High nitrate problem

[drosie]

I have been struggling with my tank lately.. It is a combined 280g system with 2 tanks to 1 sump. I noticed the beginning of dinos and noticed on test my nitrates are 100ppm on salifert test. My question is how do I lower this? Nothing has seemed to work and my phosphate is not proportionate at all imo. I run an oversized skimmer, small fuge full of Calurpa , UV, Activated carbon reactor 150lbs of LR and tons of marine pure bricks and balls. Bio load is honestly not intense at all eihter. Readings are-

Nitrate 100ppm Salifert
Phosphate 0.18 Hanna
Alk 7DKH Salifert
PH 8.14
ORP 388
Should I consider carbon dosing? Raising phosphate while carbon dosing? Something else?

 

[gbroadbridge]

I have been struggling with my tank lately.. It is a combined 280g system with 2 tanks to 1 sump. I noticed the beginning of dinos and noticed on test my nitrates are 100ppm on salifert test. My question is how do I lower this? Nothing has seemed to work and my phosphate is not proportionate at all imo. I run an oversized skimmer, small fuge full of Calurpa , UV, Activated carbon reactor 150lbs of LR and tons of marine pure bricks and balls. Bio load is honestly not intense at all eihter. Readings are-

Nitrate 100ppm Salifert
Phosphate 0.18 Hanna
Alk 7DKH Salifert
PH 8.14
ORP 388
Should I consider carbon dosing? Raising phosphate while carbon dosing? Something else?

Are you reading the test from above or from the side of the vial?

 

[Chortanator]

I would personally do dosing as a last resort. Have you had high nitrates for a while or did it seemingly come out of nowhere? Large (50%+) water changes on a well-established tank are the quickest way of lowering nitrates, but you also need to find the source of the nitrates.

I acquired my tank second-hand, and I thought the sump was filled with refugium mud. Turns out is was a 1.5"-thick layer of detritus. After I siphoned it all out, I never had nitrate problems again (except in the other direction!)

 

[arking_mark]

I've had great success with DIY NOPOX...carbon dosing. Take it slow...as it can have dramatic effect in a short time. You always want to change things slowly.

 

[sdreefer619]

Get rid of the brick and balls in my opinion. What filters are you running. Water change schedule? Water?

 

[drosie]

I would personally do dosing as a last resort. Have you had high nitrates for a while or did it seemingly come out of nowhere? Large (50%+) water changes on a well-established tank are the quickest way of lowering nitrates, but you also need to find the source of the nitrates.

I acquired my tank second-hand, and I thought the sump was filled with refugium mud. Turns out is was a 1.5"-thick layer of detritus. After I siphoned it all out, I never had nitrate problems again

Honestly been high for awhile but not this bad. No major changes. No livestock appears in distress

Get rid of the brick and balls in my opinion. What filters are you running. Water change schedule? Water?

Water is rodi, 0tds. Water changes 30g bi-weekly. I am just concerned removing the bricks will exacerbate the problem as my fish in the larger tank grow as there is little LR in there.

 

[drosie]

This is a 2 tank setup for the record. Bio load is
92g Softie Reef- Anenomes, Softies, 2 Full grown Maroon clowns, Melanarus wrasse, file fish, bicolor goby. Peppermint, hermits, giant turbo snails and a few fighting coaches.
150g 6" Sailfin and new to the tank a 2" Squirrel and 2" V line grouper.

 

[Chortanator]

30g water changes in a 280g system isn't enough to lower the nitrates, that's only a 10% change. Try doing a much larger water change by using a siphon in the sand bed and in the sump.

 

[Uncle99]

This is a 2 tank setup for the record. Bio load is
92g Softie Reef- Anenomes, Softies, 2 Full grown Maroon clowns, Melanarus wrasse, file fish, bicolor goby. Peppermint, hermits, giant turbo snails and a few fighting coaches.
150g 6" Sailfin and new to the tank a 2" Squirrel and 2" V line grouper.

That’s not a big load for a 280G of water.
Is there any possibility the test kit is wrong.
Maybe 50ppm at the start, but 100ppm seems really high to me.
If you have sand and rock and the system is not new, either the test kit is wrong or you have no rock.
Carbon dose takes time buts quite effective and easily administered.
Need to skim well if you go that route.
I took me 12 weeks of daily dosing Nopox to lower N from 50ppm to 5ppm. At 5ppm, I stopped the increase in dose and it’s 4 years now.

 

[Dbichler]

30g water changes in a 280g system isn't enough to lower the nitrates, that's only a 10% change. Try doing a much larger water change by using a siphon in the sand bed and in the sump.

