Feelings on Nitrate

[Patman1]

Hey all,

Whats everyone's view on nitrate. It seems the 'new' thinking I'm reading more and more is that it's not as evil (re: inverts) as previously thought. Whats everyone average reading?

Thanks

Pat

 

[24Tom]

On this board the consensus seems to be that with a southdown DSB nitrates should not be a problem. My tank is just a few months old but the southdown seems to be doing the trick. My nitrates are always < 10 ppm and I question whether the test kits are accurate below this level.

 

[fishtalk]

I agree with 24Tom! I have 0 Nitrates with my 6" south down sand bed.

 

[Boogiechillin]

I think that Patman is inquiring more about what levels of nitrate should be considered acceptable (but I do agree, you can't beat a DSB for suppressing them!)

Personally, I don't like to push my luck. Could I get by with higher nitrate levels and still keep my corals, crabs, snails, shrimps etc still alive? Probably. But, with a DSB, which really is a relatively minimal investment, nitrates are usually close to undetectable in a reasonably stocked tank. I find it's easy enough and cheap enough to keep nitrates low, so I don't worry about allowing them to get higher.

Now, this of course gets complicated with organisms like giant clams that require a bit of nitrate in the water to stay healthy, but even then most experts agree on somewhere between 2-8 ppm, which is still quite low.

 

[suckair]

Nitrates are helpful if their levels are very low. They help phytoplankton populations and many clams and inverts that have symbotic algae in their tissues can benifit from some nitrate and phosphate. I often add phytoplankton fertalizer directly to my system from time to time when I notice the water is too clear or it is taking too long for algae to grow on the glass. When I started to run a refugium I really had to add the fertalizer.

Depending on the setup you are running and your goals with this setup total absence of these trace nutrients should not be the goal IMO. However I do agree that a fine suggar type sand bed that is quite deep is a great thing!

Randall D Pallesen
aka suckair