Nitrate Level in Zoa Tanks

[strout]

For those of you growing zoa colony's in your tanks, what are your Nitrate levels running?

[TeebD]

Mine stay around 15-20, my zoas like it dirty.

[MUCHO REEF]

I'm usually at 10 ppm.

Small to negligible amounts are ok.

Only 2 responses? Wow

Mucho Reef

[Jason S]

Because my main tank is a T5 lit SPS dominant, mine are kept at effectively zero. I have seen some good results in growth and color. The two PH's I got recently have already spawned two babies. My biocube on the other hand seems to stay at around 20 Nitrates, and my zoa's in that tank do well too, but I do not get the same growth and color that I get in the main tank.

[kichimark]

just checked mine...approx 20ppm

[jrb_dakine]

You guys scare me with those numbers.... LOL..... Mine is 0-2 ppm (mostly zero) but I do 5 to 10 gallon water changes every week depending on how heavy I feed that week.

So far z's and p's are doing good and I'm starting to get some growth.

[MUCHO REEF]

Why does it scare you? Lets talk about it.

[SIR PATRICK]

I keep mine at undetectable on your standard/typical nitrate testers.

I get some really cool color morphs holding this parameter! I get good growth to, but have to give the heavy broadcasting whole tank feedings to that. Doubt they would grow well (or even sustain themselves long) without the feedings.

[DanRhomberg]

PERFECT Thread, at a perfect time.....

I normally Have a 0-nitrate, 0-ammonia, and a 0 nitrite at all times.

This last week I have been creeping up to 5ppm and then 10ppm in nitrates.

amm. and nitrite are still a constant 0. I have added 2 very small neon gobys from the group buy in the socal forum. I also added 2 small pices of SPS.

I did my normal 20% water change, once a week, today and measured before and after the water change, and the level didnt change!!??? (10ppm)

I was taught(good or bad???) that you always want the three levels at 0, right???


My concern is ....

1- why are my levels rising?
2- Why didnt the water change drop the level back down....at all???

Help would be greatly appriciated.....
Any ideas guys???

[jrb_dakine]

Originally Posted by MUCHO REEF

Why does it scare you? Lets talk about it.

I didnt really care about my nitrates before my tank crashed. But losing everything makes you rethink your game plan. I thought back to what changes I made before the crash happened and what I was doing when my tank was thriving.

Last FTS 10/2008 before my tank crashed:


Some of my favorites:


When I started back up (Feb 2010), I decided that I was going to just keep it simple stupid (kiss), no dosing and just water changes. I would check my parameters before my water changes and after (yeah yeah @N@L).

Its been over 4 months and I'm now starting to see some growth in some of my z's and p's.

[strout]

jrb : What were your numbers before the crash, when you say you thought back to the changes you made to your tank, before the crash, what were those changes and what are you doing differant now? I really thought the numbers being reported would be higher than what they are, some where around the 40 to 50 range on nitrate levels. Just learning here, but I had thought, low nitrate levels would mean low growth rates.

[jrb_dakine]

Originally Posted by strout

jrb : What were your numbers before the crash, when you say you thought back to the changes you made to your tank, before the crash, what were those changes and what are you doing differant now? I really thought the numbers being reported would be higher than what they are, some where around the 40 to 50 range on nitrate levels. Just learning here, but I had thought, low nitrate levels would mean low growth rates.

Hey Strout, my nitrate lvl was almost undetectable. Nitrate wasn't the issue.

My problem was that I started to keep SPS in my tank and I started to dose 2part and mag to adjust for the drop in Calcium, alk, and Mag. Now I had a tank that was unstable! Once I got my parameters under control, that's when my zoa garden started to melt.

I really think its way too hard to keep sps, lps, and z's & p's in a 24 gal AIO tank. I was well stocked w/ z's & p's and then I added way too many sps frags. The SPS were doing great and my z's & p's started melting. Too much adjusting, maybe allelopathy (MUCHO'S word of the day), and then everything I did to save the z's & p's (huge water changes, dips, fragging, hospital tank).

Stability, patience, and less is best are my advice when keeping a small AIO system. Sorry so long.

[Friday Night]

I have never bought a test kit or even tested.. i use my corals/znp's as test markers.. they look upset angry stressed.. i know something is up and most of the time its a water change and were all good...

BTW Killer pics JRB!

[strout]

Friday Night, How often do you do water changes on your tank. It sounds like you only do them when your Zoas tell you to do the water change, but on an average what do you think the time table would be?

[blasterman789]

Softies and LPS need nitrate, and just because your test kit says '0' simply means it's being consumed. Detectable nitrate simply means you have a surplus.

