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Parameters (NITRATES???)

erics210

erics210

Secretary
NJRC Member
Hey Everyone,
Been trying to get a read on my numbers.
Since Thanksgiving, I have had a much more steady system
Keeping things at 9.0dKH now.
So just tested again.
Salinity-1.026
Temp-77
Alk- 9.0
Calcium-440
Mag-1260
pH-8.6
Phosphates-0.5
Nitrates-0

Really haven't been testing ammonia or nitrites in a long while.

So Tank seems happy overall. some zoas are slowly shrinking, but other wise really good.
I keep reading a ration of Nitrates of 16:1 Nitrates to Phosphates, with somewhere between 10-20 Nitrates and less than 1 Phosphates.

I was considering starting to dose NeoPhos and NeoNitrate to raise both slightly.
I have been feeding a bunch. Only reason I probably have any phosphates is I did a late night reed roid and pellet feeding around 1am.

Any guidance is appreciated.
Other suggestions?
 
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iTzJu

iTzJu

Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
do you have a more accurate number for your po4? seems a tad high for me if its sitting around 1ppm. Nitrates looks fine to me, anywhere between 5-10 is where i reach for but i don't worry if its a tad higher. I wouldn't add nitrates or po4 right now.
 
erics210

erics210

Secretary
NJRC Member
Just retested again. Keep in mind, I added a scoop of reef roids since I did the test this morning and fed some.
Earlier Nitrates were MUCH more bright yellow and phosphates were brighter. I figure around 0.5 per the chart prior to reef roids. Maybe 1-2 for now.


IMG_20210125_122424011.jpg
IMG_20210125_122408399.jpg
 
erics210

erics210

Secretary
NJRC Member
Plan to take a sample to Iconic after I rest later this week. See what he gets as far as results with the disk reading tester.
 
erics210

erics210

Secretary
NJRC Member
sailfin tang,
blue hippo tang,
yellow tang,
4 large adult clowns,
Fiji coral beauty angel,
Orange Lyertail anthias,
Pair of Cardinals
Fat Goby

Feed a variety.
Little bit of flakes throughout the day, which is a mixture of pellets and actual flakes, Nori Clip once a day.
3 frozen cubes a day around dinner time.
Also do reef roids and another similar about 2x a week. 1/4 teaspoon I think.(1 scoop mixed with tank water and sprayed on different groups of corals.
 
DangerDave

DangerDave

NJRC Member
Based on my experience, I’d say your nitrates are too low. I’m fighting to have any, I’d love to have too much. It’s an easier battle in my view. I’ve had zoas/palys shrink in my system, as I get the nutrients up they tend to do better.

That said, that’s my reef. You mentioned that everything is happy in your reef, so why make changes?
 
Goodair

Goodair

That ratio comes from the Redfield Ratio which applies to phytoplankton, haven't done in depth research into it, but it might or might not apply to the same ratio with other photosynthetic organisms, but would likely be consistant as N gets utilized much more faster than P. If your tank is doing fine, I'd be careful messing with the numbers, or at least adjust them very very slowly. You definitely don't need to add more phosphates though. I got around the same levels as you and my softies/lps/nems are fine, but they just don't grow that rapidly.
 
erics210

erics210

Secretary
NJRC Member
DangerDave said:
Based on my experience, I’d say your nitrates are too low. I’m fighting to have any, I’d love to have too much. It’s an easier battle in my view. I’ve had zoas/palys shrink in my system, as I get the nutrients up they tend to do better.

That said, that’s my reef. You mentioned that everything is happy in your reef, so why make changes?
Click to expand...
Well, when I say Happy. happier than they have been in a long time,
Just got parameters in line, which is so rewarding.
BUT still have some zoas shrinking away to pinheads. Probably starving. Lost some other softies too.
Some people said feed more. Which I have tried. Others said dont do reef roids they are a nitrogen/phosphate bomb.
I am actually thinking of doing reef roids or similar daily in smaller amounts see how that works out OR
ordering the NeoNitro and NeoPhos and dose a little of the NeoNitro daily for a week and see where it gets me.
This way feels better to me, because I could raise the Notrates specifically where as the reef roids jacks up both
 
DangerDave

DangerDave

NJRC Member
It’s all relative. You can use reef roid type foods, but if you use too much too often your nutrients will usually increase quickly. But if that’s what your trying to do here... just dose or feed more slowly and test to see what happens.

I’ve had to increase my nitrate dosing as time has went along. I have a ton of matrix type media in slow flow areas of both sumps, and I think my biological filter capacity has increased as I dosed more. I found that introducing the drained off liquids from the mysis, that I used to discard gives me a quicker result (corals coloring up, opening more) than just dosing nitrates. I’ve been reading about ammonia dosing and how it is more efficient than nitrate dosing (theory is nitrates are the results of the ammonia after the bio filter, and it’s harder for the corals to use nitrate vs ammonia). I’m hesitant to start pouring ammonia in my reef, so the drained mysis liquid is my baby step.

The shrimp go in the dt, the liquid in the frags tanks. Longer story on why, maybe another post lol.
 
D

Deleted member 27248

Guest
My phosphate runs between .1-.25...I dose sodium nitrate to 20-25ppm. Corals and macro grow like crazy.
 
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