Where should I keep Nitrates for the best SPS color?

[markalot]

I do from time to time and get a positive response each time. Using CaNO3 because it was on sale at Amazon. I get the best color when Nitrates are 1 to 3 and if my colors go pale I know the Salifert test will be clear instead of a slight pink tint.

[SPS911]

Originally Posted by Peter Eichler

Deeper darker colors, I struggled for years to keep certain corals from being pale and dull when I didn't do water changes weekly. I also had a lot of problems with mesenterial filaments and stress reactions during feeding. Things would get especially bad when I went on vacation and the fish weren't fed as much or as regularly as I fed them. Dosing a nitrogen source seemed to have solved this.

However, recently I've been having similar issues with keeping my PO4 levels detectable and having similar reactions from corals. Whether or not this relates to my dosing nitrates is yet to be determined, but I feel pretty strongly there is a link.

Great thread! After 15 years of SPS keeping, and recently having the exact experience as Peter above, I started dosing stump remover. Before dosing, not matter how much I fed my nitrates were 0 and PO4 was .03. My corals were pale, very little PE during the day, and many were RTNing.

I've only been dosing for a week now but was astonished how quickly some of the SPS responded positively in growth and color, to raising the nitrates to 2.5. The colors have deepened, RTN has ceased, and PE has increased a bit.

I haven't tested PO4 since dosing nitrate, but after reading the comments above, how are people who nitrate dose, increasing PO4? Feeding heavy flake food would be easiest for me. Teach me!

[markalot]

Lots of Flake food and Reef Roids means I'm never short of PO4.

[SPS911]

Originally Posted by markalot

I do from time to time and get a positive response each time. Using CaNO3 because it was on sale at Amazon. I get the best color when Nitrates are 1 to 3 and if my colors go pale I know the Salifert test will be clear instead of a slight pink tint.

Ok easy enough, I'll load up my eheim autofeeder with both

[markalot]

Originally Posted by SPS911

Ok easy enough, I'll load up my eheim autofeeder with both

Be careful and dose in the sump so it dissolves. Too much at once will shock the tank and possibly do great harm. Make sure you know how much you are dosing based on tank volume and if your not sure dose a very small amount and slowly work your way up until you see nitrates a few hours after dosing.

[domik]

By the way, guys. If you are dosing CaNO3, how you calculate the dosing amount?

[Flippers4pups]

i don't know of a calculator for calcium nitrate. Anyone?

[markalot]

Sorry, never answered the question.

I don't. I started with 1/4 teaspoon in the sump and measured nitrates two hours later. Ended up that 1/2 tsp was about right for a single does in my 150 gallons.

Start out slowly and see what happens. In my 40 gallon I dumped 1/2 tsp in to see what happened and everything looked better the next day except the acros ... so I removed the acros. Obviously with sensitive corals you need to go slowly with any change.

[Sand Dollar]

Originally Posted by Flippers4pups

i don't know of a calculator for calcium nitrate. Anyone?

I just started dosing calcium nitrate today, as my skimmer seems to be way too efficient and the denitrification of the sand bed is keeping the tank at undetectable NO3 levels.

I made up a soln of Ca(NO3)2 by dissolving 50g into a 100ml volumetric flask in DI water. This will yield a NO3 concentration of 377850 ppm(mg/L) and a Ca concentration of 122720 ppm.

My tank volume is 135g or 511L. If I add 3mL of the above soln it will raise my NO3 level by 2.2 ppm.

m1v1=m2v2 or (377850ppm NO3)(0.003L)=X(511L), X=2.2 ppm

for Ca...(122720ppm Ca)(0.003L)=X(511L), X=0.7 ppm

Hope this helps. Just fyi, since my tank is mostly sps, I am very cautiously starting with only 1 drop of the above soln per day and monitoring NO3 levels and hoping for deeper coloration.

[jdamon]

Is there a consensus on best time of day to be dosing nitrate? I am also curious as to how long a few hours is for the follow up testing... I waited 2.5 hours after dosing and still got a zero result after adding 1/2tsp CaNO3 to ~140gal. My test kit is expired, so I am not confident in the results, but would still like to know how long everybody waits after dosing to test. I did order a new tester of course . Thanks!

[markalot]

Originally Posted by jdamon

Is there a consensus on best time of day to be dosing nitrate? I am also curious as to how long a few hours is for the follow up testing... I waited 2.5 hours after dosing and still got a zero result after adding 1/2tsp CaNO3 to ~140gal. My test kit is expired, so I am not confident in the results, but would still like to know how long everybody waits after dosing to test. I did order a new tester of course . Thanks!

If you dumped the pellets in you might want to wait a few hours, or it could very well be it wasn't enough of a dose to register.

I usually tested the next day and if the reading was still 0 I would dose the same amount again and test the next day. If after a few days there was still no reading I upped the dose a bit. Even with 140 gallons just a little dosing makes a big difference, even if you can't detect it with a hobby kit. IMO.

[jdamon]

Thanks Mark! What about time of day? Did you always dose at the same time?

[Pife]

Originally Posted by jdamon

Is there a consensus on best time of day to be dosing nitrate? I am also curious as to how long a few hours is for the follow up testing... I waited 2.5 hours after dosing and still got a zero result after adding 1/2tsp CaNO3 to ~140gal. My test kit is expired, so I am not confident in the results, but would still like to know how long everybody waits after dosing to test. I did order a new tester of course . Thanks!

Test several times then? It takes a couple minutes. Maybe it didn't raise your trates. I tested every couple (2) hours one Saturday to try and see when they peeked.

[markalot]

Originally Posted by jdamon

Thanks Mark! What about time of day? Did you always dose at the same time?

I don't think it matters. I usually dose in the evening and test the next day. I would get a new test kit before trying again though, expired test kit might be missing the actual value.

[Sand Dollar]

Wow! I was being way too overly cautious with my dosage regime to raise the nitrates. It's still hard to get my head around adding nitrates to the system. My old tank I ran as a ULNS and it was fine. For what ever reason some of the corals are very pale...especially the Paletta pink tip.

[Trevor40]

I dosed Stump Remover for a few weeks in my 220 gallon and got a lot of algae in the sand. I wonder if it's because its only around 4 months old? I have about 25 acros in there and want to keep the nice coloration they currently have. I only got around .5 nitrates at the highest and the stopped because I don't want too much algae.

[Jfannin]

Going follow along but would really like to see more pics of your guys tanks. Especially when you post that you have better colors and what not. What some people consider good color isn't all that good in reality. Plus noticing a lot of people posting that appear to be new to the hobby according to their join date. Not knocking the idea because im interested and it makes since but just like to see the 10lb BASS instead of just hear another fish story

Just my little thoughts though being the simple kind of guy.
When everyone first started a tank they cycled it. Most often by adding some form of LIVE sand, peace of shrimp or what not to produce waste. That waste (long story short) left use with a cycled balance tank with a little NO3 or real close to zero. Then we add a fish to build a bio load so we can add, add and add (most add to much way to fast)..... Keeping our bio load balanced.
BUT THEN because we all just cant wait to have THANK TANK we want we rush. But also we all like to just buy stuff and then comes the Skimmer, Reactor and so much more in an effort to strop the tank from what we first wanted.

What im getting at is if you want some NO3 stop stripping the tank of it. Turn you skimmer off. Youll have some waste pretty quick from feeding your fish. After some time youll probable what to fead less or turn the skimmer back on a little. If you want PO4 then reduce or remove your GFO. Trust me PO4 will increase. That's why you added the GFO because you tested positive for PO4.

Emerald Crabs eat bubble algae. Forgot who posted the pic but noticed more bubble algae then coral