Reef Discussion

[potatocouch]

Have you experienced high nitrate even after massive WC?

I would expect the Nitrate to drop significantly with the exception of a factory somewhere in the system.

I'll try to find the factory, got a feeling it's the Seachem Purigen bag.

Anyway, what method/product do you use to help maintain your nitrate at the acceptable level?

 

[Susan Bates]

Have you experienced high nitrate even after massive WC?

I would expect the Nitrate to drop significantly with the exception of a factory somewhere in the system.

I'll try to find the factory, got a feeling it's the Seachem Purigen bag.

Anyway, what method/product do you use to help maintain your nitrate at the acceptable level?

View attachment 52572

repeated water changes and RED SEA NO-POX

 

[MagicJ]

Are there any nitrates in your WC water?

 

[potatocouch]

Are there any nitrates in your WC water?

It's homemade RODI water and measures 0 ppm output, but I'll test it anyway.

 

[curly747]

How massive was your water change? Maybe you caused some die off by draining water level too low, or changing temp too suddenly, or changing SG, or something like that ?

 

[potatocouch]

How massive was your water change? Maybe you caused some die off by draining water level too low, or changing temp too suddenly, or changing SG, or something like that ?

40L yesterday and 40L today.

200L capacity of tank, say with LRs, total water probably 150L.

No traces of Ammonia.

@MagicJ WC is 0 Nitrate.

From today WC, Nitrate is still considerably high, lower than yesterday however I would expect lower nitrate.

I'm considering RED SEA NO POX as suggested by @Susan Bates . Although I don’t like chemical stuff, I probably should give this an attempt. What I don't get, if this reduces Nitrate, surely there would be a side effect? What does this RED SEA stuff converts the Nitrate to? Surely it just doesn't eliminate it completely.

If this thing works without side effect, is there any need for WC, apart from Ca, Mg etc replenishment ?

 

[potatocouch]

Logically if WC is 0 ppm and 0 nitrate and 50% WC (over 2 days), it should have gone down. So frustrating.

 

[Savage Henry]

The water change can only reduce the nitrate in the water column. As you've indicated yourself, it looks like you have a nitrate store elsewhere that is leaching nitrate into the water column.

What is your current nitrate level?

I wouldn't waste your money on NO POX until you locate the problem.

Although my tank is under skimmed, my nitrates hover around 1ppm with fortnightly water changes of approximately 25%. I've got it pretty much under control with the amount of feeding vs water changes vs skimmer.

 

[potatocouch]

What is your current nitrate level?

The exact number is hard to tell from API test kit, but it's leaning towards bright orange, which indicates considerably high nitrate.

I'll bring some water to my LFS for more accurate testing.

I've removed the Purigen bag today, so what's left in the system is just skimmer and biological filtration in the form of LRs.

My suspicion is now towards the deep sand bed. Could this be the nitrate factory?

The dilemma of having a tank that requires frequent feeding and high nitrate .. sigh~

 

[Savage Henry]

I wouldn't blame the deep sand bed just yet. Someone said that to me ages ago about my tank as I have high phosphates, but after I took the sand out it made no difference. In fact, I felt my system had lost some of its buffering capacity once I'd removed the sand.

How long has the sand bed been in there?

How long has your tank been running?

How many fish do you have? Maybe you do have too many fish and feed too much for what your tank can handle by itself?

 

[potatocouch]

How long has the sand bed been in there?

How long has your tank been running?

How many fish do you have? Maybe you do have too many fish and feed too much for what your tank can handle by itself?

The sandbed has been there since the tank started, which will be about a year and a half, probably closer to 2 years now.

Personally I think the stocking is okay but perhaps, the heavy feeding regime can be cut down a little.

I've been feeding the new Anthias like crazy.. 3 cubes of Mysis for the last couple of days.

I'll do another 20% WC on the weekend. 2 x 20% WC i think should suffice for now, I don’t want to shock the inhabitants.

 

[Savage Henry]

I personally would leave the deep sand bed alone.

Anyway, you got to get a decent nitrate test kit before you do anything else.

