High Nitrates everything else seems normal

[SPIREEFER]

Im a bit new to the reef aspect of saltwater tanks used to keep FOWLR but now I'm starting to table in the coral world. I did a water test today and my nitrates are super high 60 but i don't overfeed and i just did a water change 1 week ago, i rum a Red Sea Reefer 350 with a Octopus Skimmer 150SS, have a biopelet reactor (installed a week ago), a GFO, and a carbon reactor, Calcium is at 500, Alk at 10, and Mag at 1500. I tried in the past to dose with Vodka and with other products and have not been able to drop those nitrates, ANY help would be appreciated.

 

[Acrofiend]

How long has your tank been set up?

 

[SPIREEFER]

Tank has been up for 1 year and 3 months

 

[Maacc]

If you just installed a biopellet reactor a week ago, give it some time to dial in, I wouldn't make any more changes until you get it settled out. Is the media tumbling well? Is the effluent discharging close to the the skimmer intake?

 

[SPIREEFER]

Yes media is tumbling well and the discharge is close to the skimmer intake

 

[Falreef]

Same problem here, but tank isn't yet even 80 days, 30 gallon JBJ. Filled with coral and good number of small fish.
All looks very stable and happy and thriving. Everything growing and coloring up good.
Numbers haven't changed much in 4 weeks. SG 1.260 35 PPT, dKH 4/10, Calcium 430-460, Magnesium 1400, Phos 0.25, Iodide 0.
Adding supplements with (in this order): Tech M Magnesium 1.0 ml 3 days / week; NO2-PO4-X 2.0 ml / day; Liquid Calcium 1.5 ml / day;
Nano A 2.0 ml / day; Nano B 2.0 ml / day; Iodide 0.5 ml once weekly; Strontium and Molybdenum 0.5ml once weekly.
This is a Reef tank, with over 50 frags of a variety of corals. Biggest problem I have is placement of corals to keep certain ones from causing harm to other ones.

 

[GoVols]

If you just installed a biopellet reactor a week ago, give it some time to dial in, I wouldn't make any more changes until you get it settled out. Is the media tumbling well? Is the effluent discharging close to the the skimmer intake?

+1
Give it at least 6 weeks.

Just for the record...
I loathe bio-pellet reactors.

 

[Falreef]

93 days and counting. Found out there is a 3-4" bristle worm in the tank. Trying to create a trap. The character got his head in to eat the food, but never went fully into the trap. Set it up with 4 long strips of airline tubing into a plastic bottle. I guess the tubing wasn't long enough.
Otherwise, reef tank seems to be doing well. A number of corals are growing rapidly. A few are already well encrusted over frag plugs and onto rocks.
I've lost a few corals during this time. I think I had a few the developed RTN or STN, mostly the green bird's nest and stylophora. Which was suprising because they were doing really well. Also had an odd thing happen with a few mushrooms that had not yet settled themselves onto a rock, rubble in an isolation container. They just dissolved to mush. The other mushrooms scattered around the tank are flourishing. The fasting growing seems to be a Lemon Lime Favia.
Question: Does Moon Coral often get sold as brain coral? I have one L shaved or angled shaped piece, that sends out long runners, but looking in the books, it looks
more like a Moon coral than a brain coral.

 

[Falreef]

100 Days will be 6/13/17

 

[Falreef]

Numbers haven't changed much in 6 weeks. SG 1.260 35 PPT, dKH 4.5/12.6, Calcium 430-460, Magnesium 1330-1400, Phos 0.25, Iodide 0.
Nitrates persist at 60-80. But everything doing well.
Adding supplements with (in this order): Tech M Magnesium 1.0 ml 6-7 days / week; NO2-PO4-X 2.5 ml / day; Liquid Calcium 1.5 ml / day;
Nano A 2.0 ml / day; Nano B 2.0 ml / day; Iodide 0.5 ml once weekly; Strontium and Molybdenum 0.5ml once weekly.
This is a Reef tank, with over 60 frags of a variety of corals.

 

[Fishfinder]

You stole this thread.....

 

[GoVols]

Numbers haven't changed much in 6 weeks. SG 1.260 35 PPT, dKH 4.5/12.6, Calcium 430-460, Magnesium 1330-1400, Phos 0.25, Iodide 0.
Nitrates persist at 60-80. But everything doing well.
Adding supplements with (in this order): Tech M Magnesium 1.0 ml 6-7 days / week; NO2-PO4-X 2.5 ml / day; Liquid Calcium 1.5 ml / day;
Nano A 2.0 ml / day; Nano B 2.0 ml / day; Iodide 0.5 ml once weekly; Strontium and Molybdenum 0.5ml once weekly.
This is a Reef tank, with over 60 frags of a variety of corals.

