Dawn's natural nutrient reef garden

vlangel · Oct 19, 2024

twentyleagues said:
Finally watched it. Great job! Nice update.

Thank you!

vlangel · 2024-10-30T20:57:45-0400

Something happen today that I don't think has ever happened to me before in any of my reefs of the last 25 years...my nitrates bottomed out!!!

A local reef keeper who got nems from me asked what I kept my nitrates and phosphates at. So I tested for the first time in 6+ months. For years my nitrates have been 30 ppm and phosphates are around .25 ppm. Well the phosphates were about the same but the nitrates were undetectable. I was floored. I have 8 fish (6 medium size, 2 smaller) in an 75 gallon system. I feed heavy, 2 meals of flake/pellets and 1 frozen every day. I have not done a water change in 6 months. I do not use socks, or a skimmer or any reactors or vodka dosing. I do have a DSB in both the display and the sump and both tanks have macroalgae. That was astounding to me and so I am dosing
B-ionics nitrates. Everything still looks good so they should be okay until I can get the nitrates back up.

twentyleagues · 2024-10-31T06:58:19-0400

vlangel said:
Something happen today that I don't think has ever happened to me before in any of my reefs of the last 25 years...my nitrates bottomed out!!!

A local reef keeper who got nems from me asked what I kept my nitrates and phosphates at. So I tested for the first time in 6+ months. For years my nitrates have been 30 ppm and phosphates are around .25 ppm. Well the phosphates were about the same but the nitrates were undetectable. I was floored. I have 8 fish (6 medium size, 2 smaller) in an 75 gallon system. I feed heavy, 2 meals of flake/pellets and 1 frozen every day. I have not done a water change in 6 months. I do not use socks, or a skimmer or any reactors or vodka dosing. I do have a DSB in both the display and the sump and both tanks have macroalgae. That was astounding to me and so I am dosing
B-ionics nitrates. Everything still looks good so they should be okay until I can get the nitrates back up.

You retested that 0 reading test right? Just in case.

vlangel · 2024-10-31T11:36:29-0400

twentyleagues said:
You retested that 0 reading test right? Just in case.

Ya know, I definitely should have but I didn't. I tested this morning after dosing 3 ml of the B-ionics nitrate last night. I tested again this morning and I might be at 1 ppm! So I believe that it was accurate because at the dose I added the B-ionics nitrate it was suppose to increase the nitrates by 1 ppm. So I need to add 3 ml per day until I get to the desired nitrate level, which for me is around 20 ppm. I will probably dose 5 days, then let the tank settle a couple days then dose 5 days again so as to not raise the nitrates too fast. I should probably consider a couple more fish which I have been thinking anyway. Some cardinal fish would be nice and I would love a group of Barnacle blennies if I can find them.

Also today I am trading coral with a friend and I will have them test my water too just as a precaution.

twentyleagues · 2024-10-31T11:40:16-0400

vlangel said:
Ya know, I definitely should have but I didn't. I tested this morning after dosing 3 ml of the B-ionics nitrate last night. I tested again this morning and I might be at 1 ppm! So I believe that it was accurate because at the dose I added the B-ionics nitrate it was suppose to increase the nitrates by 1 ppm. So I need to add 3 ml per day until I get to the desired nitrate level, which for me is around 20 ppm. I will probably dose 5 days, then let the tank settle a couple days then dose 5 days again so as to not raise the nitrates too fast. I should probably consider a couple more fish which I have been thinking anyway. Some cardinal fish would be nice and I would love a group of Barnacle blennies if I can find them.

Also today I am trading coral with a friend and I will have them test my water too just as a precaution.

Large growth spurt from anything? out of the normal?

vlangel · 2024-10-31T11:41:23-0400

Here is how the tank looks today so I am not panicking.

vlangel · 2024-10-31T11:43:17-0400

twentyleagues said:
Large growth spurt from anything? out of the normal?

It's probably the ulva. I know it can really suck the nutrients up but I let it grow a little more because I am giving some macros away to another reef keeper.

twentyleagues · 2024-10-31T11:45:36-0400

Yeah I would say its not a time to panic especially with the way your tank looks. But over all not a huge issue IMO anyway as long as you are feeding the tank.

vlangel · 2024-10-31T11:48:01-0400

twentyleagues said:
Yeah I would say its not a time to panic especially with the way your tank looks. But over all not a huge issue IMO anyway as long as you are feeding the tank.

That is probably why the tank did not begin to show how low the nitrates are. I feed heavy, I like to eat myself so I want my fish to enjoy eating well, LOL!

twentyleagues · 2024-10-31T11:53:24-0400

vlangel said:
That is probably why the tank did not begin to show how low the nitrates are. I feed heavy, I like to eat myself so I want my fish to enjoy eating well, LOL!

I hear that!
Most plants are better at using ammonia than nitrate it was probably just a matter of time until this happened with the amount of macro in the tank. I personally wouldnt dose it up to 20ppm. Its definitely not a bad idea to keep some nitrate in the tank but if your ammonia is being used by the algaes as its produced instead of bacteria converting it its not a bad thing. Some corals may prefer the nitrate I dont think so but who knows for sure.

vlangel · 2024-10-31T13:23:51-0400

twentyleagues said:
I hear that!
Most plants are better at using ammonia than nitrate it was probably just a matter of time until this happened with the amount of macro in the tank. I personally wouldnt dose it up to 20ppm. Its definitely not a bad idea to keep some nitrate in the tank but if your ammonia is being used by the algaes as its produced instead of bacteria converting it its not a bad thing. Some corals may prefer the nitrate I dont think so but who knows for sure.

I have to admit that although I have been keeping a reef tank a long time, I still don't really know what particular coral and what particular macroalgae prefer what nutrients as their primary source of nourishment and growth. After I get the nitrates up a bit would I be better to dose a little ammonia instead of nitrate? Of course adding a few more fish could help that as well and that would be more fun!

twentyleagues · 2024-10-31T13:51:29-0400

More fish is usually the "better" choice...lol

twentyleagues · 2024-10-31T13:54:45-0400

vlangel said:
I have to admit that although I have been keeping a reef tank a long time, I still don't really know what particular coral and what particular macroalgae prefer what nutrients as their primary source of nourishment and growth. After I get the nitrates up a bit would I be better to dose a little ammonia instead of nitrate? Of course adding a few more fish could help that as well and that would be more fun!

I think most aquatic photosynthetic organisms prefer ammonia to nitrate. With nitrate they have to convert it to ammonia first then use it, ammonia just gets used.

vlangel · 2024-10-31T19:26:56-0400

twentyleagues said:
I think most aquatic photosynthetic organisms prefer ammonia to nitrate. With nitrate they have to convert it to ammonia first then use it, ammonia just gets used.

So the plan is I try more fish first, then I dose some ammonia. If I end up dosing ammonia, do you think the nitrates will come up slowly on their own because they are not being used up.

twentyleagues · 2024-10-31T19:50:42-0400

vlangel said:
So the plan is I try more fish first, then I dose some ammonia. If I end up dosing ammonia, do you think the nitrates will come up slowly on their own because they are not being used up.

Yes. Anything not taken up by macro or coral will be converted by bacteria. I just don't know what will be more "efficient" at consuming the ammonia coral, macro, or bacteria. It's going to be a cool experience.