NP bacto balance - nitrates at 0.0

[rishma]

I searched but didn’t find my answer.

TM NP Bacto Balance has worked well for me maintaining stable phosphate around 0.1. It’s been great for my small 100L tank because GFO always caused problems for this small water volume. I travel for work and stability without intervention is key.

That said, nitrates routinely drop to undetectable. I boost them back up using neo nitro.

my feeding is very consistent using an auto feeder.

I have seen others have this issue. Wondering if there is a solution other than dosing N or if I just ignore it and leave N at zero.

 

[Subsea]

What’s wrong with dosing nitrogen? I dose ammonia with liquid kelp concentrate.

 

[crazyfishmom]

I searched but didn’t find my answer.

TM NP Bacto Balance has worked well for me maintaining stable phosphate around 0.1. It’s been great for my small 100L tank because GFO always caused problems for this small water volume. I travel for work and stability without intervention is key.

That said, nitrates routinely drop to undetectable. I boost them back up using neo nitro.

my feeding is very consistent using an auto feeder.

I have seen others have this issue. Wondering if there is a solution other than dosing N or if I just ignore it and leave N at zero.

Plus NP is what I would recommend in that instance. Offers the benefit of basto balance but adds a bit of nitrogen and phosphate to stop bottoming out from happening.

 

[rishma]

Plus NP is what I would recommend in that instance. Offers the benefit of basto balance but adds a bit of nitrogen and phosphate to stop bottoming out from happening.

I don’t think I want to use plus NP. I use that when P drops, or both N and P. In this case, P is good and I don’t want to add any

 

[rishma]

What’s wrong with dosing nitrogen? I dose ammonia with liquid kelp concentrate.

Wrong with it? Nothing at all. And if I have to keep dosing I’ll figure it out. But since Bacto Balance is supposed to help me maintain stable nutrients I was hoping to accomplish that without dialing in another supplement.

 

[rtparty]

No matter the marketing, I’ve never found a carbon dosing system that doesn’t bottom out nitrates eventually.

Dosing ammonia is a super easy and cheap way to add nitrogen to the tank.

 

[Subsea]

Wrong with it? Nothing at all. And if I have to keep dosing I’ll figure it out. But since Bacto Balance is supposed to help me maintain stable nutrients I was hoping to accomplish that without dialing in another supplement.

Zero nitrates is not ideal.

 

[rishma]

No matter the marketing, I’ve never found a carbon dosing system that doesn’t bottom out nitrates eventually.

Dosing ammonia is a super easy and cheap way to add nitrogen to the tank.

Copy that. I read @Randy Holmes-Farley threads about dosing ammonia and will switch to that if needed after my neonitro is gone. I did find that the Bacto Balance has been effective for me at keeping stable phosphate and the tank has been more stable and corals healthier than when I used NOPOx and vodka, vinegar, etc. It might be just marketing, but it’s very cheap for my small volume and my current bottle with last 2 years at my current dose.

 

[rishma]

Zero nitrates is not ideal.

Agree in general, which is why I’ve been dosing. I’ve had problems with bottoming out nitrates using vodka/vinegar in the past, so I worry about it. The tank looked great and I check nitrates for the first time in 2 months and found them at zero. Surprised me based on the apparent health of the LPS. I wondered if others using bacto balance need to supplement nitrogen.

 

[crazyfishmom]

Agree in general, which is why I’ve been dosing. I’ve had problems with bottoming out nitrates using vodka/vinegar in the past, so I worry about it. The tank looked great and I check nitrates for the first time in 2 months and found them at zero. Surprised me based on the apparent health of the LPS. I wondered if others using bacto balance need to supplement nitrogen.

As far as I understand, while you may not be able to detect it because your tank is consuming it, there are nitrogenous compounds in bacto balance so bottomed out may not be as problematic due to the dosing. Would make me nervous too but sounds like all looks good thankfully. Maybe @Hans-Werner can chyme in.

 

[rishma]

As far as I understand, while you may not be able to detect it because your tank is consuming it, there are nitrogenous compounds in bacto balance so bottomed out may not be as problematic due to the dosing. Would make me nervous too but sounds like all looks good thankfully. Maybe @Hans-Werner can chyme in.

Exactly. Undetectable nitrate has always resulted in bad things for me the past. Seems unlikely I just caught it at zero. Was probably that way for a while. I would not have been so concerned even if it was only 1PPM because corals were happy.

 

[rtparty]

Copy that. I read @Randy Holmes-Farley threads about dosing ammonia and will switch to that if needed after my neonitro is gone. I did find that the Bacto Balance has been effective for me at keeping stable phosphate and the tank has been more stable and corals healthier than when I used NOPOx and vodka, vinegar, etc. It might be just marketing, but it’s very cheap for my small volume and my current bottle with last 2 years at my current dose.

I used Bacto Balance on my previous build and really enjoyed it. I’d use it again in a heartbeat.

Just stating my experience that it will bottom out nitrates even though they tout “balance”

 

[folsomreefing]

I’ve been keeping my nitrates undetectable for a couple of months now in my 5 month old nano. I dose 5ml of microbacter7 twice a week and run a chaeto reactor. I still get a few pinches of hair algae here and there every week or so.

I thought I was playing with fire but I found out WWC does the same thing.

 

[rishma]

I’ve been keeping my nitrates undetectable for a couple of months now in my 5 month old nano. I dose 5ml of microbacter7 twice a week and run a chaeto reactor. I still get a few pinches of hair algae here and there every week or so.

I thought I was playing with fire but I found out WWC does the same thing.

Interesting! Thanks for sharing. My fights with Dinos only came with zero P. I will not make that mistake again. In the past I had unhappy corals with zero nitrate but I know it’s far more complicated than that. N is just an indicator. I’d be more comfortable just going off appearance of corals but I am gone for a month at a time and my daughter keeps an eye on things.