HIGH NITRATES IN AQUARIUM

[WVReefJunkie]

I have a 220 gallon reef aquarium that has been up and running for a year and a half roughly. I have three reactors running on my tank that include GFO, Kalkwasser and Charcoal. I have been having issues with sps coral that wants to bleach and also zoanthids that are dying off over a long length of time. I dont think the sps is bleaching because of lighting because I have not changed the lighting in any way. The seem to bleach some then color back up. I feed the tank three times a day with flake through a auto feeder and mysis with seaweed in the evenings daily. The reason Iam posting this post is that with a salifert test kit I am getting 50- 100 ppm nitrate. I have cleaned the sump with no help to reducing my nitrate levels. Do you think the high nitrates could be causing my issues with my corals? I do have a deep sand bed, but it would impossible to clean with the amount of corals and rock work in my tank.

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

Feeding three times a day is a lot. do you have specific species of fish that require that much food? you sure your test kit is good? have you tried another test kit? large water changes will reduce no3, as would a pellet reactor. the next issue would be maintaining your no3 at an acceptable level.

 

[Bdog4u2]

Grow chaeto in your sump or add a turf scrubber. Long time ago my nitrates were 80-180+ I tried carbon dosing but got dinos. I always kept a light over my sump and I bought a few bags of pods and tossed them in with the little balls of chaeto and those little balls grew fast and filled my sump up and now if I sent trim it my nitrates stay untraceable. I'm trying to find a balance now between 2-5 ppm and I feed more than you do

 

[WVReefJunkie]

I have around twenty fish in my 220 gallon system. I feed the amounts I feel needed for these fish. I had chaeto in my sump but it died out eventually. I would be interested in some info on how to install a turf scrubber. Do you know where I could find this? Thanks

 

[Bdog4u2]

Algae scrubbers are easy to make Google it there are tons of diy. The king of diy on you tube shows you how to make one also. Did you flip or tumble your chaeto? My bottom turns white if I don't flip it once a week