nitrates

[Douggardner]

why are my nitrates high ???

running a 125 reef, keep my sump clean, dont feed the tank too much..all my corals are THRIVING...but my nitrates are high, my Calc is also hi, and my PH is running at about 8.5

what am I doing wrong ?

what to do to correct ?

[rlee81indy]

where does your water come from, I have always used RO water stations at grocery stores. My nitrates started testing high out of the blue and I couldnt figure out why. After some time I decided to test the new water right out of the machine. Can you see where Im going with this? They werent changing the carbon like they should. If you have your own RO/DI unit are you changing the carbon? If so, well I dont know what to tell ya..lol

[Rcpilet]

Whats in the sump?

If your not running some macroalgae or a DSB or BOTH, you're going to have high nitrates. Aerobic bacteria can only take the nitrification process so far. You need some type of green plant to absord it or a DSB to grow anaerobic bacteria. Cholerpa or cheato or a mangrove tree or lots of hair algae or a DSB with anaerobic bacteria--something has to use the nitrates or they will climb sky high.

I run a 4" DSB in my fuge and a big ole chunk of cheatomorpha. I have a 4.5g HOB refugium on my 30g tank. I have 3 small fish--a damsel, a small 6-line wrasse and a 4" watchman goby. I feed them all they can eat with leftover floaties in the tank when they are full. Don't give it a second thought. What the crabs don't eat--will either get skimmed out or rot and turn into phosphates and nitrates for my cheatomorpha.

I also have a 5" DSB in my tank. It's a 30g tank with 61lbs of live rock. I run the HOB refugium on a maxi-jet 1200 (too big--scaling down to a 900 to slow down the flow through the fuge) and I have 2 powerheads @120GPH each in the tank. Also have 2 other powerheads in the tank at 325GPH each. I have the 325GPH powerheads on timers to switch on and off frequently throughout the day--poor mans wave maker. On 5 and off 15.

You don't want massive flow through your refugium. But, if your not turning your tank 10 times per hour or more--you need more flow inside the tank.

If you have bioballs in the sump--get rid of them and put live rock in their place. Or some macroalgae or BOTH live rock AND macroalgae.

I am not a believer in starving your fish/animals to try and control a poorly built filtration system. Build the proper filter and feed your fish so that they are healthy.

I just tested my water about 1/2 hr ago. I fed my fish about 2hrs ago.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
pH 8.2
Salinity 1.023
Alkalinity 3.5
dKH 9.6
Calcium 480

[Peter Eichler]

With a good protein skimmer and enough live rock plenty of tanks are able to maintain undetectable nitrates without a DSB and/or algae used as export.

[Ehaze]

de-nitrate reactor... mine was at 100 now it is zero in 3 weeks :)

[Rcpilet]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10769361#post10769361 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Peter Eichler
With a good protein skimmer and enough live rock plenty of tanks are able to maintain undetectable nitrates without a DSB and/or algae used as export.

Agreed. A skimmer removes the organic waste before the bacteria ever get a chance to break it down and turn it into nitrates.

I run 3 different types I guess. I have a DSB, an awesome skimmer and macroalgae. ALL of those are what keep my nitrate readings at ZERO everytime I test.

[wrott]

What is your nitrate concentration?

[skirtchaser]

what is a DSB?

[Ehaze]

Deep sand bed

[Rcpilet]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10769764#post10769764 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wrott
What is your nitrate concentration?

I use Salifert test kits. They have a reputation for being the best kits available to most hobbyists.

My nitrates are undetectable. I haven't gotten a nitrate reading over 10ppm since I finished my cycle and did my first water change. My tests always read ZERO nitrates. Zero nitrites and Zero ammonia.

DSB, skimmer and macroalgae. Those 3 things--in combination-- will just about gaurantee you will never have any detectable nitrates unless you have a rotting corpse or MAJOR crash in the tank. Under normal--day to day conditions--you'll most likely have Zero nitrates if you use those 3 things in combination.

Thats all I'm doing. I don't even worry about nitrates anymore. It's simply not even an issue to bother with in my tank. I'm a newbie too. I just did what has been working for millions of other hobbyists. Nothing special. We all know 3 things will work to control nitrate levels. DSB, skimmer and macroalgae. I got all 3. Pretty simple to do. Nothing to worry about. Zero nitrates.

[supervdl]

I use a bidodenitrator to control my nitrates. Works well for me. See my red house for link to my mixed reef with mostly SPS.

[HBtank]

In a stable tank with proper filtration listed above, more nitrates will = more algae growth, but you will never see it register on a test kit.

I measure my nutrients/nitrates by watching how much I clean the glass...