Will nitrate at 0 cause birdsnest to die?

[Dburr1014]

Could you give more info on the part about Corals don’t need nitrate in the second bullet point? Is this just for SPS corals?

My nitrates were undetectable for a long time so I started dosing nitrates. 10ml a day to keep it between 4 and 5. I always thought it was my back wall full of GSP that was soaking up all the nitrates. At the same time, my phosphates were .42 at the highest. I did water changes and added phosphate remover and now it’s down significantly. It’s been three days since I added fresh phosphate remover so I’m going to test the water now. I’m expecting somewhere in the .1 to .15 range. I will update later.

If coral were given a choice between ammonia/ammonium or nitrates, that would use ammonia/ammonium.
Nitrates are the final product we test for because we can't really test for ammonium.
Coral can use nitrates if no ammonia is available but at a cost of extra energy. They need to convert it back to ammonium to uptake.

I'm also zero nitrate. I feed heavy to a bunch of fish and they feed my coral. I would like to be able to have 1pmm nitrate but it's not happening yet.

 

[Dburr1014]

At the same time, my phosphates were .42 at the highest. I did water changes and added phosphate remover and now it’s down significantly. It’s been three days since I added fresh phosphate remover so I’m going to test the water now. I’m expecting somewhere in the .1 to .15 range. I will update later.

It takes a good while to get phosphate down.
It's locked up in rock and sand.
It will desorb from the rock as the water column lowers.

 

[Badblackdog]

It takes a good while to get phosphate down.
It's locked up in rock and sand.
It will desorb from the rock as the water column lowers.

I must have a good bit of phosphate, locked up in my sand and rock. Thanks for the advice on that.

I put a fresh bag of Phos-guard Monday night, phosphates were .21. Thursday Phosphates tested at .05. I removed the bag of phos-guard Thursday night. I tested again this morning and it was already back up to .15. I am going to put the phosguard back in the tank and keep testing.

 

[Badblackdog]

If coral were given a choice between ammonia/ammonium or nitrates, that would use ammonia/ammonium.
Nitrates are the final product we test for because we can't really test for ammonium.
Coral can use nitrates if no ammonia is available but at a cost of extra energy. They need to convert it back to ammonium to uptake.

I'm also zero nitrate. I feed heavy to a bunch of fish and they feed my coral. I would like to be able to have 1pmm nitrate but it's not happening yet.

Thanks for the explanation about nitrates and ammonium. Do higher nitrates equate to higher ammonium?

 

[Dburr1014]

Thanks for the explanation about nitrates and ammonium. Do higher nitrates equate to higher ammonium?

Nope.
Ammonia(nitrogen) converts to nitrate. Nitrate is what we test. It does tell you you have enough nitrogen in the system.

 

[rishma]

I must have a good bit of phosphate, locked up in my sand and rock. Thanks for the advice on that.

I put a fresh bag of Phos-guard Monday night, phosphates were .21. Thursday Phosphates tested at .05. I removed the bag of phos-guard Thursday night. I tested again this morning and it was already back up to .15. I am going to put the phosguard back in the tank and keep testing.

I’ve been through the yo-yo many times. What I found works best is using a very small amount of phosphate removing media, and let the level drop slow. When the phosphate level stops dropping, I’ll add another very small amount of media.

By taking the time to do it slowly, I find that when I reach my target levels I don’t get the jump back up when I remove the media.