This isn’t a small system where water changes are easy and cheap. You want chemipure elite and diy nopox. I use a ratio of 1/3 of each vodka vinegar and rodi. On 280 gallons start with 10 mls a day and work your way up to probably close to 100mls by 2 months it should drop my current daily dose on my system of 250 gallons is 50mls. Careful with chemipure though phosphate will drop fast watch when it gets close to bottomed out remove and continue nopox

 

[gbroadbridge]

Are you reading the test from above or from the side of the vial?

As I said above, how are you reading the test result?

 

[drosie]

As I said above, how are you reading the test result?

Reading from above… maybe ill invest in the hanna high range nitrate. It is tough to tell sometimes

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I have been struggling with my tank lately.. It is a combined 280g system with 2 tanks to 1 sump. I noticed the beginning of dinos and noticed on test my nitrates are 100ppm on salifert test. My question is how do I lower this? Nothing has seemed to work and my phosphate is not proportionate at all imo. I run an oversized skimmer, small fuge full of Calurpa , UV, Activated carbon reactor 150lbs of LR and tons of marine pure bricks and balls. Bio load is honestly not intense at all eihter. Readings are-

Nitrate 100ppm Salifert
Phosphate 0.18 Hanna
Alk 7DKH Salifert
PH 8.14
ORP 388
Should I consider carbon dosing? Raising phosphate while carbon dosing? Something else?

Large water change?

 

[drosie]

This isn’t a small system where water changes are easy and cheap. You want chemipure elite and diy nopox. I use a ratio of 1/3 of each vodka vinegar and rodi. On 280 gallons start with 10 mls a day and work your way up to probably close to 100mls by 2 months it should drop my current daily dose on my system of 250 gallons is 50mls. Careful with chemipure though phosphate will drop fast watch when it gets close to bottomed out remove and continue nopox

And agreed, it is a pita and expensive to change a huge amount of water. 50 percent change would take nearly 5 brute barrels and literal days to complete with even my high production rodi system.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Reading from above… maybe ill invest in the hanna high range nitrate. It is tough to tell sometimes

I wouldn't bother. The salifert used correctly is just as accurate as the Hanna in the 2-20ppm range (I have both but use the Salifert more as it is easier and quicker).

Once you get above 50 the color doesn't really matter - it's just too high

Best bet are water changes to get it down to about 50 ppm, then Carbon Dosing (No-PO-X) to bring it further down and maintain it. You could use NoPox now, but it typically takes about 3-4 weeks to start working.

edit: You could just use vinegar for carbon, but you need to use about 4 times as much)

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

And agreed, it is a pita and expensive to change a huge amount of water. 50 percent change would take nearly 5 brute barrels and literal days to complete with even my high production rodi system.

Like others, I'm conservative when it comes to changes in the tank, and would still recommend an inconvenient larger water change to starting something that can be difficult to control/predict like carbon dosing. How is your macro growing? If your fuge light is not on 24/7, you might try that for increased nutrient export.

 

[CoralB]

I would first make sure your reading are correct . Get it checked by a different source like a good lfs or a friends test kit who may also be in the hobby

 

[Chortanator]

Like others, I'm conservative when it comes to changes in the tank, and would still recommend an inconvenient larger water change to starting something that can be difficult to control/predict like carbon dosing. How is your macro growing? If your fuge light is not on 24/7, you might try that for increased nutrient export.

+1 on this. Large inconvenient water changes were how I got my nitrates from 100ppm down to 1ppm. Dosing will treat the symptoms, but won't get to the root cause of the nitrates. There's some build-up of something, somewhere, that happened over time to get the nitrates to this level. Once that source is removed, you can dose as you please to lower the rest.

No-Pox crashed my tank several years ago when I tried to use it so I'm probably biased against it, but as someone who was in your position only a couple months ago, I found a few 50% water changes to be better than wiping out my entire tank.

 

[arking_mark]

+1 on this. Large inconvenient water changes were how I got my nitrates from 100ppm down to 1ppm. Dosing will treat the symptoms, but won't get to the root cause of the nitrates. There's some build-up of something, somewhere, that happened over time to get the nitrates to this level. Once that source is removed, you can dose as you please to lower the rest.

No-Pox crashed my tank several years ago when I tried to use it so I'm probably biased against it, but as someone who was in your position only a couple months ago, I found a few 50% water changes to be better than wiping out my entire tank.

NOPOX is no joke. Carbon dosing works...you just need to go slow. Start with a tiny dose and build up over time...monitor daily until you have its measure.

 

[drosie]

All right. It seems the best course of action may be to change out alot of the water. I will vacuum the crap out of the sand bed and change water at same time. I will do multiple 30g water changes over the next week and then consider nopox in the longterm once things stabilize. Do you think I should consider greater CUC in the long run? It will be very difficult to add to the 150 because of the fish present (and to be added) but the 92g should be easy as no big predators in there. I also turned my fuge light to 24hrs and added filter socks which I will change daily