Help me to find my no3 level

[chathurai]

Hello reefers, i have checked my no3 levels using salifert test kit, im but confused with reading , can you guys tell me what is the ppm of this reading and is it too high ? but my corals doing really good mostly i have zoas and i have couple of montiporas as well , this reading after yesterday 15% water change. im doing vodka dosing as well ,

 

my system.

 

2*2*12 cube

tmc vskim 300 skimmer,

carbon and phosphate media reactor 

Build in Deep sand bed, 

vodka dosing (0.1ml per day)

[Clown79]

Looks between 25 and 50

[Five.five-six]

37.5 ppm. 

[seabass]

Have you been carbon dosing long?  It's been awhile since I've kept up on it, but IIRC, carbon dosing and DSBs can cause problems.

 

Also, what is your phosphate level?  Lack of phosphate can become a limiting factor for the bacteria which carbon dosing supports.

[chathurai]

@seabass its been two weeks with carbon dosing . my po4 levels are almost undetectable i would say 0.03 . what you guys think of best way to reduse this no3 levels.im thinking of

adding prodibio products or auqaforest line up products for no3 reduction 

[seabass]

Maybe the phosphate level is actually a little lower; 0.03 ppm shouldn't be a limiting factor.  Which phosphate test kit are you using?  Have you tried discontinuing the phosphate reducing media?  I'm personally not a huge fan of carbon dosing or deep sand beds; however, I'm even more unsure about running the two together.

 

We should really look at your goals and why you have made these setup choices in the first place.  Is it to reduce nitrate because you wish to reduce the volume of water you change, do you keep livestock which requires a DSB, or something else?

 

Are you trying to lower nutrients for algae control or are you just trying to keep nutrients low for SPS?  There may be another way (maybe water changes, maybe a refugium, or something else) to accomplish your goals.

[chathurai]

9 hours ago, seabass said:

Maybe the phosphate level is actually a little lower; 0.03 ppm shouldn't be a limiting factor.  Which phosphate test kit are you using?  Have you tried discontinuing the phosphate reducing media?  I'm personally not a huge fan of carbon dosing or deep sand beds; however, I'm even more unsure about running the two together.

 

We should really look at your goals and why you have made these setup choices in the first place.  Is it to reduce nitrate because you wish to reduce the volume of water you change, do you keep livestock which requires a DSB, or something else?

 

Are you trying to lower nutrients for algae control or are you just trying to keep nutrients low for SPS?  There may be another way (maybe water changes, maybe a refugium, or something else) to accomplish your goals.

this is  my tank plan and still no mangrove and seagrass. 😐 . yes my purpose of buidin DSB is to reduce water volume yet to build bit larger tank and reduce no3. and my initial idea was to grow refigum on the sandbed, i have plant few caulrapa algae on the sand bed and didn't work very well. my ultimate goal is grow sps 😐 .i have brought Zeovit suppliments too (KZ amino acid ,pho's xtra). i have one reactor runing with phosphate removel media and Activate carbon and tmc vskim 300 hob skimmer thats all i have for filteration  . please help me to build ULNS 😐 . if i cant grow sps in this system im thinking of removing dsb and add live rocks and add sump to my system 

[seabass]

Interesting.  Hmm... where to start.  It's like you combined a bunch of different systems to form this hybrid.  I'm not trying to be critical, but I don't see it working as you plan.

 

Seagrass and a mangrove would be a good reason for a DSB.  Unfortunately, an ULNS contradicts this goal.  You'll need plenty of nutrients to keep seagrass happy.  I'd even expect that you'd have to dose nutrients.  Also, Caulerpa is way easier to grow than seagrass.

 

If your ultimate goal is SPS, you have a few options.  You could run a refugium along with SPS, or you could run an ULNS with SPS, or you could just keep nutrient levels under control while keeping SPS.

 

So let's say you primarily want an ULNS for SPS.  You still might need to manage nutrient levels.  For example, nitrate usually gets used up before phosphate, and then becomes a limiting factor.  Managing phosphate might even involve dosing nitrogen to support the uptake of phosphate.  Or you may choose to use phosphate reducing media instead.

 

One thing about GFO is that it also binds alkalinity, and alk stability is critical when keeping SPS.  You might also find (when using GFO) that dosing equal parts of alkalinity and calcium provides an excess of calcium.  Phosguard might be a better media to use than GFO.

 

No matter what, I would probably add live rock as a base for your SPS.  It sounds like you've already invested a lot into running an ULNS; but it's certainly possible to keep SPS without carbon dosing.  Unfortunately, I'm not really experienced enough with carbon dosing to give you much guidance on the subject.