Have serious no3 issue which dosent seem to come down!!

[SheanR7]

So guys ive been helping a friend with this 2500 ltr (over 600 US gallons) setup.. The tank has been running for about almost a year now.. It was a fish only and now trying to convert it into a reef..
We have been facing a serious no3 hike where the readings from a salifert kit always says over a 100.. Have done water changes twice a week for 4 weeks straight.. Added micro algae to the sump. Skimmer running fine, But still cant find the source of no3.
Anything am doing wrong?

Ps:- the tank has fish which are fed 1ce a day all on pellets..

 

[Dbichler]

You could try diy nopox worked wonders for me on a 600 gallon tank water changes are expensive compared to dosing. Just start with a small dose and slowly bring dose up. Takes about 4 weeks to see any results but when you do it goes down fast so be ready to drop dose at that point.

 

[SheanR7]

Am done with 3 ltrs of no3 po4x. Dose 50 to 60 ml a day.. And no change in weekly test..

 

[Dbichler]

Did you ever get to the white film build up on glass or other surfaces. If not you didn’t get to a high enough dose. I got up to 40 on my 210 before seeing any build up then dropped fast. You just have to be careful if you go to high you’ll get a bacterial boom.

 

[SheanR7]

Yes this weird whitish film does build up on the glass.. Never experienced that before when iv used nopox.. So shuld i lower the dosage?

 

[IslandLifeReef]

What are your PO4 levels?

Tell us more about the tank. Bare bottom? How much rock? Type equipment in tank or sump.

 

[SheanR7]

The tank has about 3 inches of sand bed. A good enuf rock scape was doing decent as a fish only..
Has a big sump around 200ltrs odd,
bio logical filtration with filter floss, carbon and micro algae.
Skimmer from skims not sure of the modle. Have attached a few pics.
Test on salifert :-
Po4 last checked 5 days ago was 0.02
No3 100 as constant

Trying to achieve coraline algae but the my friend got cheated with diy lights sold to him stating they would work for a reef system too.. The lights arnt powerfull enuf.

Have been getting some sponge or tunicate growth on the rocks..
@Dbichler have attcched pics of the white film on the galss.

Also have lost a few fish since the dosing of nopox.

 

[Dbichler]

Tank is out of balance from po4 and no3 however why is the protein skimmer so clean you want to run wet for nopox to work to its full potential. It should have turned really dark by 4 weeks of dosing. As for the white film you were just shy of the dose should be slightly stringy. I’m not Randy by any means so this is all just ime.

 

[Angelwolf21203]

Following

 

[Reef.]

What is the nitrite reading?

if there are nitrites showing, then the nitrate test will show a high reading.

 

[SheanR7]

Th

Tank is out of balance from po4 and no3 however why is the protein skimmer so clean you want to run wet for nopox to work to its full potential. It should have turned really dark by 4 weeks of dosing. As for the white film you were just shy of the dose should be slightly stringy. I’m not Randy by any means so this is all just ime.

Those pics are from the day i dismantled and cleant the skimmer.. Hence its clean.. Just some maintenance on the thing.. It does give out some good skimming.. But not dark.. Ut froths well. All seems just fine.. But i still dont understand the spike! This system just baffles me!! More than a month of work on it.. And still no change!

 

[ADAM]

I had Nitrate passing thru my RODI. So when I was battling high nitrates a couple years ago doing water changes didn’t help much. Although I was only in the 25-50 range at the highest level.
An ICP test may be helpful. I would personally try both the Triton tests, ICP-OES and N-Doc

 

[SheanR7]

What is the nitrite reading?

if there are nitrites showing, then the nitrate test will show a high reading.

I havnt chked the no2 in a while as i exhausted my test kit and due to the lock down here no1 is delivering. Am guessing that ill be high to

 

[SheanR7]

Def

I had Nitrate passing thru my RODI. So when I was battling high nitrates a couple years ago doing water changes didn’t help much. Although I was only in the 25-50 range at the highest level.
An ICP test may be helpful. I would personally try both the Triton tests, ICP-OES and N-Doc

Definitely gonna try icp tests once everything opens up

 

[Dbichler]

Tank is over a year old not likely to have nitrites. From what I’ve read nitrates won’t come down without more phosphates. Like I said above I’m no chemist.

 

[SheanR7]

Tank is over a year old not likely to have nitrites. From what I’ve read nitrates won’t come down without more phosphates. Like I said above I’m no chemist.

You could be right.. The last i remebr the nitrites wernt that high.. This was a month ago though..

 

[Dbichler]

Unless you have die off in the tank or your water changes have ammonia there’s little that could produce a nitrite reading. It’s a non factor. Dose phosphate and continue nopox.

 

[SheanR7]

Dose phosphate? How shuld i do that.. Also will that not nullify a part of nopox dosing?

 

[Dbichler]

Surprisingly feed more. Nitrates are usually slower to come down than phosphate. You could buy supplements but I would try feeding more first personally. I still think you are just too early to see results from dosing nopox yet.

 

[SheanR7]

Hmm... will try this too...
with frequent WC I was hoping for some results.. but nothing..