Do amino acids raise nutrient levels? Phos/Nitrate (2025)

wallace said:

Do amino acids raise phosphate and or nitrates levels? Specifically Brightwell Aquatics CoralAmino is the one I'm using but any info on any of them would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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Yes - Anything not absorbed will break down into smaller molecules which will include nitrates.

Phosphate is not directly associated with aminos, but depending on what else is added (I'm not sure what all is in brightwell) it may add phosphate as well, but you won't get phosphate from the amino acids it would be coming in with whatever else is in the bottle.

wallace said:

That makes sense. So as long as I dont overdose then it should not raise nutes to excess levels. Any idea of how much is to much, I'm only using about 5-7 drops per day in my 29g. Thought about only adding it when I feed the corals every 2 to 3 nights tho. Pretty heavily stocked atm, mixed reef.

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Not sure for brightwell. I use half the recommend dosage for polyp booster, and only about once or twice a week.

If your not noticing an upward trend with nitrate or phosphate your not overdoing it. I cut back because my phosphate started trending up. Since cutting back it's been fine, but again I'm using polyp booster not the brightwell.

Woodyman said:

Not sure for brightwell. I use half the recommend dosage for polyp booster, and only about once or twice a week.

If your not noticing an upward trend with nitrate or phosphate your not overdoing it. I cut back because my phosphate started trending up. Since cutting back it's been fine, but again I'm using polyp booster not the brightwell.

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Im starting to notice my phosphate trending up recently. I had a problem with my phophates staying bottomed out for the longest time, now it seems to stay upward of .1+ at least. I use plenty of other stuff that could be adding the phosphate tho as well. Phyto, benereef food, reef snow sometimes and reef roids every once and a while. Just wondering if my constant dose of aminos could be contributing to the phosphates and it seems like it may be. Ill cut back to only adding it when I feed the corals, with no other changes, and see if I can get that phosphate down to -.1

wallace said:

Im starting to notice my phosphate trending up recently. I had a problem with my phophates staying bottomed out for the longest time, now it seems to stay upward of .1+ at least. I use plenty of other stuff that could be adding the phosphate tho as well. Phyto, benereef food, reef snow sometimes and reef roids every once and a while. Just wondering if my constant dose of aminos could be contributing to the phosphates and it seems like it may be. Ill cut back to only adding it when I feed the corals, with no other changes, and see if I can get that phosphate down to -.1

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I know plenty of people on here saying reef roids raises phosphates a fair amount.

Whether it's the aminos or roids who knows. I'd say pick one and cut back a bit, don't change anything else and see where it lies after a few weeks. If it's the same you cut back the wrong one (given no other changes to your routine of course).

Woodyman said:

I know plenty of people on here saying reef roids raises phosphates a fair amount.

Whether it's the aminos or roids who knows. I'd say pick one and cut back a bit, don't change anything else and see where it lies after a few weeks. If it's the same you cut back the wrong one (given no other changes to your routine of course).

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Yea absolutely planning on doing that. I have not been feeding roids nearly as much in the past 2 weeks as I had previously, about once a week right now if that. I'll start by cutting out the daily dose of aminos and see what happens. Thanks woody!

wallace said:

Yea absolutely planning on doing that. I have not been feeding roids nearly as much in the past 2 weeks as I had previously, about once a week right now if that. I'll start by cutting out the daily dose of aminos and see what happens. Thanks woody!

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Anytime!

Woodyman said:

I know plenty of people on here saying reef roids raises phosphates a fair amount.

Whether it's the aminos or roids who knows. I'd say pick one and cut back a bit, don't change anything else and see where it lies after a few weeks. If it's the same you cut back the wrong one (given no other changes to your routine of course).

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I stopped using reef roids and was dosing benereef for a bit. May add some later. They recommend using polyp booster before the roids so I’m sure that would add to an accumulation of nutrients. Especially if means of export are lacking. As of yesterday my nitrates are 5 and phosphates .06.I want to bump nitrates to 10 for the tenuis small colonies and frags. Mixed reef I tell ya. Ugh.

wallace said:

Im starting to notice my phosphate trending up recently. I had a problem with my phophates staying bottomed out for the longest time, now it seems to stay upward of .1+ at least. I use plenty of other stuff that could be adding the phosphate tho as well. Phyto, benereef food, reef snow sometimes and reef roids every once and a while. Just wondering if my constant dose of aminos could be contributing to the phosphates and it seems like it may be. Ill cut back to only adding it when I feed the corals, with no other changes, and see if I can get that phosphate down to -.1

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Less is more! In my experience, using multiples brands of food, amino or other stuff in your aquarium is a mayor recipe for disaster. Patience is key!