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

[Reef.]

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

Have you been moving rock/sand around? If so then you could have nitrite, it’s worth testing, way cheaper to buy a nitrite test than keep changing water with no drop in nitrates.

 

[ADAM]

Def
Definitely gonna try icp tests once everything opens up

Could it be the Test Kit? How old is the kit? Have you tried a different test kit or had someone else perform the test? The kit should have an expiration date printed on it somewhere also.

Other than the test kit reading high NO3 were there any signs of high nitrates? Algae issue? Fish seem to be in good health (before NOPOX dosing and fish loses)?

Previously being a fish-only system does the owner remember ever using any medications that may be leaching back out of the rocks, sand, etc?

Over the years when something has been strange and hard to diagnose, I would stop dosing everything except Ca/ALK and remove the other chemical filtration to see were the water went naturally.

 

[SheanR7]

Have you been moving rock/sand around? If so then you could have nitrite, it’s worth testing, way cheaper to buy a nitrite test than keep changing water with no drop in nitrates.

Waiting for the lockdown to end so I can buy test kits...
have u guys lost fish due to no pox dosing?

 

[Reef.]

What size water changes have you been doing?

that is a big tank, will need big changes before they are noticed, also remember the nitrate test only measures to around 100, but your real nitrate level could be quite a bit higher, so the test results will seem they are not dropping, when they actually are.

 

[Dbichler]

+1 on ^

 

[SheanR7]

Quite a possibility the nitrates are higher..

Have been doing around 20% twice a week.
Done this for over 4 weeks.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Quite a possibility the nitrates are higher..

Have been doing around 20% twice a week.
Done this for over 4 weeks.

If you stir a small section of your sand bed, do you get any clouding?

I agree with the statement that your NO3 and PO4 are out of balance. The question is, how did it get this way?

NoPoX will not lower NO3 if your PO4 is low.

 

[SheanR7]

If you stir a small section of your sand bed, do you get any clouding?

I agree with the statement that your NO3 and PO4 are out of balance. The question is, how did it get this way?

NoPoX will not lower NO3 if your PO4 is low.

Honestly no idea how did it get this way! Last i know is that there was a care taker who over fed the fish and had done some pest control treatment in the area around the tank.. The tank started clouding and hence when to the rescue..

Also the main reason for the multiple water changes.. To answer ur question about cloulding dsnt reli happen.. I clean the sand once in 2 weeks..

 

[SheanR7]

Could it be the Test Kit? How old is the kit? Have you tried a different test kit or had someone else perform the test? The kit should have an expiration date printed on it somewhere also.

Other than the test kit reading high NO3 were there any signs of high nitrates? Algae issue? Fish seem to be in good health (before NOPOX dosing and fish loses)?

Previously being a fish-only system does the owner remember ever using any medications that may be leaching back out of the rocks, sand, etc?

Over the years when something has been strange and hard to diagnose, I would stop dosing everything except Ca/ALK and remove the other chemical filtration to see were the water went naturally.

Test kits seem fine with expiration date of 2022
Not tried any other test kits.. been testing every week and getting same results.
No algae issues.. Fish eating fine.. but seems like the nopox has ,an aged to take a few lives..

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Honestly no idea how did it get this way! Last i know is that there was a care taker who over fed the fish and had done some pest control treatment in the area around the tank.. The tank started clouding and hence when to the rescue..

Also the main reason for the multiple water changes.. To answer ur question about cloulding dsnt reli happen.. I clean the sand once in 2 weeks..

Ok, tank started to cloud before this happened. That indicates a bacteria bloom. After the tank cleared, unless you did a large water change, the dead bacteria probably contributed to the large NO3 increase.

Back to the sand. Can you take a handful of sand from the bottom of the tank, reaching all the way to the glass on the bottom, pick it up, and then drop it without seeing any cloud in the water. I’m trying to figure out how much detritus you have in the sand. Have you ever checked under the rock work for this?

If you have performed 8 20% water changes with salt water that has 0 nitrates and the nitrate level in your tank is still over 100 ppm, then your tank had to be over 400 ppm to start with.

 

[SheanR7]

I

Ok, tank started to cloud before this happened. That indicates a bacteria bloom. After the tank cleared, unless you did a large water change, the dead bacteria probably contributed to the large NO3 increase.

Back to the sand. Can you take a handful of sand from the bottom of the tank, reaching all the way to the glass on the bottom, pick it up, and then drop it without seeing any cloud in the water. I’m trying to figure out how much detritus you have in the sand. Have you ever checked under the rock work for this?

If you have performed 8 20% water changes with salt water that has 0 nitrates and the nitrate level in your tank is still over 100 ppm, then your tank had to be over 400 ppm to start with.

have been trying to clean all the detritus around the tank and rocks.. yes there is a crazy amount that grows on the rocks, I brush it off and then so a water change..

