New 73 gallon tank setup

[Frogger]

From what I had read on the internet the Flourish Nitrogen contains KNO3 and Urea. I wanted to use a source, Pure KNO3, where I could control the exact amount of Nitrate I wanted and really didn't want to add urea.

My tank has been at between .5 to .75ppm NO3 and phosphates are steady at .02ppm. I have been adding 35mls per day of the mixture and it appears to be working. The colours are beginning to look better. However the calcium uptake has gone through the roof and I have had to triple my calcium additions. I am assuming that growth was limited by the very low nitrates and now that they are there growth has kicked in. Too early to measure effectiveness.

I am still using GFO. I will stop using GFO if my phosphates drop too low.

I might still go higher with my nitrates although I really want to take this slow. I will probably keep my nitrates at around 1 for a few weeks and see what happens before I will go higher.

[gregzz4]

What are you using to test NO3?

[Frogger]

I am using Red Sea Pro Nitrate Test. I made up a batch of NO3 .8ppm calibration solution using Randy Holmes-Farley recommendations and my test kit was bang on.

[Frogger]

I have been able to maintain my nitrates at .5ppm for 5 days. I have been adding 40mls of the KNO3 solution daily.

My phosphates have dropped off the chart. I am almost using no GFO and my phosphates were .003ppm. Still too low. Before I started raising my nitrates my phosphates were over 2ppm and I was using a ton of GFO to keep it respectable. So just for controlling phosphates this is a win.

The colours of my corals are getting better.
This blue matrix was brown before I started adding nitrates.
Attachment 15823
This red planet was very pale
Attachment 15824
This Hawkins was dull
Attachment 15825

These pictures were taken from above, the other picture were taken from in front and I fixed the white balance on my camera. They are still not show quality but the colours have improved quite a bit.

[DKoKoMan]

I can't get my phosphates under 0.25ppm even with the use of gfo in a reactor and Foz Down. I can't complain as my corals have nice colours and decent growth. From the sounds of it your nitrates are registering and your Cora are improving which is great. Keep us posted.

[Frogger]

After 2 weeks of adding KNO3, now adding 60mls/day, which equates to adding 2ppm per day of nitrate for my 73 gallon tank.

I am now at 1.5ppm NO3 and phosphorus is 0 using Hanna ULR meter. I was using about a half a cup of GFO. I have now turned off the GFO because I do not want my phosphorus at 0.

I was needing to run at least 3 cups of GFO to keep my phosphorus below .03ppm before I started adding KNO3. If I didn't my phosphorus would hit .3ppm very quickly.

My tank appears to be using close to 2ppm nitrates to maintain a nominal nitrate level in the tank. I like my current level of nitrates however it appears the higher I go the lower the phosphates get. I think this is going to be a bit of a balance game, lets see what happen now that I turned the GFO reactor off.

What I have noticed in my tank with the higher nitrates is better growth and color of the corals, not quite as good as I want but my coralline algae is growing like nuts, hence the larger draw of Calcium.

I caution anyone thinking that they can control their phosphates by adding nitrates. My situation was a particular situation where I have a low bio load, feed lightly, strong skimming and had absolutely no nitrates in the system.

[Frogger]

"OUCH". Last weekend my power went out for 4 hours. When the power came back on I guess the ATI Hybrid went back to factory settings and looks like I fried some of the corals. I have never run the Led's higher than 80%. They were running at 100% all week and the colours in the corals have paled out since last weekend. I just figured it out today.

Other than that I am not running any GFO for several days and my phosphorus levels have not gotten about .003ppm or 1 on the Hanna ULR checker.

Hopefully the coral colour issue was the lights.