Last fall I set up several frag tanks intending to grow SPS and threw zoas in the tank as an afterthought. No fish in the tanks. Hermits died because there was nothing to eat and starved. Nitrates and phosphates obviously tested zero and SPS liked the pristine water.

Zoas did not grow at all over a 5 month period. Some large green button palys grew a little.

A couple months ago I threw a single domino damsel in one of the tanks, and quarter sized patches of watermelons and oranges (gorilla nipples?) *doubled in size* in about a month, and growth is accelerating. I see new babies every day. Button Palys are now growing fast enough they will soon become a nuisance.

So, the 'fish poop' theory is clearly not a myth in my book. Just how much surplus nitrate yields good zoa growth is still a mystery because I still test at '0', but I know it's there.

[jtl2]

0 nitrates, but I'm sure the algae and other inhabitants are taking up the nitrates. The zoas are doing fine. Also have sps and lps in the tank.

[strout]

Interesting, thanks for that bit of info.

[drew8]

i was starting to worry about mine being at 20ppm guess i just lower it slowly then... thanks for the advice

[jrb_dakine]

Originally Posted by blasterman789

Softies and LPS need nitrate, and just because your test kit says '0' simply means it's being consumed. Detectable nitrate simply means you have a surplus.

Last fall I set up several frag tanks intending to grow SPS and threw zoas in the tank as an afterthought. No fish in the tanks. Hermits died because there was nothing to eat and starved. Nitrates and phosphates obviously tested zero and SPS liked the pristine water.

Zoas did not grow at all over a 5 month period. Some large green button palys grew a little.

A couple months ago I threw a single domino damsel in one of the tanks, and quarter sized patches of watermelons and oranges (gorilla nipples?) *doubled in size* in about a month, and growth is accelerating. I see new babies every day. Button Palys are now growing fast enough they will soon become a nuisance.

So, the 'fish poop' theory is clearly not a myth in my book. Just how much surplus nitrate yields good zoa growth is still a mystery because I still test at '0', but I know it's there.

Do you run a skimmer on your tank?

[DanRhomberg]

Originally Posted by blasterman789

Softies and LPS need nitrate, and just because your test kit says '0' simply means it's being consumed. Detectable nitrate simply means you have a surplus.

Last fall I set up several frag tanks intending to grow SPS and threw zoas in the tank as an afterthought. No fish in the tanks. Hermits died because there was nothing to eat and starved. Nitrates and phosphates obviously tested zero and SPS liked the pristine water.

Zoas did not grow at all over a 5 month period. Some large green button palys grew a little.

A couple months ago I threw a single domino damsel in one of the tanks, and quarter sized patches of watermelons and oranges (gorilla nipples?) *doubled in size* in about a month, and growth is accelerating. I see new babies every day. Button Palys are now growing fast enough they will soon become a nuisance.

So, the 'fish poop' theory is clearly not a myth in my book. Just how much surplus nitrate yields good zoa growth is still a mystery because I still test at '0', but I know it's there.

at least someone answered the question here......lol. It only took three day. lol sheezzz.

Thanks Blasterman

[strout]

I may be making a mistake, don't know, but I have turned off my skimmer and will leave it off for about three days a week to see if that will help with zoa growth. I am sure my nitrates will start to climb, I wlll be using a filter sock though, that will get changed out every day.

[chucktd321]

ive noticed the best growth when a i skip water changes lol. No joke, though it seems they loved it. When you think about nitrates is fish poop and excess food that your corals eat. Some people have nitrates 50+ppm which is a little scary lol. But they have awesome growth usually. I myself have mainly zoas with some sps but mine keep around 5-10ppm

[scuba guy ron]

I have had nitrates at 10-20ppm for 2 years now and have had no issues. My zoas and palys are growing well. CrazY thing is I have a beautiful sps of tyree sunset monti that I've heard only colors up with pristine water. When I got it a year ago it was a 1in frag. It has since grown to 6in and is super colored orange and green. I always had heard nitrates were bad and I think they are if they Àre in excess. Imo below 30ppm is fine for me.

[Timanator]

Mine stays at 0 -5.

[blasterman789]

Originally Posted by jrb_dakine

Do you run a skimmer on your tank?

No. Not by choice, but simply because I haven't found one worth a darn that works on a small tank HOB style and doesn't put another ugly power head in my tank. Side rant, but I don't get this, and about ready to design and build my own.

Anyways, I recently started carbon dosing because I've had just a bit of hair algae issues in the past, and wanted to nip it before it got worse. Mind you, my nitrates and phosphates test ziltch.

The carbon dosing put a hault to any small patches of algae after about 10 days, but it also slowed down zoo growth. So again, there's a clear relationship between excess nitrate and zoo growth.

I always had heard nitrates were bad and I think they are if they Àre in excess.

Acros - yes. IMHO, montis thrive in reasonable nitrate levels.