High Nitrate - The Options?

[Itacan]

Hi everyone, ive just tested my nitrate and its rather high (40-50). I do believe this is down to overfeeding, however i am looking at the different ways to aid its removal.

After looking through countless tank threads i see everyone deals with it in a different way, ie chaeto, NoPo4-x, vsv, vinegar, siporax, biopellets, etc.

I have no idea which route to take, my tank is 47gal with mainly lps/zoas, running rowaphos, bm7 skimmer and live rock/sand.

Im leaning towards siporax, mainly because it looks clans and tidy in the sump, but haven't seen many tanks use this.

Any suggestions?

Many Thanks

 

[jamie callard Verified Sponsor]

Water changes

Macro algee weather sump or main tank

Cut back on feeding

 

[dacianb]

Short term effective solution may be RS NoPoX (worked for me to drop NO3 from 50 to 0.25 in few weeks). But do it slower than they recommend on bottles as NO3 drops are sudden and some critters may dont like it.
Cut the feeding a bit and check for flow - you may have some dead spots which accumulate debris. On longer term, of course natural ways as macro algaes are better.

 

[Itacan]

macro algae seems a popular choice, i saw it as an old fashioned way and wondering if the is a newer more effective way. Im guessing it still does a great job seeming its still so popular?

Ive seen a few really nice tanks without any of the methods i mentioned, im wondering if i can get this under control by controlling the food better and a few water changes, do i need any of these methods.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

There are many effective methods, and often there are good reasons to use more than one method.

These include growing macroalgae, algae turf scrubbers, sulfur and carbon denitrators, organic carbon dosing, deep sand beds, extra live rock, and skimming.

I use several of these.

 

[tamu2010]

this may help: http://www.reefedition.com/nitrate-in-the-reef-aquarium/

 

[Itacan]

There are many effective methods, and often there are good reasons to use more than one method.

These include growing macroalgae, algae turf scrubbers, sulfur and carbon denitrators, organic carbon dosing, deep sand beds, extra live rock, and skimming.

I use several of these.

I dont have alot of room to play with in my sump, i only really have one small section roughly 10l in size, so at the moment i want to try one method and see how it goes. Im not sure how effective this small space would be if i added chaeto to it as im under the impression i would need quite alot to be effective. Siporax however would happily sit in the section and require little maintenance.

 

[Itacan]

this may help: http://www.reefedition.com/nitrate-in-the-reef-aquarium/

Many thanks for posting this, i should probably thank Randy too for writing it Very helpful

 

[tamu2010]

Yea, everything Randy stated is spot on. I would like to implement an algae turf scrubber, but I just don't have the room in my sump.

 

[Mike in CT]

We have a huge Duncan in our club tank. The nitrates are always around 80, even with us changing 5 gallons a week (it's a 75). You would not believe how big and awesome this Duncan is! Much better then the one in my tank that has nitrates of about 1.