How to raise nitrates

mrcote1

Non-member
I've been doing a lot of reading on how to raise nitrates and I'm not a huge fan on most of the ideas such as stump remover, turning off protein skimmer, or just way overfeeding. I cant seem to find a product made for aquariums to raise nitrates. Does anyone know of a good product that will raise nitrates reliably and not add other bad chemicals. I have absolute 0 nitrates so my corals are a bit dull I believe
 
Over feed your tank is surely a way to raise some nitrates.

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Problem with over feeding is raising po4 at the same time. You can get food grade potassium nitrate or sodium nitrate to raise nitrates
 
Problem with over feeding is raising po4 at the same time. You can get food grade potassium nitrate or sodium nitrate to raise nitrates


I looked it up and there are many types, do you have any experience with one that works well and is safe for a reef?
 
Do you think dosing postassium nitrate is superior to dosing acropower? Also what are the dosing instructions for that potassium nitrate you sent me the link too?
 
400 grams of rodi water by weight not liquid
20 grams of potassium nitrate
Start with 1 ml per 100 gallons of tank water and keep adjusting after 24 hours until you figure out your daily rate. You could also turn off your skimmer for a few during the day or even dry skim to see if it increases.
 
So you make that mix of potassium nitrate then use a dosing pump and reservoir? How long can you store that mix for?
 
I use a syringe, my max dose is 2.5 ml per day lol
I also use acropower but only once a week.
 
Yea I already pulled the trigger on the potassium nitrate haha. But I bought a potassium test kit as well to watch the levels. It won't be here for about a week though. And Chris did you start dosing acropower at the same time as the potassium nitrate? If not did you notice a larger difference in your sps from the acropower or the potassium nitrate
 
I used acropwer before the nitrate but didn’t want to overdo it.
The corals did color up more after a couple weeks. It can’t tell you it was this or that since sps can take a while to adjust but they looked good. Now I’m fighting another battle with phosphates. I just need a larger tank lol
 
I'm doing a water change today afternoon in 2 tanks, total 88 gallons. If you want the water is very well cycled but nitrates are high. this is the reason why I'm doing it. Actually, I don't understand why you want to raise it meanwhile everyone wants low it.
 
Have you ruled out other reasons why your corals are dull? As close to zero nitrates as possible has always worked for me and my corals are quite colorful. My initial guess is that the bad coloring has nothing to do with Nitrates and more to do with other tank chemistry such as high phosphates or something else out of whack.

From reefkeeping.com (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/)

Nitrate is an ion that has long dogged aquarists. The nitrogen that forms it comes in with foods, and can, in many aquaria, raise nitrate enough to make it difficult to maintain natural levels. A decade or two ago, many aquarists performed water changes with nitrate reduction as one of their primary goals. Fortunately, we now have a large array of ways to keep nitrate in check, and modern aquaria suffer far less from elevated nitrate than did those in the past.

Nitrate is often associated with algae, and indeed the growth of algae is often spurred by excess nutrients, including nitrate. Other potential aquarium pests, such as dinoflagellates, are also spurred by excess nitrate and other nutrients. Nitrate itself is not particularly toxic at the levels usually found in aquaria, at least as is so far known in the scientific literature. Nevertheless, elevated nitrate levels can excessively spur the growth of zooxanthellae, which in turn can actually decrease the growth rate of their host coral.

For these reasons, most reef aquarists strive to keep nitrate levels down. A good target is less than 0.2 ppm nitrate. Reef aquaria can function acceptably at much higher nitrate levels (say, 20 ppm), but run greater risks of the problems described above.

Just my $.02... I'd look at other reasons besides zero nitrates...
 
Acropower is a mix of amino acids instead of nitrate.
If your coral color is dull, it may not related to nitrate.
It may have to do with your led light.


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Another note, which nitrate test kit are you using? There are many cases that API nitrate test kit gave false negative results.


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I use Salifert and also double checked with api and it is absolute zero. Phosphates read 0 with api but I have the hanna phosphorus checker coming in the mail in a couple days. I bought a new LED light too. I use a reefbreeders photon V2+ now and rented an apogee par meter. So all SPS are getting between 250 to 400 par. Millepora is at 400 par and the across are 250 to 350.
 
I know this sounds crazy but it works. Strain the contents of your skimmer cup through a 100 sock. Let it sit and extract with a syringe the pale yellow liquid that sits on the top. Only use this nitrate concentrate in miniscule amounts (like 0.1-0.2 ml a week) I'm a biochemistry major with a second major in pharmacy. This will be successful if done correctly. I can put together the how to, and test the solution to show that the other constituents like NH4, PO4, and NO2 are trace or not present.

Buying extra chem and supplements can be avoided.


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Definitely make a right up for us non chemists here. We can shoot to get a diy chem sticky put up in the diy forum. If you have anymore diy tricks let us know as well :)
 
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