I've got a tank full of salt water, with some rock and sand in it, and nitrates at ~20. The tank's cycled, but other than that, there's nothing living in it. To bring down the nitrate, I want to add some chaeto thinking it will use the nitrates. Would I need to add phosphorous for the chaeto, that would allow it to grow, bringing both the nitrates and phosphorous down; or would I just end up with both high nitrate and high phosphorous?
to add phosphorous or not?
- Thread starter pmaloy
- Start date
nereefpat
New member
Many folks will recommend doing a large water change after cycling. It's very common for nitrates to be high after a cycle.
Chaeto is a good thing, in general, but don't expect it to dramatically impact nitrate values.
What are your phosphate readings now? How are you measuring them? You probably don't need to dose phosphates. There are some cases when carbon dosing, that phosphate bottoms out and becomes limiting...
Chaeto is a good thing, in general, but don't expect it to dramatically impact nitrate values.
What are your phosphate readings now? How are you measuring them? You probably don't need to dose phosphates. There are some cases when carbon dosing, that phosphate bottoms out and becomes limiting...
mcgyvr
New member
Too early to be doing any sort of dosing...
Its very common to experience nitrates for a while with a new tank....
Start stocking/feeding and that will give you the phosphates your chaeto needs...As stated dont expect chaeto to do much if anything unless you have a very large amount...
Its very common to experience nitrates for a while with a new tank....
Start stocking/feeding and that will give you the phosphates your chaeto needs...As stated dont expect chaeto to do much if anything unless you have a very large amount...
mcgyvr
New member
For a 200G tank I'd estimate you need about 20+ gallons of dense Chaeto to even notice a minor difference..
Often nitrate levels are elevated for the first 8-12 months of a tank as denitrifying bacteria is still increasing/growing in low oxygen environments,etc.. The nitrifying bacteria is much quicker to get established..
Give your tank time to adjust/grow.. You are attempting to create an entire self sustaining environment in there.. That doesn't happen overnight..
Often nitrate levels are elevated for the first 8-12 months of a tank as denitrifying bacteria is still increasing/growing in low oxygen environments,etc.. The nitrifying bacteria is much quicker to get established..
Give your tank time to adjust/grow.. You are attempting to create an entire self sustaining environment in there.. That doesn't happen overnight..
Update for future reference if anyone happens to search this - I ended up dosing NOPOX (NO3O4-X). I followed the directions for dosage, which for 220 gal came to about 27 ml/day. The tank had no animals in it so I didn't bother ramping up the dose. After ~ a week it dropped the nitrates to ~2.
Thanks for the follow up.
Kevin
Bpb
New member
I'm not on board with dosing any form of phosphate ever really. It's too easy to add in the form of fish food. The nitrates can be dealt with later on down the road no rush with that. Soon as you get the fish in, just feed them plenty and that will add phosphate to the tank. If you begin some form of organic carbon dosing that will bring the nitrates down, especially with phosphate at 0.07, which it will likely increase from as soon as you start adding any food at all.