I think I’ll have to do few more water changes to see results.
On the other hand nopox should have helped to reduce the no3 right?

 

[ReillyReef]

You never told us what the NO3 is? What is your NO3 level?

 

[SheanR7]

You never told us what the NO3 is? What is your NO3 level?

Over a 100

 

[hyprc]

My take on your situation:
Your po4 is far too low for bacteria to thrive with such high nitrate levels. I would dose po4 along with carbon dosing (ESV TE+ is twice as potent as NOPOX in my experience) while skimming wet 24/7. Without efficient skimming (wet, like a weak green tea tint to it) or sufficient balance of po4 vs no3, you're not going to get very far in dropping levels. Also, change your filter socks at the very least every 3 days.

In my experience also, water changes won't do much to drop no3 unless you're physically removing the source (decaying food/organic matter) in the process. Just changing water is spinning wheels unless you're trying to correct an elemental imbalance imo.

I've tried raising po4 by overfeeding with sufficient nitrate and had zero success. I'm talking pellets and flake about 2 to 3 times an hour for 9 hours a day. Only thing that went up was nitrate...

Lastly, crank the lighting on that chaeto and run it 24/7 as it will pull good amounts of no3 out of the water. Again, this will NOT occur without sufficient po4 present in the water. Bacteria need BOTH to thrive, if you're deficient on one, they dwindle and cannot uptake either.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

I

have been trying to clean all the detritus around the tank and rocks.. yes there is a crazy amount that grows on the rocks, I brush it off and then so a water change..

I think I’ll have to do few more water changes to see results.
On the other hand nopox should have helped to reduce the no3 right?

The NoPoX can only help reduce NO3 if you have enough PO4 to go along with it. With such an imbalance, NoPoX will not be that effective.

 

[1mbrews8]

following since I'm having the same issue! Thanks!

 

[SheanR7]

T

My take on your situation:
Your po4 is far too low for bacteria to thrive with such high nitrate levels. I would dose po4 along with carbon dosing (ESV TE+ is twice as potent as NOPOX in my experience) while skimming wet 24/7. Without efficient skimming (wet, like a weak green tea tint to it) or sufficient balance of po4 vs no3, you're not going to get very far in dropping levels. Also, change your filter socks at the very least every 3 days.

In my experience also, water changes won't do much to drop no3 unless you're physically removing the source (decaying food/organic matter) in the process. Just changing water is spinning wheels unless you're trying to correct an elemental imbalance imo.

I've tried raising po4 by overfeeding with sufficient nitrate and had zero success. I'm talking pellets and flake about 2 to 3 times an hour for 9 hours a day. Only thing that went up was nitrate...

Lastly, crank the lighting on that chaeto and run it 24/7 as it will pull good amounts of no3 out of the water. Again, this will NOT occur without sufficient po4 present in the water. Bacteria need BOTH to thrive, if you're deficient on one, they dwindle and cannot uptake either.

Okay so will figure how to increase my po4 now..
The chaeto isnt helping much like u said.. The lights are on 24x7 on them.
Filter floss is being changed every 3 weeks and washed and cleant every 3 to 4 days.
Skimmer is wet skimming..

Lets see where this goes..

 

[hyprc]

T
Okay so will figure how to increase my po4 now..
The chaeto isnt helping much like u said.. The lights are on 24x7 on them.
Filter floss is being changed every 3 weeks and washed and cleant every 3 to 4 days.
Skimmer is wet skimming..

Lets see where this goes..

They make po4 additives (when feeding extra or extra bioload doesn't help), I personally use Loudwolf whenever I can. Just be careful about getting sufficient dilution when you mix the powder with RODI. I would only use 1oz of powder per gallon of RODI for your solution, then start with a dose of 1/4oz of the diluted solution to start out (honestly with a system as large as yours, you'll probably be ok with a full oz of diluted solution but better to be safe than sorry), then test an hour later to see the change made. It's very easy to overdose (although, some have shown that an overdose of even 30ppm po4 isn't detrimental to pretty much any coral, just encourages algae growth).

Make sure you keep that skimmer running wet. As the bacteria start to eat up the no3 and po4 (once it's present), that's how you're exporting it for good. Assuming you have enough PAR on your chaeto, that'll start to grow much faster once you add po4 as well.

 

[SheanR7]

Well seems quiet risky.. but I guess worth a try.. I’ll have to source some sodium nitrate for this now.. thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[Modest]

Bacteria hardly consume nitrates. They mostly eat phosphates. Nitrates are consumed by corals in their growing process.

Make sure you keep that skimmer running wet. As the bacteria start to eat up the no3 and po4 (once it's present), that's how you're exporting it for good. Assuming you have enough PAR on your chaeto, that'll start to grow much faster once you add po4 as well.