High nitrates, need advice

[xbethx]

Tank is 125 gallon with 40 gallon sump/fuge
Little over a year old
Up until about a month ago i was running skimmerless, but now have a reef octopus NW-150 skimmer
Also started dosing vodka about 3 weeks ago
For several weeks i was doing about a 20% water change once a week but for the past couple months its slacked off to about once a month. I wasnt see any change at all with them once a week.

Water Params:
Nitrates - 150-200
salinity - 1.024
calcium - 460
mag. - 1330
alk - 10 dkh
ph - 8

Dont have a lot of corals but what i do have and all fish are doing fine.
I am having a pretty bad green bubble algae outbreak tho
And an aiptasia invasion that id like to get rid of via Berghia which i cant get until i get nitrates under control

So is there anything else i can do to lower nitrates.
I know the skimmer is new and i just started vodka dosing. Do i just need to wait it out? Up the water changes? Do bigger water changes?

Thanks,
Beth

[bertoni]

I would wait a while for the vodka to have some time to get going. Are there any io-balls or other artificial filtration media in the tank? Also, small amounts of nitrite can confuse a nitrate test kit.

The Berghia won't care about the nitrate level.

[xbethx]

No bioballs. All thats in the sump is skimmer, reactor of phosban, 2 filter socks that are changed out about weekly and a tiny bit of sand with live rock rubble and chaeto in fuge.

And really on the bergia i thought i read that they were sensitive to nitrates? Anyone else have experience with this?

[bertoni]

Some corals might have issues with nitrate, but not Berghia.

[xbethx]

ok thanks for the info

[wolfenstein87]

Do you feed heavily? Decent CUC? How much LR do you have?

Best way to rid your tank of nitrates is more frequent water changes. Bubble algae can be controlled by emerald crabs, or manual removal during a water change using 1/4" hose. This small of hose creates enough suction to help remove the algae, but not so much that you are rushing to suck the algae before your bucket fills. Like everything, emeralds aren't a sure fire solutions so you may want to stick with manual extraction.

[xbethx]

i dont think i feed heavily.. i have a yellow tang, kole tang, 2 clowns, purple dotty, and yellow watchman and i feed one cube of frozen food a day. Its usually all gone in a 3-4 minutes. Alot also goes to the serpent stars and cleaner shrimp

Clean up crew when i first started the tank consisted of about a hundred dwarf cerith snails, 20-30 each of larger ceriths and nassarius snails, 10-15 nerite snails and a handful of hermits. Most of which i think are still in the tank

[xbethx]

Are emerald crabs sensitive to nitrates?

[tmz]

Those are high NO3 numbers.

IME, vodka won't make a dent for a very long time ,months and months, and there is a significant risk of overdose and bacterial blooms along the way.
IMO, organic carbon dosing ( vokda ,vinegar etc) is more safely and effectively implimented when NO3 is in a reasonable range. It can keep it low even with heavy feeding but I personally wouldn't dose it at 150 ppm NO3.

Phosphate may also be an issue in your tank worth addressing.

A series of 15% water changes ovee the curse of a week and /or a denitrator(sulfur, carbon ,etc) can can bring NO3 down to baseline of say <10ppm and then organic carbon dosing can reduce them to near 0 and maintain them. The introduction of a skimmer may knock them down some as well.

This article on berghia , may be of interest:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-01/ac/feature/

I didn't see any references to NO3 in it,btw.

[TKCC]

those are high no3 numbers.

Ime, vodka won't make a dent for a very long time ,months and months, and there is a significant risk of overdose and bacterial blooms along the way.
Imo, organic carbon dosing ( vokda ,vinegar etc) is more safely and effectively implimented when no3 is in a reasonable range. It can keep it low even with heavy feeding but i personally wouldn't dose it at 150 ppm no3.

Phosphate may also be an issue in your tank worth addressing.

A series of 15% water changes ovee the curse of a week and /or a denitrator(sulfur, carbon ,etc) can can bring no3 down to baseline of say <10ppm and then organic carbon dosing can reduce them to near 0 and maintain them. The introduction of a skimmer may knock them down some as well.

This article on berghia , may be of interest:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-01/ac/feature/

i didn't see any references to no3 in it,btw.

+1

[xbethx]

i am currently running phosban in a reactor for the phosphate
i'll see about adding carbon too

And heres the site that talks about berghia and nitrates
http://www.saltyunderground.com/pages.php?pID=23

[tmz]

Thanks for the link.
I see where that breeder /vendor does indicate NO3 less than 25 ppm is recommended in the acclimation section Unfortunately they don't explain why bergia would be partaicularly sensitive,vis a vie other animals in the tank, though. Nonetheless, I'd pay some attention to their opinion. I've just never heard that before and wonder why it would be so.

I personally, never tried berghia .Folks I know who did had trouble keeping them going in a reef tank. I'd seek out more opinions and tips from folks who have used them before buying them.

[bertoni]

Are emerald crabs sensitive to nitrates?
Not at the levels we see in our tanks. I don't think any motile invertebrates are damaged by such levels. Even with corals, it's not clear if any problems are due to nitrate or factors correlated with a higher nitrate level. Well, coloration can change with a higher nitrate level. :)

[jaynigz]

Try doing a 50% water change

[i Tuna]

A couple of semi-large (25-50%) water changes over the course of a week along with being patient with your vodka dosing should work. I generally like a more natural approach though, and just use chaeto / caulerpa to reduce nitrate in my reefs.

[ssdawood]

Just a long shot. Did you double check the nitrate reading with another test kit.

[bertoni]

Large water changes can cause more problems than they cure. I'd just be patient. If the underlying problem still is there, the nitrate will bounce up rapidly in any case.