Cannot get nitrate down at all - please help

[MattyDoldilini]

Hey guys, as the title says I cannot get the nitrate down in my reef tank for the life of me. I been trying different remedies and nothing is working at all.

bit of a back story, back in March or so my tank broke out in what I suspect was velvet. Most of my livestock perished during qt except for a watchman goby and a pair of clowns. I went thru the 76 day fallow period in which my corals were thriving. I was seeing great extension, colors, and growth. Fast forward to end of June, I put my remaining fish back in the tank and Immediately noticed that corals were not fans.

After some testing, I noticed both my nitrate and phosphate were high about 40ppm and .3 respectively. I have a sump with a refugium so I got some chaeto thinking this would solve it. Nope, instead the chaeto all died out pretty much and I still have high nitrates and phosphate. Now I been trying to dose with Red Sea supplements like no3 po4 -x as well as adding trace elements and foundations. Thinking my coral may be deprived of some nutrients. Now my water is getting cloudy and my coral still look ticked off. Any advice would be appreciated because I’m about ready to get rid of my corals and maybe just do a fowlr tank because it’s starting to drain my pockets and I’m not seeing any type of improvement

livestock: 2 clowns, watchman goby, diamond goby, lemon peel angel. Pistol shrimp and assortment of cuc

corals: 3 types of zoa species, a gsp, dragon soul favia, goniopora, red cap monti, and 2 riccordea mushrooms.

readings: ammonia - 0ppm, nitrite - 0ppm, nitrate - 40ppm, phosphate - .13

 

[Stang67]

Couple more things please.... how often do you feed, what do you feed and how much, how large is the tank, how large is the sump, how often do you do water changes and how much do you change, do you use rodi?

 

[Jekyl]

First thing I'd recommend is some new tests. API won't cut it for coral. Second is to throw away the ammonia and nitrite tests and don't replace them. One 50% water change will get you to 20 nitrate, from there your refugium should be able to regulate.

 

[MattyDoldilini]

Couple more things please.... how often do you feed, what do you feed and how much, how large is the tank, how large is the sump, how often do you do water changes and how much do you change, do you use rodi?

I feed 1/2 cube of hikari mysis shrimp once per day. I have a 70g tank and 15g tank. I do a 10% water change each week using rodi water and coral salt pro.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Suggest you get some Polyfilter to use as needed:

 

[JGT]

How long have you been dosing nopox?

 

[MattyDoldilini]

How long have you been dosing nopox?

I actually just started dosing nopox on Wednesday.

 

[MattyDoldilini]

First thing I'd recommend is some new tests. API won't cut it for coral. Second is to throw away the ammonia and nitrite tests and don't replace them. One 50% water change will get you to 20 nitrate, from there your refugium should be able to regulate.

Thank you! I did my weekly water change today but I might just do the 50% tomorrow to help with the nitrate and hopefully the refugium starts working!

 

[Crustaceon]

Does your system have a protein skimmer? If not, nopox isn't going to help much, if at all. Secondly, if you're chaeto is dying at that nutrient level it's most likely due to insufficient/improper spectrum lighting. I used to grow chaeto like crazy in an aquaponics basket that just floated in my sump's skimmer chamber. I used a Cree 100W Equivalent Daylight (5000K) BR30 Dimmable Exceptional Light Quality LED Light Bulb for lighting. Your local massive hardware store sells them for around $10. Set it for ten hours on a timer and have it come on after the display lights turn off. I've reduced nitrates from 40ppm to under 5ppm very effectively this way. You'll start with a baseball sized lump of chaeto and end up with a grapefruit sized on probably within the first week. Long-term and once nitrates get around the 5ppm range, you'll have to keep that chaeto ball as small as golfball-sized or reduce the refugium lighting period a bit. You'll have to play with it a bit.

 

[Clownreef]

Nopox did the trick for me. It took 2 months to go from 42.5ppm down to 0.5ppm doing every single day.

In my experience water changes won't make dent on high nitrates. Be patient. I dose 35 ml of NOPOX daily on a 300 gallon water system.

 

[JGT]

I actually just started dosing nopox on Wednesday.

You need to give it time. It works. More on nitrates than po4. For po4 you may need to use gfo.

 

[Detri50]

It sounds to me a large water change will help. 50%. While you're doing that, try to have a good look around the tank and rockwork. A few dead snails will cause a spike like that if left a long time. Try a bacterial reagent. Like Microbactor clean. It may be your just missing a strain of beneficial bacteria or 2.

 

[MattyDoldilini]

Does your system have a protein skimmer? If not, nopox isn't going to help much, if at all. Secondly, if you're chaeto is dying at that nutrient level it's most likely due to insufficient/improper spectrum lighting. I used to grow chaeto like crazy in an aquaponics basket that just floated in my sump's skimmer chamber. I used a Cree 100W Equivalent Daylight (5000K) BR30 Dimmable Exceptional Light Quality LED Light Bulb for lighting. Your local massive hardware store sells them for around $10. Set it for ten hours on a timer and have it come on after the display lights turn off. I've reduced nitrates from 40ppm to under 5ppm very effectively this way. You'll start with a baseball sized lump of chaeto and end up with a grapefruit sized on probably within the first week. Long-term and once nitrates get around the 5ppm range, you'll have to keep that chaeto ball as small as golfball-sized or reduce the refugium lighting period a bit. You'll have to play with it a bit.

I do have a protein skimmer yes, i also have a GFO reactor. Both are currently turned off. I currently have a tunze eco chic refugium light. So you think that it’s too powerful a light?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I can safely say youre likely getting false readings. My advice is to take a good water sample to a trusted LFS that does not use API kits and see what results they come up with and to compare with yours

 

[MattyDoldilini]

I can safely say youre likely getting false readings. My advice is to take a good water sample to a trusted LFS that does not use API kits and see what results they come up with and to compare with yours

What nitrate test kit do you recommend?

 

[Jekyl]

What nitrate test kit do you recommend?

I use salifert, never had an issue

 

[OfficeReefer]

I actually just started dosing nopox on Wednesday.

Keep this going after the water change. Measure it with something else but not an API kit.

 

[MattyDoldilini]

Nopox did the trick for me. It took 2 months to go from 42.5ppm down to 0.5ppm doing every single day.

In my experience water changes won't make dent on high nitrates. Be patient. I dose 35 ml of NOPOX daily on a 300 gallon water system.

Did you ever have an issue with cloudy water while dosing nopox? Every time I use it my water gets cloudy almost causing a bacterial bloom. I’m currently dosing 6ml daily and I’m already seeing cloudy water in a 85g system

 

[MattyDoldilini]

You need to give it time. It works. More on nitrates than po4. For po4 you may need to use gfo.

Do you think maybe just dosing nopox for nitrates and using a gfo reactor for phosphate will eliminate the need for chaeto?

 

[Jekyl]

Do you think maybe just dosing nopox for nitrates and using a gfo reactor for phosphate will eliminate the need for chaeto?

Chaeto is better. Can use chemipure for phosphate also.