Nitrates extremely low in my coral QT

[afternoondelight]

Been having some algae problems in my coral QT and finally got rid of the majority of it yesterday. What a PITA! I am running a fishless QT to make sure I don't inadvertently bring any fish diseases into my DT when I transfer the coral. That said, I'm sure a tang or some other algae-eating fish would certainly help (and probably help with the chronically LOW nitrate levels). I do have some snails and small hermits and I have been feeding (probably more than I should) in an attempt to raise the. Nitrate. Both NO3 and PO4 are basically 0.0 Most of the frags are doing pretty good. I do think I lost a branching chalice...it went from pink and vibrant looking to white in a matter of days.

A couple of my zoa frags and a green implosion paly frag don't look as good as before, but I cleaned them up good and scrubbed them with a soft brush and a little peroxide to kill the algae. Hopefully they will recover.

Any help on the NO3 and PO4 front would be appreciated. My other parameters are fine and certainly within acceptable limits. I have a huge pod population and I manually dose phyto on days when I am home. I'm not sure why I can't get the NO3 to come up. I may have to break down and put a fish in there!

Help a newbie out please!

 

[Uncle99]

You can easily dose up your nitrate with something like neo-nitro. Same with phosphate as the need arises.

I’d need to do this once in a while.

 

[afternoondelight]

Thanks I will check it out...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Instead of neonitro, I recommend any of food grade ammonium bicarbonate, ammonium chloride, sodium nitrate, or calcium nitrate. All are less expensive than neonitro and have a purity assurance the neonitro lacks.

For phosphate I recommend food grade sodium phosphate (mono, di or tri sodium are all fine, but not sodium tripolyphosphate).

For a regular reef tank, I think ammonium bicarbonate is the best bet, but in a frag tank you will have to monitor ammonia for a bit.

 

[afternoondelight]

Thanks Randy

 

[afternoondelight]

Do you guys think the algae sucked all the NO3 and PO4 out? Could the phyto and pods be effecting the numbers? I am new to the reef tank world and have about $2000 worth of fraga in the QT and definitely don't want to lose any more of them....

For reference: my tank is a 17.7 rimless with a HOB filter (rated for 35 gallons) running charcoal and floss/foam in it currently (due to what I perceived was a bacterial bloom) an AI Nero 3 power head, AI Prime light and keep the temp right around 80F. As I said earlier, the other parameters look solid.

Been doing some hefty water changes lately (10-20%) as I have been scraping the algae off the glass and trying to vacuum up all the debris from below the frag racks. Been a veritable $hitshow lately....lol.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Do you guys think the algae sucked all the NO3 and PO4 out? Could the phyto and pods be effecting the numbers? I am new to the reef tank world and have about $2000 worth of fraga in the QT and definitely don't want to lose any more of them....

For reference: my tank is a 17.7 rimless with a HOB filter (rated for 35 gallons) running charcoal and floss/foam in it currently (due to what I perceived was a bacterial bloom) an AI Nero 3 power head, AI Prime light and keep the temp right around 80F. As I said earlier, the other parameters look solid.

Been doing some hefty water changes lately (10-20%) as I have been scraping the algae off the glass and trying to vacuum up all the debris from below the frag racks. Been a veritable $hitshow lately....lol.

Algae can suck up nutrients in a tank.

 

[East1]

Instead of neonitro, I recommend any of food grade ammonium bicarbonate, ammonium chloride, sodium nitrate, or calcium nitrate. All are less expensive than neonitro and have a purity assurance the neonitro lacks.

For phosphate I recommend food grade sodium phosphate (mono, di or tri sodium are all fine, but not sodium tripolyphosphate).

For a regular reef tank, I think ammonium bicarbonate is the best bet, but in a frag tank you will have to monitor ammonia for a bit.

Second this, I strongly prefer ammonium over nitrate and bicarbonate is a lot easier to use than chloride without causing imbalances in kH.

it's most likely just the corals growing that's sucking the nutrients down. As the corals start to get limited then other algaes etc will take over till the nutrient levels favor the corals again.

 

[afternoondelight]

Are there standard dosing rates for ammonium bicarbonate and the sodium phosphate for my little 17.7 gallon tank?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Are there standard dosing rates for ammonium bicarbonate and the sodium phosphate for my little 17.7 gallon tank?

No standard dosing rate, since it is tied to consumption of a given tank, but there are recipe threads and calculators.

here's the ammonium thread:

DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

Some reef aquaria have chronic low nitrogen availability. One indicator is very low nitrate. Nitrate dosing is a fine remedy, but it is possible that ammonia dosing may be more beneficial for some organisms since ammonia can be energetically easier to assimilate than is nitrate. For this...

www.reef2reef.com

For sodium phosphate, use this calculator and the entry for phosphate from potassium phosphate.

I'd start with 0.03 ppm per day and see what happens.

James' Planted Tank - Dosing Calculator

www.theplantedtank.co.uk