High Nitrate removal

[PeterEde]

Water changes made no dent in my nitrates which test at 50ppm. Likely higher since 50 is the highest level on the Redsea test. I thought about a Hanna HR Nitrate but that might be pointless as it only does as high as 75ppm.

I placed Seachem Matrix in a few weeks back which so far has made no difference.
I have now been dosing Quantum HR Nitrate remover for the last week.

Maybe something is now working?
Since last night my skimmer is going nuts with foam. Is this due to the Quantum HR Nitrate remover or something else?

As a PS I am now looking at buying or building a Sulfur reactor. Is this a better idea than dosing carbon? I've read using sulfur means my PH will be affected. Fine I am already dosing Seachem Marine Buffer to keep PH at 8.3 and KH 9-10

 

[blaxsun]

I might try something like NOPOX. Yes, some nitrate removers can cause your skimmer to go haywire (I haven't found this to be the case with NOPOX). NOPOX works, but if you go that route start with half the recommended dosage and expect results to take a few weeks.

 

[J1a]

Do have some patience with carbon dosing. It takes a week or two for the bacteria population to build up.

Then you will see the nitrate starts to fall.

Imo don't rush to add the sulfur denitrator, just give the carbon dosing some time to kick start.

 

[TheXpander]

Op how did you get on with this in the end?

 

[PeterEde]

Op how did you get on with this in the end?

Gave up on quantum. Didn't see a change but maybe didn't give it long enough.
Did a50%wc. That caused cyano.
Turned to nopox. Testing goes down then up. Yesterday's was same as day before. Hopefully now going down.
Added more bio bricks and more lr into fuge. Lots of algae now growing. Fingers crossed today's numbers go down

 

[TheXpander]

Good luck!

 

[polyppal]

I’ve gone old school with bio pellets in a reactor and very happy with the stability of lower nitrate levels. Takes about 6-8 weeks for them to really kick in though so it’s not quick

 

[PeterEde]

I’ve gone old school with bio pellets in a reactor and very happy with the stability of lower nitrate levels. Takes about 6-8 weeks for them to really kick in though so it’s not quick

Which reactor and how big is your system.
Nitrates went up again. Driving me nuts

 

[homer1475]

Adding all those biobricks, LR, biomedia stuff all takes a long time to get working. First you have to grow nitrosomas bacteria, then deep within the rock you will grow the bacteria to convert nitrates to nitrogen gas. Again takes a long time, read 3+ months to get working.

Sulfur denitrator is going to take the same amount of time, if not longer to get working.

Carbon dosing, again takes a while to get working.

All 3 methods work, just takes a while to get going. None of them are immediate.

Only thing to get high nitrates under control immediately, is WC's. Although not economical, it is effective, and instant.

Test method wasn't mentioned, what are you using for your tests.

And purely out of curiosity, have you tested for nitrites? You do know any amount of nitrites will show abnormally high nitrates? Just a thought I had when typing this out.

 

[homer1475]

If your WC didn't bring them down.......

Have you blown off your rock work? Removed any uneaten food? Cut back on food a bit? Cleaned up any detritus piles in the sump, etc, etc.

It may just be a case of having to many animals in the box of water you have going. Whats your stock list look like, and tank size?

All these things contribute to nitrates.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Water changes made no dent in my nitrates which test at 50ppm. Likely higher since 50 is the highest level on the Redsea test. I thought about a Hanna HR Nitrate but that might be pointless as it only does as high as 75ppm.

I placed Seachem Matrix in a few weeks back which so far has made no difference.
I have now been dosing Quantum HR Nitrate remover for the last week.

Maybe something is now working?
Since last night my skimmer is going nuts with foam. Is this due to the Quantum HR Nitrate remover or something else?

As a PS I am now looking at buying or building a Sulfur reactor. Is this a better idea than dosing carbon? I've read using sulfur means my PH will be affected. Fine I am already dosing Seachem Marine Buffer to keep PH at 8.3 and KH 9-10

Is your tank still happy? If so, just keep your mechanical filters clean, keep up with water changes, try not to overfeed, and as @homer1475 said, give the bacteria time to catch up.

 

[homer1475]

Is your tank still happy? If so, just keep up with water changes, try not to overfeed, and as @homer1475 said, give the bacteria time to catch up.

Yeah I don't think 50 is an immediate emergency, but it is at a level where I would start to be concerned.

If it were me and my 80G tank, I would just do a 80% WC, or close to it, and drop them down to 20 or so. I have done it in the past, so I know it works.

 

[PeterEde]

Adding all those biobricks, LR, biomedia stuff all takes a long time to get working. First you have to grow nitrosomas bacteria, then deep within the rock you will grow the bacteria to convert nitrates to nitrogen gas. Again takes a long time, read 3+ months to get working.

Sulfur denitrator is going to take the same amount of time, if not longer to get working.

Carbon dosing, again takes a while to get working.

All 3 methods work, just takes a while to get going. None of them are immediate.

Only thing to get high nitrates under control immediately, is WC's. Although not economical, it is effective, and instant.

Test method wasn't mentioned, what are you using for your tests.

And purely out of curiosity, have you tested for nitrites? You do know any amount of nitrites will show abnormally high nitrates? Just a thought I had when typing this out.

Hanna HR checker
Did 50% wc when I last hit 50ppm.
That dropped by half but cause cyano. Won't do that again

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Hanna HR checker
Did 50% wc when I last hit 50ppm.
That dropped by half but cause cyano. Won't do that again

How old is your system? I doubt just 1 water change alone caused cyano.

 

[homer1475]

WC didn't cause cyano, the immdiate imbalance caused cyano. So more or less, yes, but cyano will go away once equilibrium is met again.

What are your phosphates at?

 

[PeterEde]

Is your tank still happy? If so, just keep your mechanical filters clean, keep up with water changes, try not to overfeed, and as @homer1475 said, give the bacteria time to catch up.

Doing 50% wc caused some upset coral but caused worse problem with cyano.
Now lights off to kill cyano

 

[PeterEde]

How old is your system? I doubt just 1 water change alone caused cyano.

System had not had cyano. Seems odd it arrived day after 50% wc. Coincidence maybe.
5 months now.

 

[homer1475]

Where was the cyano most concentrated?

Dying algae will also create cyano as it dies, Cyano loves dying GHA.

Lights out will help with cyano, but it will not kill it. Soon as you turn your lights back up, it will come right back.

Fixing the imbalance, and adding something(live phytoplankton) to outcompete it, will beat it back.

I would still like to see a phosphate number?

 

[homer1475]

Chemiclean will also get rid of cyano, but I'm not a fan of chemical treatments, when fixing an imbalance will cure it.

Our tanks are micro biomes, you kill other things with chemiclean that can throw things more imbalanced then they were.

 

[PeterEde]

Where was the cyano most concentrated?

Dying algae will also create cyano as it dies, Cyano loves dying GHA.

Lights out will help with cyano, but it will not kill it. Soon as you turn your lights back up, it will come right back.

Fixing the imbalance, and adding something(live phytoplankton) to outcompete it, will beat it back.

I would still like to see a phosphate number?

Phosphate is .1 last I checked.
Will do another test.
Cyano is mostly bottom front.
Chemiclean next