I like API for KH and Ca, but not for much else.

 

[dimitri]

I personally would leave the deep sand bed alone.

Anyway, you got to get a decent nitrate test kit before you do anything else.

I like API for KH and Ca, but not for much else.

comparing it to the NYOS test Kits & the Hanna Test Eggs the API is out by a long way, I just binned all of mine.


I have this problem with Phos, nothing is bringing it down, unless its just leeching back out of rock as fast as the ATS, WC and GFO are taking it out??? Not sure this is possible.

Perm Pegged at 1 on Salifert & Nyos tests

I was considering removing sandbed but now I won't.


I have cut my feeding by 3/4 over the last week, still no change.

My ATS makes lots of green Algae, and the display Algae has dropped by a hell of a lot, everything looks really clean but phos is still pegged at 1 or +1ppm

 

[potatocouch]

I'm sure all of you experienced reefers have thought about this long ago.

Without dosing, how does one overcome nitrate problem if tank is inhabited by organisms that requires frequent feeding?

Even with frequent massive WC, I am battling a losing battle here.

Hypothetically speaking, how can one keep a tank full of SPSs & Anthias? 1 doesn't like nitrate but if you don't feed frequent enough, the other suffer.

@dimitri @Savage Henry if API kit is that bad, they should stop production now and I tend to agree, I have heard lots of negative things about this test kit, but this is the one I have since the tank start, so being a tight ass, i don't invest more.

 

[gtrxu1]

I don't think there is a way, you always need some form of nutrient control whether its effective skimming, continuous/regular water changes, DSB, ATS, dosing etc.
There are a lot options but for a well fed tank eg. Anthias carbon dosing would be my choice.

 

[ReeferRob]

API test kits are notoriously bad, the worst part is they're made right down the street from me and I've made parts for one of their production lines.

If there's a lot of trapped dirt in that DSB, that's most likely your culprit. I ditched mine and changed over to pond Matrix and haven't had an issue.

 

[potatocouch]

There are a lot options but for a well fed tank eg. Anthias carbon dosing would be my choice.

As a beginner, can someone please guide me about carbon dosing? From here, biopellet reactor seems to be one of the safest option, although probably the most expensive one.

So I assume this biopellet reactor usually sit in the sump? are they as easy as skimmer installation i.e. assemble and just drop it to one of the chambers in the sump?

I guess, my first question should've been: is anyone running (or have experienced running) biopellet reactor in their system? are/were you happy with it?

API test kits are notoriously bad, the worst part is they're made right down the street from me and I've made parts for one of their production lines. If there's a lot of trapped dirt in that DSB, that's most likely your culprit. I ditched mine and changed over to pond Matrix and haven't had an issue.

My gut feeling is you're right ... most likely it's the deep sand bed ... but I don't think that will alleviate my ongoing issue with feeding (as I need to feed). Need to keep feeding, whilst controlling nitrate to an acceptable level.

 

[ajkdark]

http://www.redseafish.com/blog/nitrate-phosphate-reduction-via-carbon-dosing/

 

[Susan Bates]

40L yesterday and 40L today.

200L capacity of tank, say with LRs, total water probably 150L.

No traces of Ammonia.

@MagicJ WC is 0 Nitrate.

From today WC, Nitrate is still considerably high, lower than yesterday however I would expect lower nitrate.

I'm considering RED SEA NO POX as suggested by @Susan Bates . Although I don’t like chemical stuff, I probably should give this an attempt. What I don't get, if this reduces Nitrate, surely there would be a side effect? What does this RED SEA stuff converts the Nitrate to? Surely it just doesn't eliminate it completely.

If this thing works without side effect, is there any need for WC, apart from Ca, Mg etc replenishment ?

I was told NO-POX is like vodka dossing only safe and a lot of people on this site use it, you still have to do water changes but not as often, check red sea site about product, I use it because i feed well and tank is heavily stocked

 

[ReeferRob]

I dose vinegar and I have no issues there either. M had some nasty looking green slime growing in her tank and the vinegar wiped it out in short order. If' you're not using some form of carbon dosing, now's a great time to do so.