Nitrates stuck at 0

[Fishy_mcfish]

My nitrates have been stuck at 0 for some time now. I double checked with a different test kit as well and that came back as 0 as well. Only way I can raise them is dosing Neo nitro. My phosphate levels are .15 and were checked with a Hannah ulr.

System is a 40 gal breeder with a sump. I have chaeto in the sump. I unplugged skimmer a few weeks ago to see if it would make a difference but it hasn’t . I do have some algae growing on rocks and on the glass. It takes it a few days to grow back on the glass enough to notice it.

Corals seems to be doing ok but they aren’t growing really. My zoas have been the same amount of polyps on each one for quite awhile. LPS corals look fine but aren’t really growing.

Alk is always at 7.3 or 7.4 but that’s a whole different issue and not related to the imbalance between the nitrate and phosphate levels.

Anyone have any insight or suggestions on how to correct these issues?

 

[eliaslikesfish]

what is your stocking list?
what do you feed and how much and how often do you feed?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

How old is the tank? A tank pic will really help generate some comments.

What kind of lights and flow do you have on the tank?

Do you dose anything? The alk is lower than I would want it.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Yep, your ALK is low. I'd aim for 9 or 10. Also, what are your parameters? Specifically Mag and Ca? Here is a list of information that should be included

Aquarium Parameters:
Aquarium type: Reef, Fish-only, Quarantine tank
Aquarium water volume
Filtration type
Lighting
How long has the aquarium been established?
Digital image of the whole aquarium under white light

Water quality (be sure to indicate what measurement units you are using, as well as the test kit brand)
Temperature
pH:
Salinity / specific gravity
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
Phosphorus
Copper
Other

In-depth information:
Have you lost any fish to this problem yet? (see below)
Are any invertebrates affected?
Respiration rate of affected fish (in gill beats per minutes, count for 15 seconds and multiply by 4)
Are the affected fish still feeding?
What remedies have you tried so far?
Digital image of the fish with the health issue, taken under white light -
- if needed, indicate by drawing a line around the area in question.
A short video of the fish (linked YouTube videos work well) - this is perhaps the best information that you can supply, as long as the video is clear.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I would say something but I feel like Pharmrjohn kinda covered everything, haha. Follow his recommendations!

 

[elysics]

If your "some algae" isnt covering the entire rock and resembling more of an algae tank, then dosing nitrate on its own should be fine to make sure the corals do t starve and help phosphate goe down slowly. Could also directly attack the phosphate with absorbers instead.

That will get rid of the imbalance but not the nutrient limitation, for that you might want to get more cleaning crew depending on how much "some algae" is and eventually turn down the light period on the chaeto (after the imbalance is fixed)

 

[Fishy_mcfish]

what is your stocking list?
what do you feed and how much and how often do you feed?

I have a Kole tang, a pair of clowns, a watchman goby and a pj cardinal. I feed almost every day, usually one frozen cube sometimes 2 cubes a day.

 

[Fishy_mcfish]

How old is the tank? A tank pic will really help generate some comments.

What kind of lights and flow do you have on the tank?

Do you dose anything? The alk is lower than I would want it.

I’ve had the tank for about 4 months. I bought the setup from someone who had it running for over a year. I have a Reefbreeder photon for lighting. One jeabo slw20 for flow other then the return nozzle. I just started dosing Red Sea AB+ a few weeks ago and I dose the neo nitro to get nitrates up.

 

[elysics]

Do you thaw and rinse the frozen cubes or just throw them in? Low quality frozen food, especially the water that makes up the cube around the actual food, can be heavy in phosphate and cause imbalances like this

I have a Kole tang, a pair of clowns, a watchman goby and a pj cardinal. I feed almost every day, usually one frozen cube sometimes 2 cubes a day.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I’ve had the tank for about 4 months. I bought the setup from someone who had it running for over a year. I have a Reefbreeder photon for lighting. One jeabo slw20 for flow other then the return nozzle. I just started dosing Red Sea AB+ a few weeks ago and I dose the neo nitro to get nitrates up.

Personally I feel you have low flow, my 40 breeder has 2 gyres along with the return. Higher flow will also help with that algae that is growing on the glass.

I'm not familiar with your light, but you might want to consider to rent a par meter. I think the light and flow are affecting your coral growth, so spend some time analyzing this.

A pic would be great, I am confused by your low nitrate, yet you have chaeto in the fuge and algae growing in the tank. It doesn't add up, I need a visual.

