Frustrated with Nitrates

[Humorosity]

Just doing some research on how to bring the nitrates down in the tank at work. I came across this thread and was hoping for an update. Is it getting any better and if so what do you feel helped the most lighting changes or feeding? and How are the nitrates coming along?

 

[Nano sapiens]

Via personal experince and reading countless threads, water changes will only temporaily reduce ntrate levels if nothing else is changed. Nitrates rising is common in tanks with few fish and little to no coral feeding, which seems counterintuitive doesn't it?. The bigger the tank, the longer it can typically go before manifesting higher nitrate. I prefer a bit lower than 10 ppm, but many tanks operate just fine at this level.

I've maintained a 12g 'mixed reef' for 7 years now with consistently low nitrates (less than 1 ppm NO3) for most of those years with no mechanical or chemical filtration. The 'how' lies in the balance, which means enough consistent food input to keep the bacteria in the sand bed/live rock processing optimally, while also removing detritus anywhere in the system on a regular basis (the nitrifying/denitrifying bacteria need a constant flow of nutrients to perform optimally). Removing detritus regularly also removes organics from the system before they can break down further which helps keep nitrogen and phosphate stay low.

 

[brandon429]

my mini summary

get second readings test comparison before acting on high ish nitrates

determine independent of test kit reading the significance (algae, coral color issues, how do these readings impact your tank)

if an issue,

removing nutrient sink matters most or it keeps coming back. any thing but exporting detritus or detritus stores would be considered a band aid for having left them in place

Randys article details nicely why water changes are poor nitrate supports when the sink or similar input is maintained

most common after the fact nitrate dealing eq or approaches are

bare bottom no sand

correct dsb, not sinked

plant arrangements one way or another

denitrator coil setups

additives that cause bacteria to grow and consume it

filtration structures that support denitrification (siporax claims to, live rock is claimed to etc)

materials in the filter that would bind it until pad changed

 

[kkgaskin90]

Just as an update, I tested with a newer kit and it consistently is reading 0ppm (which I'm sure it is 0-5, but this kit doesn't read more precise than that. All corals and fish seem to be thriving other than a bacterial infection they are getting over.
The original test kit still reads at 5 ppm, but it is older (3 years, still not expired though) and the drops come out of the bottle a significantly darker color than the newer test.