Hanna have a new Nitrate test kit which is much simpler and returns a broader range so worth checking out. Quote of this episode: “Oh Shit what happened to that Blasto?! Ok anyways“ 🤣 keep up the great content March!
The bacteria approach is interesting..I read Aquaforest NP Pro, produces bacteria that eats the nitrates and then corals eat the bacteria, it isn't the skimmer that removes them, thus allowing the corals to colour up and grow as well. Haven't seen anyone dive into the topic in more detail, but the bacteria approach seems logical and clean
@@ericsfishingadventures4433 isn't Dr Tim's just for cycling and balancing bacteria that uses ammonia in the tank. He covers nitrate consuming bacteria too?
I’ll take nigh nitrates over high po4 anyday. Phospates are the real killer. I have found that you can bottom out po4 and as long as no3 is ok you won’t get Dino. It’s a tight line to walk but I don’t mind no3. No3 is a bitch to drop though and the best way I know is big water changes unlike po4 we have some good options and most almost work too well but no3 is tricky. Don’t sweat it if you are less than 15
Wayne rock: I agree I’ll take high nitrates all day , my nitrates runs at 40, but phosphate I can’t fuck with it’s a killer and I’ve lost a lot of corals because of high phosphate. That’s a struggle for me with my tank right now is keeping it low. Any suggestions?
@@chefjoel21 I always have had kept a bag of chemipure elite in the sump and it has GFO but a small amount of it. It drops higher levels and keeps it low without dropping it too fast like if you where using straight GFO. It might take a few months to get it where you want it but it’s much more gentle on the corals. I change the bag out about every 2 months to keep it working well. Po4 stays at .003 doing this. It also has carbon as a plus but that exhaust it’s self usually before the 1 month mark but the GFO keeps going. It will not effect NO3 which is probably a good thing because you don’t have to worry about both going too low. NO3 is kept in check with ZEOBAK. I use a couple drops every couple weeks. That’s essentially carbon dosing but once again on a smaller scale. There are many other options for carbon dosing of course but I don’t sweat the NO3 till it’s 15+. I wish I could post a tank shot so you can see how my tank looks and you know I am not Bull shitting you. You can always look on R2R under my name if you wanna see what I got
zeolit rocks in reactor works amazing. zeolit removes amonia that cant be broken down to nitrate and it keeps the for rising and if you add refugium macro algae will remove existing nitrate. i used that formula on my skimmer less reef until i switched for skimmer. i switched to skimmer just to raise my ph. now i need to dose nitrate and i needed to dose nitrate when i used zeolit and refugium method
Hi March, im interested to know how you maintain the specific gravity level in your tanks when you are constantly removing water when sales are made. Are the tanks topped off with salt water or RODI which would have the affect of lowering SG?
My nitrates run 30 and po4 0.03. I have a 20 gallon water box with 4 fish. Everything looks good and I do a 20% water change every Sunday. What are your thoughts on running a refugium in the middle chamber?
It crazy I been seeing the opposite lately with people running high nutrient tanks with crazy success… seems like the low nutrient days are over with .. the color and growth in high nitrate and phos tanks are crazy
Only thing you'll get with high phosphates is terrible algae. Best way to increase your phosphates? Use tap water. You'll have 95% less nuisance algae by starting your tank and maintaining it with RODI.
Don't forget that marine fish excrete ammonia through their respiratory process, quite a bit more than most people actually understand or even know about, just a quick tip.
When I used cotton gauze pad as mechanical filtration for my pico the nitrate was almost always zero. But the ph was always low. Until a day I realized how cutton breaking down by bacteria actually inadvertently act as carbon dosing. The lowering effect happens in three days when new cutton filter was added. But I have to stop using it because it really brings down the ph and end up killing acropora. And other corals don't grow either except for montiporas.
So I need HELP PLEASE.. I inherited a very advanced reef tank from my dad when he passed in 2020 .. it basically self maintained up until a couple months ago when power went out due to storm then not too long after that prob a month +/- My robot vac ran over the power strip and everything was off overnight we lost a lot of our fish with this nitrate spike we were left with our Nemo fish and during a 90% h20 chg found the sea cucumber ... we have mushrooms and some anenamie (i believe thier called the nemo home and similar to the mushrooms) sorry I'm still learning.... but since the 90% h20 chg I've been religiously cleanin the sand and doing that with recycling the tanks own water & using the nitrate treatment solution per its suggested schedule as I'm not confident doin full h20 chgs myself yet... yesterday my sea cucumber came out of the sand and now is super tiny not moving on the top of the sand in the corner of the tank... pls help how do I get these nitrates back down asap I do not want to loose this tank 😢
Mines sitting at 40ppm so I started up my fuge with some chaeto to help bring them back down, I have to do a water change later too. I have some GHA on my rocks but it’s starting to clear up now.
@@Messier87_M87 no, all my corals are bright and they seem to be thriving and growing, two of my large frogspawn colonies have splitting heads and new branches growing.
My nitrates are 0, phosphates .02, tanks 10 weeks old no water change since set up, 15 fish, 20 snails, 1 long spine urchin and a starfish. I used 80 maxspec bio balls that were from my old old system, 3 bottles of dr Tim’s one and only. I did a fish/dr Tim’s cycling with mollys. Ugly stage lasted a week.
I have found that low nitrates can make your phosphates stay elevated even as you carbon dose. Nitrates help in phosphate reduction, at least, naturally using bacteria. If you use a media then you are doing it chemically and nitrates are irrelevant to the process.
Are you like in my mind dude?! Like most of your videos when you release them..are things I am going through WTF! Or maybe it is because I just started a new tank and your videos are just timely as you are also running new tanks...but f*** it! I'll go with you in my mind.