 

[Fishy_mcfish]

All fish and inverts are fine. They don’t show any signs of stress or have any physical spots or marks on them. They eat well and are active and swimming normally.
Salinity is at 1.026
Tank temp 77.5-78
I use the Hannah checkers for phosphate , nitrates and alk. I did have some API test kits for ammonia and nitrite but I’ll have to double check and see if I still have those. I might of given them away.
As far as filtration goes I have a skimmer, and chaeto in my sump. I use the pillow stuffing stuff to filter the water before return pump section. I did have a small bag of rowaphos in the sump as well and I took it out yesterday. I unplugged the skimmer a week ago to see if it would help raise the nitrates. Nitrates and phosphates have stayed the same since then though

 

[Fishy_mcfish]

Personally I feel you have low flow, my 40 breeder has 2 gyres along with the return. Higher flow will also help with that algae that is growing on the glass.

I'm not familiar with your light, but you might want to consider to rent a par meter. I think the light and flow are affecting your coral growth, so spend some time analyzing this.

A pic would be great, I am confused by your low nitrate, yet you have chaeto in the fuge and algae growing in the tank. It doesn't add up, I need a visual.

What size gyre are you using on your 40 breeder? I have a maxspect gyre 2k laying around but fell like that would be way to much for the 40? I’ll get a pic when the lights come on in a little bit.

 

[Fishy_mcfish]

Full tank shot I had on my phone. I’ll have to get a close up of the algae problem once the lights come on today. But the main spot that had algae is in the upper right side of tank in between the orange monti cap and hammer to the left of it . It’s growing upward kinda like hair algae but it doesn’t look like hair algae to me.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The tank looks very nice.
I use 2 2k icecaps gyres, both running at 40%. But my tank is full of rock and coral so I push flow harder, your scape is more open so water flows easier.

 

[Fishy_mcfish]

The tank looks very nice.
I use 2 2k icecaps gyres, both running at 40%. But my tank is full of rock and coral so I push flow harder, your scape is more open so water flows easier.

Thank you. It’s a hot mess as I like to call it haha. I need to get things organized and have been thinking of adding a few pieces of rock in the front to get corals out of the sand bed .
The tank already had a Fiji cube 400 gph overflow on it so that limits how high I can run my return pump. Ideally I’d like to run my return pump higher to get more flow through the tank but the over flow can’t handle to much. I’ve toyed with the idea of adding the 1200 gph overflow to it in place of the current one but that would involve a lot of working draining the tank and removing everything. So since I’d have to do all that work I’ve been considering just finding a 60-80 gal seapora frag tank and setting it up as a shallow reef.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

First, 7.3 dKH is not low. it is well above natural levels and it is fine to keep it at 7 dKH.

My suggestion in this scenario is to dose N in some fashion, either nitrate (food grade sodium or calcium nitrate) or ammonium (food grade ammonium chloride or bicarbonate), or perhaps an amino acid supplement.
I can provide recipes and calculators, if you elect this route.

 

[Fishy_mcfish]

First, 7.3 dKH is not low. it is well above natural levels and it is fine to keep it at 7 dKH.

My suggestion in this scenario is to dose N in some fashion, either nitrate (food grade sodium or calcium nitrate) or ammonium (food grade ammonium chloride or bicarbonate), or perhaps an amino acid supplement.
I can provide recipes and calculators, if you elect this route.

I’ve started dosing neo nitro but if you have other options I could use to raise nitrates I’m all ears! Should I also try to get phosphates down at the same time or get the nitrates raised and then see where the phosphate levels are once nitrates are stabilized?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’ve started dosing neo nitro but if you have other options I could use to raise nitrates I’m all ears! Should I also try to get phosphates down at the same time or get the nitrates raised and then see where the phosphate levels are once nitrates are stabilized?

Neonitro may be fine, but it isn't my recommendation due to high cost, lack of purity assurance, and poor directions.

I wouldn't do anything about phosphate, at least until you see if it drops after a while of having more N available.

I'm also becoming more and more convinced that dosing ammonium is better than dosing nitrate based on folks experiences.

 

[Fishy_mcfish]

Neonitro may be fine, but it isn't my recommendation due to high cost, lack of purity assurance, and poor directions.

I wouldn't do anything about phosphate, at least until you see if it drops after a while of having more N available.

I'm also becoming more and more convinced that dosing ammonium is better than dosing nitrate based on folks experiences.

I was just telling my wife last night I have to figure something else out because long term it’s going to cost to much to continue using neo nitro

 

[Fishy_mcfish]

These are the problem areas.