and understanding in this area my test kits always say zero but yet i have some algae and the algae is not out of control. I feel like my lps are starving as they have tissue recession. If you run your sps tanks with nitrate how do you not have algae?
This is also my refugium and that ball of chato is two months old wont grow?
This is also my refugium and that ball of chato is two months old wont grow?
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If the red sea phosphate test reads 0 then your testing wrong. I always get a 0.06 reading no matter what. I tested distilled water and it came out 0.06. What is happening is the algae is consuming the phosphate and nitrate and it's not free anymore. The best thing to do if you have hair algae is to use phosphate removing media and manually remove as much as you can. It may take a while for it to all disappear because the phosphate can be leaching out of the rock.Okay so if your test kits read zero both on nitrate and phos with the red sea pro test kits but your tank has algae and some hair algae you really don't have a nutrient deficient tank and phos? So what steps do you take do you dose nitrate for the corals even tho you have algae? Do you still run gfo? I Defiantly need some help and understanding in this area my test kits always say zero but yet i have some algae and the algae is not out of control. I feel like my lps are starving as they have tissue recession. If you run your sps tanks with nitrate how do you not have algae?
This is also my refugium and that ball of chato is two months old wont grow?
kewadiak
New Member
Thank you i will fire up the media reactor. I just use them to look pretty! With the hannah ulr i checked it 3 times got 9ppb 4ppb then zero? I started my tank 2 years ago with 150 pounds of macro rocks and alway had algae. so basically I will run gfo until my tank has zero algae? What about nitrates just leave them alone considering i don't really have zero?
.AcroKiller.
2500 Club Member
I was having issues with extremely pale acros my nitrates reading was undetectable and my phosphates reading was .03.
Even by feeding heavy I could never register nitrates and my phosphates would go up to .08 and still my acros never show any signs of color.
I then started adding potassium nitrates keeping my nitrate reading at around .50 and almost immediately the acros started looking better.
I been dosing potassium nitrates for about 2 month I think now and I'm only dosing 10 ml of my mixture a week to keep my nitrates between .25 and .50 if I don't dose it in a week my nitrates go back down to zero.
Keep in mind I do have a 200 gallon rated skimmer on a 70 total gallons of water volume. And I do have a bare tank. But I do have 10 fish that get fed 3 times a day.
Even by feeding heavy I could never register nitrates and my phosphates would go up to .08 and still my acros never show any signs of color.
I then started adding potassium nitrates keeping my nitrate reading at around .50 and almost immediately the acros started looking better.
I been dosing potassium nitrates for about 2 month I think now and I'm only dosing 10 ml of my mixture a week to keep my nitrates between .25 and .50 if I don't dose it in a week my nitrates go back down to zero.
Keep in mind I do have a 200 gallon rated skimmer on a 70 total gallons of water volume. And I do have a bare tank. But I do have 10 fish that get fed 3 times a day.
If you really want to you can dose potassium nitrate or calcium nitrate. I tried to find any other way to add nitrate naturally before I started dosing potassium nitrate. In my case it was a huge mistake because I over overfed and overstocked for a long time before dosing. All it accomplished for me was raising phosphates. Your tank is showing signs of having nitrate but it's being used by the algae. In my case I didn't even skim and sps would not grow and had pale colors. Algae would not grow either and I knew there had to be some phosphate in there because I was feeding 8 times per day. I wasn't just feeding enough for the fish to eat in a minute.
.AcroKiller.
2500 Club Member
I started November 25th and things started looking ok right away but this month is when I notice the most drastic changes.
When I first started dosing it most of the corals got a little dark but I waited it out and like I said before this month things are looking amazing.
When dosing the potassium nitrate does it need to be introduced slowly or does it not matter?
.AcroKiller.
2500 Club Member
Slowly and test
.AcroKiller.
2500 Club Member
Potassium nitrate will rise your nitrates fast
Pfisherman
Active Member
This is a crazy thread. I need to say to people that make three or four posts in a row one thing, quit. Eventually you will get your post count up by contributing info and asking questions.
Anyway...
I don't think you are wrong, but you couldn't possibly test for "negative" nutrients. This would literally be testing how hungry your tank is and if you could engineer that you would revolutionize reefing. The truth is that people are always more worried about nutrient export and keeping it out and people forget corals live off algae and algae needs poop. Throw out your chaeto, that's your first step to making more available food.
Also vodka dosing is notorious for fueling cyanobacteria outbreaks.
Anyway...
Measuring "free" nitrates only tells us what is left after the tank uses what it needs, not what the tank is producing.
If you have a thriving colorful tank and it always measures 0 nitrates your tank could be producing and consuming huge amounts of nitrates you will never see on a test kit.
The problem is our test will not measure a lack of or negative nitrates, so if you measure zero nitrates you are left guessing whether your tank is producing and consuming what it needs or your tank is lacking in nitrates.
Maintaining a positive reading confirms there is enough nitrates. Is there any advantage to having a surplus of nitrates, 2ppm, 5ppm? I do not know ?
This is only my interpretation of the information I have read and I am in no way an expert,...please correct me if I am wrong.
I don't think you are wrong, but you couldn't possibly test for "negative" nutrients. This would literally be testing how hungry your tank is and if you could engineer that you would revolutionize reefing. The truth is that people are always more worried about nutrient export and keeping it out and people forget corals live off algae and algae needs poop. Throw out your chaeto, that's your first step to making more available food.
Also vodka dosing is notorious for fueling cyanobacteria outbreaks.
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