Low nitrates

[Michael Welber]

My system is working great. Zero ammonia, zero nitrites and fish seem to be thriving. My problem is that the nitrates in the tank are still very low. The plants are growing and aren't yellow. Is there a way to bring up the nitrate levels? 

The system has only been running for a little over a month. It's a restart after a summer shutdown but the last time I started up my nitrates were in the 40-80 range. Now they are below 5. 

[Hank Paloci]

That's a lot of nitrates to use up. But it's not a bad problem to have.

I think that vine-y plants suck up nitrates. Do you have a lot of cucumbers or similar plants?

Consider adding more fish (your system can clearly handle the load) or removing some of your vines.

[Michael Welber]

Yes. You nailed it. Six cucumber plants growing. And doing very well. I can't add more fish because I'm maxed out for the tank I have -- 300 gallons and 50 fish. They are still very small so I'm sure as they get bigger it will all improve.

Thanks! 

[Hank Paloci]

Awesome.

You'll want to read up on this but when my system was new I had cucmber plants and I grew lots of vines but little fruit. The nitrates yield green growth but you need more of other nutrients to make the actual cucumbers. This is why the experts encourage you to stay with leafy greens on a new system.

[Michael Welber]

Well it's partly a climate thing. Our weather is still warm so we need to get a head start on this. And I already have two flowers on the cuke vines so the experts might not always be right. But the leafy greens are also doing well. 

[Hank Paloci]

I had dozens, maybe 100s, of flowers on my cukes. Very little actual fruit.

[Michael Welber]

Oh. Too bad. It will be interesting to see what happens. I have had very good luck the last two times I planted cukes. The last time, however, we had a serious problem with mildew so I"m taking advance action on that. The Keys, where I live, are very humid, even in the winter. And we're having warmer and more humid weather later than usual. What a surprise, eh?  

[Ben Rodman]

If you're warm enough, increase feeding to what they can tolerate?

[Michael Welber]

OK..Thanks.