How to increase Nitrate?

[Izwei]

Hi Guys, 

How do I increase nitrate without increasing phosphate? I can't seems to find any products on market in Singapore. It's seems to be banned due to ingredients used. I know brightwell has this product neonitro but I dont see any store selling it. My nitrates are bottoming out due to running only refugium as compared to phosphate. Any ideas?

[R0B]

There are several things you can do...

Brightwell alternatives are Sodium nitrate based. (Can also use potassium nitrate then blend with sodium to make exactly same product as brightwell). As for plain simple sodium nitrate Check out if Laudwolf sodium nitrate 99.6% (food grade) is available in Singapore. I saw it for sale sometime back but haven't seen, or been looking, lately. If find search up "James planted tank dosing calculator" to help calculate mix. From that approximately 44g of
sodium nitrate in 1L of water would raise 7.5ppm for each 1ml of dose used. So you don't need much.

...Also check out dry fertiliser that some planted tank people use... some may contain potassium nitrate. (Calcium nitrate is also a possible alternative)

Secondly, you could adjust down the photo period on your refugium to slow down the rate of growth. Thus your macroalgea would absorb less. Increasing your levels. Or simply remove more macroalgae.

You could Remove a mechanical stage of filtration. This way more 'larger chunks' (hahaha still tiny) of waste will enter the system and decompose, thus entering the nitrogen cycle.

You could turn off skimmer for a while. Although I believe skimmers are great at releasing carbon dioxide and thus, this could impact your ph.

Most simply... You could get a few more fish. Fish poop is a great coral food.

Look at adding fatty amino acids... either as fish food supplement or directly to your tank, although aminos can impact your PO4. As overfeeding typically leads to phospate issues.

Anyways good luck. Be interesting to hear what other methods there are. Tell us what you decide to do and how it turned out.






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[JiaEn]

On 4/5/2021 at 7:03 PM, R0B said:

aminos can impact your PO4

A "pure" amino acid product will not contain any phosphates.  Liquid coral food, on the other hand,  will be a different case  altogether. IMO using amino acids to increase only the nitrate is very effective, provided the system is able to metabolize them quickly before they start to fuel undesirable growth of bacteria/algae. 

On 4/5/2021 at 7:03 PM, R0B said:

Most simply... You could get a few more fish. Fish poop is a great coral food.

This is very true. Especially if the food fed to the fishes is of high quality yo begin with. Choose the fish food with the protein content in mind (which metabolises into nitrogenous compounds). Also try to select food with lower % of ash content. 

 

As for nitrate solutions,  you can try hydroponic supply stores. 

[Izwei]

Thanks for the advice.

I don't think we can get any sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate in singapore anymore. When I search online, only policegov and customsgov come up. Hahaha.

On 4/5/2021 at 7:03 PM, R0B said:

Secondly, you could adjust down the photo period on your refugium to slow down the rate of growth. Thus your macroalgea would absorb less. Increasing your levels. Or simply remove more macroalgae.

If I cut down the photoperiod, my phos will probably goes up. Same for mechnical filtration.

I don't run any skimmer, only refugium, biomedia, some phosguard and a little carbon.

On 4/8/2021 at 10:20 AM, JiaEn said:

IMO using amino acids to increase only the nitrate is very effective, provided the system is able to metabolize them quickly before they start to fuel undesirable growth of bacteria/algae. 

I do agree on this. I dose red sea ab almost everyday but overdosing seems to have a negative effect. I not sure why but I can tell corals are not so happy. 

I end up using phosguard to further reduce my phos and feed more coral food and fish food. 

[JiaEn]

6 minutes ago, Izwei said:

red sea ab

Do take note this is not an amino acid product.  Although it contains amino acids,  it also contain plakton suspensions and other ingredients. While these are good food for coral, they will introduce both nitrate and phosphate into your system. 

If your intention is to raise nitrate selectively,  you would probably do better with a "pure" amino acid product. Like polyp lab color,  or fauna Marin amin. Most of the brands have some form of straight up amino acid. 

[Izwei]

I see though I never see much increase in phos as compared to reef roids. I not sure if it helps in terms in growth either. I usually dose lesser than reccomended amount. I will probably try a "pure" amino acids product next. Thanks.

[PulposTriste]

I know some people use Seachem Flourish Nitrogen, it's basically just pure concentrated nitrate (NO3) and ammonium (NH4⁺).

Ammonium is just ionised ammonia (NH3), pretty much non-toxic to fishes unless youre actually trying to kill your fishes haha.

It'll be processed by nitrifying bacteria into more nitrate just like normal ammonia.

if you know anyone that sells pure Potassium Nitrate (KNO3), that would work better if not way cheaper. Since Flourish Nitrogen is Potassium Nitrate and Urea based.

That being said, amino acids could work too, many brands on the market, I'm sure some bros can recommend you the good ones.

[Izwei]

Just a small update, thanks for the comments. I recently tried using acropower. My corals colours have improved, there is a slight reduction in phosphate levels though my nitrates are still undetectable. There also improved in growth but at the same time increase in algae which drove my phosphate lower due to available nitrates. It probably take some time for the phos to bottom out. Felt like I found a cure. I believe this will only work for tank that looking to increase nitrate and has undetectable nitrates and detectable phosphate. 

[nuj244]

Is this acropower effective for you in increasing nitrate?

[Izwei]

Not really, but it helps in terms colour and growth if your tank lack of nutrients. You will need to dose a lot in order to see an increase in nitrate. But over dosing amino acids may encourage other bacteria/bad bacteria to grow and also cause cyano. You will have to monitor when dosing. You will have to see your phosphate level as well and if there is a lot of algae growth in your tank to decide how much to dose.

I still struggle with zero nitrate, some suggest dosing seachem flourish nitrogen but I have yet try it. I just started using AF build, food, vitality and amino mix, still monitoring but there is an increase in growth and colour as well. It depends what you trying to acheive for your tank cos every tank may react differently.

[nuj244]

Thanks for your reply, we hv the same issue, i hv undetected level of nitrate (from 140 before i started dozing nopox but i stopped already). My phosphate was initially at .95 and was able to reduce to .21 but i could not reduce further and staying at this value. Using gfo for phosphate.

[Izwei]

 I never hit so high phos before, any idea how your phos and nitrate got so high? Maybe can try the seachem flourish nitrogen by dosing small amount slowly. Can search other forum see how they dose. Phos drop too fast also quite scary, I got corals rtn if the phos swing too fast. 

[tsimlw]

You can buy Neonitro from Amazon US.

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