Turning off skimmer to raise nitrates?

[mike550]

Hello! A couple of months ago I was pretty close to a rip clean because of a hydroid infestation. Basically, scraped the walls of hydroids, replaced 80%-ish of the water, tossed or cleaned all of the rock with hydrogen peroxide over the course of a few weeks, and really vacuumed the sand. So pretty much rebooted the tank.

Two months into it, I’m hitting the uglies which I pretty much expected. So I just started to add a CUC. But I can’t raise my nitrates / phosphates. My nitrates have been stuck at 0 and phosphates always below 0.1. Tank is a 120G with a very light bio load. All of the coral is in another tank.

Two Questions

1. What would you do to try and raise nitrates? Should I try raising the nitrates with chemicals or just continue to over feed frozen food?

2. Will turning off my skimmer help increase nitrates without creating another issue?

Thanks in advance!

 

[blaxsun]

1. Additives or leave your filter floss/socks in longer between changes.
2. Yes, though you may not see a huge increase (shouldn't be an issues - many of us leave our skimmers off for short durations for cleaning, maintenance, etc.)

 

[Kfactor]

i just had the same problem i turned my skimmer down to run 8 hours a day during the night and just fed more it it seems to be helping . i was at 1 ppb and with in a week i was up around 7 ppb so it seems to be helping am trying not to use any additives to my tank . am trying to keep it simple as possible i dont want to rely on stuff like that

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Yes, removing the skimmer which is a nutrient Exporter by design should leave you more available nitrates, as should leaving filter socks in longer, In theory.

In reality, you are now entering the uglies so you're going to have all sorts of algae using the nitrates up as well.

Before dosing up nitrates, I always recommend to increase feedings first. Well fed fish are more resilient and resistant to disease.

 

[exnisstech]

I have the same issue on a tank that does not run a skimmer and socks get changed when they are overflowing. I dose sodium phosphate and sodium nitrate. I've been dosing it for a few months and levels are starting to stabilize finally and now I'm only dosing phos. I tried "just feed more" and it did not help at all.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Over feed Frozen Cube Food, and feed coral food. It’ll come up

 

[exnisstech]

Over feed Frozen Cube Food, and feed coral food. It’ll come up

I flood my tank so it looks like a snow storm using cubes of a raw seafood mash I make along with PE mysis and plankton. No food is rinsed and levels still bottom out. I also feed reef roids with amino. Everyone says feed more but it just has never helped in my tanks. I have 2 that run low nutrients.

 

[mike550]

@blaxsun @Kfactor @Lost in the Sauce @exnisstech @SteveMM62Reef thanks for your replies. I think I’ll continue to “go slow” by overfeeding and leaving the skimmer off. I can’t do much about socks as I run a fleece filter. I’ll also just continue to clean up the uglies as best I can. Maybe more to follow … we’ll see!

 

[Kfactor]

@blaxsun @Kfactor @Lost in the Sauce @exnisstech @SteveMM62Reef thanks for your replies. I think I’ll continue to “go slow” by overfeeding and leaving the skimmer off. I can’t do much about socks as I run a fleece filter. I’ll also just continue to clean up the uglies as best I can. Maybe more to follow … we’ll see!

can you bypass the reef mat for a few days i find those fleece filters work to good

 

[mike550]

can you bypass the reef mat for a few days i find those fleece filters work to good

I can’t bypass it but could remove it. I’ll consider it as I’ve got other maintenance to do this weekend

 

[FreeEnergyReefer]

Why don't you just dose amino's they'll raise your nitrates,def before I'd overfeed heavily.The skimmer option should work but if your running a refugium take that bad boys offline and watch your levels go up fast. I had all zero's no3 & po4 dosing daily I know the struggle. If you don't have any luck lmk and I'll shoot ya some more ideas

 

[90's reefer]

I would dose no3 and po4. Not sure why so many people are reluctant to do it.
I run 3 systems all heavy in/out.
I dose po4 in 2 systems to keep it between 0 and .1.
My 80g will go to zero if not dosed.
No3 is never higher than 3 but I run a very oversized skimmer on that system.
Imo, dosing no3 and po4 to raise the levels is better than feeding in a new system thats going through the uglies.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I would not stop skimming as it has benefits beyond nutrient control, such as aeration.

I'd either feed more, or dose N in some fashion (nitrate, amino acids, or ammonia).

 

[mike550]

@Randy Holmes-Farley @90's reefer and @FreeEnergyReefer thanks for your replies. Ive never dosed aminos, nitrates, etc. I‘d really appreciate suggestions for products you would recommend. Thanks in advance!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

@Randy Holmes-Farley @90's reefer and @FreeEnergyReefer thanks for your replies. Ive never dosed aminos, nitrates, etc. I‘d really appreciate suggestions for products you would recommend. Thanks in advance!

For nitrate, just use food grade or other high grades of sodium or calcium nitrate. Cheaper than hobby product, and comes with a purity grade that hobby products typically lack.