If you don't mind.
What test kits are you using to check you phos. and nitrates?

 

[GoVols]

You stole this thread.....

No Worries.
We are all Reef 2 Reef family.

 

[Falreef]

API test kit for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Phosphate, Copper and pH. Also have a digital pH meter. Red Sea Reef Pro for dKH / Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium.
Also have Red Reef for Iodine, Iron and something else. And of course refractometer.

?Stole thread? Thought I was sharing information. Having a conversation. These forums and reef keeping is all new to me. I don't know what you mean and I'm sure to make many mistakes.

 

[GoVols]

API test kit for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Phosphate, Copper and pH. Also have a digital pH meter. Red Sea Reef Pro for dKH / Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium.
Also have Red Reef for Iodine, Iron and something else. And of course refractometer.

?Stole thread? Thought I was sharing information. Having a conversation. These forums and reef keeping is all new to me. I don't know what you mean and I'm sure to make many mistakes.

You did not steal anything and your on the same topic as OP. It's all good. We are all here to share and learn.

The Below are just my opinions...
Drop the Red Sea mag and go with the Salifert. It's a more stable test and a lot easier to preform. The RSP mag is well known to give high readings and I've seen it for myself.

Phos. - The Hanna phos or ulr checker. Got to keep the vials squeaky clean and no finger prints.

Nitrate - Salifert nitrate kit.

It's ok to lower your phos and nitrates but take it slow. If you go too fast you can shock your corals. If you get down close to (ULNS) levels then you'll need to dose something like Red Sea "Reef Energy" to keep your organics up. I've seen too many times that reefers think they are bleaching they're lps with lights but 9 out of 10 times they have stripped out their water column so much that there are no organics left into the water column and then there corals bleach out.

 

[Falreef]

GoVols, thanks. As I run out of Red Sea Pro Reef test kit, I'll try the Salifert or Hannas.
Everything I've done with the tank has been slow. 0.5ml dosing changes per day, only a week at a time with changes.
Salifert nitrate test any better. Hanna sells a tester, but it's well over $ 200+ without reagents!
Appreciate the feedback.
I've been careful doing the testing, so I am pretty sure of my numbers. If I just went on what the books
and others have told me, the nitrates would freak me out. But looking at the health of the tank, I'm not so sure.

I've kept freshwater for over 50 years, haven't tested in over 45 or more.
In saltwater I am testing regularly, but as things are pretty stable now for weeks, I'll likely test less, just settle in to the
maintenance. I know as the corals especially grow, that magnesium and calcium could deplete at a faster rate over time
and I'll have to adjust the dosing.

Spireefer and GoVols, how do you determine amount of Vodka to use, or sugar, or white vinegar? Are any of them
really effective for nitrates? Can you dose too much? How much would be too much in a 30 gallon?

Spireefer, how big is your tank?

 

[GoVols]

@Falreef
Your Welcome!

The only two great Hanna checkers that I know of is the Alk and Phos.

I'll let others answer the carbon dosing.

Regards, GoVols

 

[SPIREEFER]

@Falreef You STOLE my thread lol jk, i hope you find the answers for your problem since I'm on the same boat and it is frustrating, i have gotten mine lower but not yet to the levels I'm looking for, from what i can tell with the Red Sea Pro test kit they are around 35 what I'm doing is water changes every week plus i installed a macro algae reactor (More as a refugium since i don't have the space) but it should help as well with the biopellets, so hopefully will get them to 5 or so.

 

[GoVols]

@Falreef You STOLE my thread lol jk,

;Hilarious

 

[Falreef]

Spireefer consider trying this. Start with NO3-PO4-X at 0.5cc daily for a week (per 30 gallons), recheck, then increase by 0.5cc daily each week (per 30 gallons). Your tank is how large? Red Sea 350, so that's in the 120-150 gallon range? I guess you are also running a sump.
Consider putting in mangroves in your sump. Now over the past 2 weeks, I have finally seemed to 1/2 the nitrates to 40 from 80.
Everything in the tank still generally looks the same with also all the other parameters unchanged. Only change is that I have gradually increased NO3-PO4-X to 3ml daily, and have added 8 Mangrove pods to the back of the all in one, suspended in foam.
I'll follow it now every few days over the next few weeks and see as the mangroves grow that this improves.
I had tried other Macroalgaes and even Chaeto, but those just degraded in the tank and never seemed to make a difference.
Let me know what you are trying. Looking at mostly natural ways to decrease this and maintain this at lower than I have been running.
But as long as everything looks good, I'm not trying to worry and chase the numbers.

Just did a 40-50% freshwater change in my monster fish tank. Running only this one 30 gallon tank, my first reef tank. Still running 9 freshwater tanks. Have been in the hobby for 50 years, just not into saltwater until recently.
It's different.