The U.S. Gulf Coast is vulnerable to the impacts of increased nutrient runoff, from the annual dead zone off the Louisiana coast to toxic algal blooms that are transported to and then fueled by nutrients in Florida estuaries and even legacy pollution at a fertilizer spill site in Mississippi. Yet, monitoring for dissolved, inorganic nutrients is missing from many of the ongoing efforts and programs that track coastal water quality in the Gulf. Beginning in 2019 and funded by the U.S. EPA and NOAA with the Integrated Ocean Observing System, we have been working to build a collaborative, distributed network of high frequency nutrient sensing as part of ongoing monitoring programs. We now have partners in FL (Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, Mote Marine Lab), MS (Grand Bay NERR), LA (Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, UL Lafayette LO-SPAT), and TX (University of Texas Marine Science Institute) all deploying sensors measuring dissolved nitrate (+ nitrite) and/or phosphate at approximately hourly intervals. Throughout the course of this project, we have learned lessons and established some best practices. For example, no one sensor works across all coastal ecosystems, and a robust process for matching site characteristics to sensor specifications is critical. In our network, there are currently 4 different sensors being used with the 6 partners. Continuing to collect validation data in the form of reference samples run via standard methods in an analytical lab is critical to testing new technologies in the initial stages of use. Challenges to integrating new technologies into widely-used monitoring platforms remains a challenge, and developer innovation in this space could make sensors more competitive. This presentation will dive deeper into what we have learned in building this collaborative network and, perhaps more importantly, start to discuss what it will take to sustain high frequency nutrient sensing Gulf-wide into the future.