mdavis735 Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 So I have several sps frags and mini colonies in my 90 gallon. It is pretty new and didn't have many fish. Only 5 small ones and a small yellow tang. I already noticed the corals were starting to get pale. The correct colors are there, just not as intense as they should be. Nitrate and phosphate are undetectable. So I assume there aren't enough nutrients with such a small bioload. The frags are encrusting and growing well. Now I've lost all the fish except two false percs. I have them in another place doing TTM. Anyway, what would be the best thing to feed my acros and sps for the 73 remaining days of my fallow period? Knowing the nutrients were already low. Hopefully something I could find locally. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 I use BRS Reef Chili and KZ amino acids. You should be able to find similar products at a local store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdavis735 Posted December 24, 2016 Author Share Posted December 24, 2016 Awesome. Thank you. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 I used potassium nitrate in the form of Spectracide Stump remover during my fallow periods to keep my nitrate level around 5ppm. I'm of the opinion that you actually do want your phosphate level as low as possible but the nitrate level is the one you want to boost to 5ppm for great colors on acros. Simple calculation, use 1 liter bottle of RO/DI water, add 10 grams of potassium nitrate and you'll end up with 6140 ppm of nitrates. To give you a real life ratio, I dose 1/2 liter in my 250 gallon total volume tank to achieve about 4-5ppm of nitrates. Hope that helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdavis735 Posted December 24, 2016 Author Share Posted December 24, 2016 So basically I could mix a liter per your calculations. Then dose something like a cup a day. Watching the nitrates they rose to 5ppm. Correct? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 So basically I could mix a liter per your calculations. Then dose something like a cup a day. Watching the nitrates they rose to 5ppm. Correct? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro Pretty much. Just dose and test... There's a good margin of error that's acceptable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin S. Posted December 25, 2016 Share Posted December 25, 2016 Ty, what do you use to test for nitrate? Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 25, 2016 Share Posted December 25, 2016 Ty, what do you use to test for nitrate? Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk Hey Kevin,I use the Red Sea Nitrate Pro kit and am happy with it. I heard the Salifert one isn't bad either but never used it. Stay away from API, terrible accuracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Good Greef Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Ty, Does this also raise phosphate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Ty, Does this also raise phosphate? Just nitrates and a little potassium. You shouldn't get any phosphates with it.If you're asking to dose phosphates, you should really never need to dose phosphates. Most likely if anybody is reading zero on their test kits, its because its not a true zero. Either algae or corals are uptaking it before you get a reading of it. I've run 0.03 ppm or less of phosphates over the years with no issues encountered yet. It isn't a true zero anyways, as I do have various types of algaes that grow in my sump as well as my coral mass uptaking the phosphates as well. As long as you are feeding your tank, zero phosphates should never be an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Good Greef Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Nope, wasnt asking about dosing phosphates. I got enough of that lol. I tested my n03 for the first time in 5 months (always been around 12-16ppm) and it was actually 0. Explains why some acros are paling, though a few others are thriving. My dragons breath alage also now has white tips vs.the bright orange. I can feed more food but dont wanna use more gfo, so thinking about trying the stump remover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Nope, wasnt asking about dosing phosphates. I got enough of that lol. I tested my n03 for the first time in 5 months (always been around 12-16ppm) and it was actually 0. Explains why some acros are paling, though a few others are thriving. My dragons breath alage also now has white tips vs.the bright orange. I can feed more food but dont wanna use more gfo, so thinking about trying the stump remover. Haha, I got ya. Just wanted to cover my bases in case someone got phosphate crazy. [emoji12] Yeah, your corals will appreciate the 5 ppm nitrates if you can get it there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 I've got a full can of Coral Frenzy that I'm going to sell for $10. I was going to start using it, but the water poisoning really threw my tank into chaos. I would be willing to trade for livestock since I don't have much left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Good Greef Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Sorry Sascha, just bought some spectracide stump remover from Lowes. Gonna start this wknd. I test with Red Sea pro test kits, so hopefully the kits are still accurate. Ty, so you dosed 3070 ppm of nitrate to get your tank to 4-5. Then did you just test daily till it dropped back to 0 before you dosed another 1/2 liter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Sorry Sascha, just bought some spectracide stump remover from Lowes. Gonna start this wknd. I test with Red Sea pro test kits, so hopefully the kits are still accurate. Ty, so you dosed 3070 ppm of nitrate to get your tank to 4-5. Then did you just test daily till it dropped back to 0 before you dosed another 1/2 liter? Yes sir...and that's for a 250 gallon total volume so adjust accordingly for your size tank.I tested daily initially and measured my nitrate consumption in the tank and then setup a dosing plan accordingly to it. I had to re-dose that amount every 5-6 days so I just dumped in 1/4 liter every 2-3 days roughly. I tested weekly at that point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Jakedoza Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Ty, what do you use to test for nitrate? Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk Hey Kevin,I use the Red Sea Nitrate Pro kit and am happy with it. I heard the Salifert one isn't bad either but never used it. Stay away from API, terrible accuracy. I think that once you find a baseline, any test kit will work for you so long as you use that same test kit. A good baseline is a good healthy tank IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdavis735 Posted January 12, 2017 Author Share Posted January 12, 2017 Ty I'm afraid I'm gonna have too hire you as a nitrate dosing tutor. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 Ty I'm afraid I'm gonna have too hire you as a nitrate dosing tutor. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro Who? what? [emoji15] What step are you at right now? 1) Buy the Spectracide Stump remover 2) Measure out 10 grams 3) Mix with RO/DI water in a 1 liter bottle 4) Give it a good shake to mix it up 5) Dose it in the tank 6) Test the next day and adjust Its a pretty wide margin of error. Corals and fish aren't going to care if its at 0 ppm or at 15 ppm. The colors of the acros will be affected though so try aiming and keeping 5 ppm. Again, I used to dose 1/2 that 1 liter bottle to get my concentration around 3-5 ppm for 250 total water volume so aim for whatever is proportional for your total water volume. Have fun! [emoji4] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdavis735 Posted January 13, 2017 Author Share Posted January 13, 2017 85 gallons of water and nitrate is undetectable. Corals are way too pale. The color is good. Just pale Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 85 gallons of water and nitrate is undetectable. Corals are way too pale. The color is good. Just pale Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro Try 5-6 ounces, should get you around 3-5 ppm for that volume. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdavis735 Posted January 13, 2017 Author Share Posted January 13, 2017 Sweet. Tomorrow it is Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdavis735 Posted January 13, 2017 Author Share Posted January 13, 2017 Sweet. Tomorrow it is Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 I overdosed nitrate the first time and my water turned a beautiful green color for a week ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 I overdosed nitrate the first time and my water turned a beautiful green color for a week ...What was your final concentration you ended up with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 I overdosed nitrate the first time and my water turned a beautiful green color for a week ...What was your final concentration you ended up with? Not sure, I should have measured it at the time. I don't think it was that high given how much I dosed (3 capfuls of Seachem Flourish in a 67 gallon frag tank), but I think maybe it was too fast so there was a bloom. After the first bloom I ran a felt filter sock and did a water change. Now, I am much more slowly dosing Seachem Flourish, 1/4 cap every few days. Flourish is essentially potassium nitrate solution. I am at 5 ppm right now and my goal is to maintain that via dosing as I build up the fish population. This is what I used: http://www.seachem.com/flourish-nitrogen.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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