Nitrate - Ways to reduce it ? Please

[Pinkfish]

Ok well I have done another water test today and well all tests show great improvement and its all looking good apart from Nitrate.

PH - 8.2
Ammonia - No trace
Nitrite - No trace
Nitrate - 50
Phos - No Trace
Temp 26
CA - 390

Only my Nitrates now are detectable. What can one do to reduce them.

I am using Activated Carbon, have stopped with Kent Phos Sponge as levels are spot on.
I also run a sump lit 24hrs with Cheato and other Algae growing. Theres also Xenia growing in the main tank.

I have been doing water changes but Nitrates are still high.

Any Ideas ?

Mike

[Gillybaby]

IMO there is only one thing now that will help you reduce nitrates...time!

Leave things as they are, don't add anything, let your tank find its balance. Then you should see nitrates start to drop. When that happens, you can start stocking your tank again, slowly.

And FWIW, kudos to you Mike for sticking with it and getting your tank to this stage. Give it a year, maybe two, and you'll have a tank we'd all be proud to call our own. My main tank is still not at that stage ;)

[Tetley]

As above Mike,

Time will cure, no more fish for a month (at the least).

Well done, you have done well for sticking with it - pay you back BIG TIME in the future.

ATB

Ian

[jamieb]

out of curiosity i take it you have tested the RO water and the salt mix etc?
its just im having the same problems and cant seem to find the cause.
cheers
jamie

[Zeus]

Good Job Mike, well done.

However, I'd keep the phosphate remover in as carbon does leach small amounts of phosphate into the water, a function of it's manufacture as I believe it's washed/rinsed in phosphoric acid or something like that. You may also get phosphate coming out of the sand and rockwork. Best to keep some kind of removal media running all the time.

To bring your nitrates down you could use a Polyfilter, as it claims to remove nitrates, don't know how much it actually removes though. Or you could try Seachem Purigen.

Failing all these, time and water changes will do the trick.

HTH
Campbell

[Zeus]

out of curiosity i take it you have tested the RO water and the salt mix etc?
its just im having the same problems and cant seem to find the cause.
cheers
jamie

Hi Jamie,

There are a nuimber of causes and one which I believe gets overlooked, from discussion with my LFS and other reefers in the shop, is your rock work. You may have too much or too little or simply the rock work is not open enough.

Of course it may not be this, you may have a nice open structure, but it's something else to consider.

HTH
Campbell

[jamieb]

yeah tried all that mate, seem to have just hit a dead end with it.
im going to try doing a 200l slow water change if i can get a hold of a bucket or somthing, see if that makes a difference.
jamie

[Blue]

We need to start at the the start. What are both of tank specs and livestock
etc including powerheads etc depth of sand and how long the tanks have been running with stock.:) Feeding regimes.

[jamieb]

do you mean mine as well?

[Electric Monk]

Mike, not sure if i've asked before but, do you have a DI filter on your RO unit?

Nitrate out of my tap is 20-30ppm (40 odd years of Nitrate laden fertiliser on the fields for 100miles around) DI filter (Resin changed every 2 weeks) takes this to 0ppm

[MR Teee]

DI filter (Resin changed every 2 weeks) takes this to 0ppm

WOW, is this how long it lasts before its exhausted, or do you just change it regardless.

I usually get 4-6 months out of my resin before it gets changed (TDS starts to creep up)

[Pinkfish]

Mike, not sure if i've asked before but, do you have a DI filter on your RO unit?

Nitrate out of my tap is 20-30ppm (40 odd years of Nitrate laden fertiliser on the fields for 100miles around) DI filter (Resin changed every 2 weeks) takes this to 0ppm

Yes I do , and I have also done water tests on my RO water and it bearly registers on my test kit for Nitrate and Phosphate.

I have added some polyfilter to a DIY Pump intake .......... all the water returning to main tank has to flow through it. (Coke bottle cut in half, and inlet fitting siliconed onto coke bottle)

As for feeding my stock well dont have any, fishes are at a shelter shall we say, so im not putting in anything, maybe a pinch of flake every 2 days for my shrimp.

Flow is OR3500 Return, 2x Seio 1100 powerheads + 1x 1500 seio powerhead
Have about 2 inches of sand in main tank and also a DSB in sump 4-5inches depth.

Growing Cheato and other Algaes in sump.

Mike

[MR Teee]

Yes I do , and I have also done water tests on my RO water and it bearly registers on my test kit for Nitrate and Phosphate.



Should not register at all Mike if the DI is doing its job.

[jamieb]

Yes I do , and I have also done water tests on my RO water and it bearly registers on my test kit for Nitrate and Phosphate.

I have added some polyfilter to a DIY Pump intake .......... all the water returning to main tank has to flow through it. (Coke bottle cut in half, and inlet fitting siliconed onto coke bottle)

As for feeding my stock well dont have any, fishes are at a shelter shall we say, so im not putting in anything, maybe a pinch of flake every 2 days for my shrimp.

Flow is OR3500 Return, 2x Seio 1100 powerheads + 1x 1500 seio powerhead
Have about 2 inches of sand in main tank and also a DSB in sump 4-5inches depth.

Growing Cheato and other Algaes in sump.

Mike


seems like your in almost in the same situation as me mate, is it possible that your DSB has became a nutrient dump?

[MR Teee]

Or alternatively the 2" in the tank has become the nutrient dump. It's sort of an inbetween size - not a DSb and not a SSB.

[Pinkfish]

What if I add more live rock will that help, have some ocean rock that I could replace with live rock. Didnt have funds at time of start up.

Would tank have to cycle again after adding the new live rock?

Mike

[jamieb]

i would replace the ocean rock if you can afford it, if you do it slowly i.e kg every couple of weeks it should be fine.
jamie

[Blue]

do you mean mine as well?

Yes both, sorry I have not replied for a bit, I have I have been really busy.:(

[jamieb]

thats ok mate here's mine.

aqua medic chromis cube with sump
seio 850
maxi jet 900
aquaclear 800 return
25kg live rock
no sand
2 neon gobies
2 clowns
1 court jester
40 ish snails
2 oysters in sump
2 peppermint shrimps
small amount of algae in sump but it doesn't seem to grow much (its in a little tub of sand)
deltec apf850
deltec auto top-up
400w halide (only been on a couple of days)
habistat cool controller

think thats about it, ive just got rid of a remote DSB which seems to have brought the nitrates down to about 50 ish but it seems to be staying there (got rid of the DSB about 3 weeks ago)

jamie

[MR Teee]

Jamie, I would say that the DSB was acting as a sink for the nitrates. I would thinkg that a few biggish water changes (25-30%) would see off the rest of them.with that tank-skimmer-bioload combo there should be no more issues.

I too have done the same thing with the remote DSB I had, and low and behold I am now down to <25 nitrate and still falling.

[Blue]

Yes, this could be the answer, you will have to give it time now to see if this works for you. Keep us posted.

[jamieb]

just seems to be taking so long, ive done a couple of 100l letting the tank water and the change water mix over night then dumping the buckets but it doesn't seem to lower it that much.
maybe i just need to give it time.
ill keep this posted in case it helps.
jamie

[jamieb]

Yes, this could be the answer, you will have to give it time now to see if this works for you. Keep us posted.

sorry posted the same time.

[Blue]

What test kit are you using Jamie and is it in date.

[jamieb]

salifert mate, yes its in date.
i also bought a cheaper one to do freshwater as well and i get the same with that one.
jamie