Hi all! Whatever I do, I cannot lower NO3 under 20-25. What am I doing wrong? The tank has been running for 3 years, I have a skimmer with carbon and phosphate minus in the media chamber, lots of live rock and sand, fish and corals. I do a 15-20% water change every two weeks. I aquaforest pro-bio s every week. I feed twice per day, flakes in the morning, a frozen cube in the evening. I dust off my live rock and clean my glass every 2-3 days. I have tested newly mixed salt water andit reads 0 for NO3. All my other parameters are fine. So....what is going on? Any ideas to lower nitrates naturally?
High nitrates no matter what
- Thread starter Eleni18
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Quietman
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If you have a skimmer you may try carbon dosing. Fairly cheap to try and if it works you'll notice an improvement in 305 days. I use NoPox but there are other brands and DIY solutions.
lilgrounchuck
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Not the same. Activated carbon pulls stuff out of water, but not no3. Carbon dosing is adding an organic carbon source to the Water column for bacteria to feed on, which use up no3 in the process, and are then removed by the skimmer.
truetricia
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There are so many reasons why Nitrate can be high. I'm not an expert, but here are a few suggestions.
1. Macroalgae. You can get a reactor if you're concerned about just putting it directly in the DT (or your inhabitants eating it all). Just make sure you consider the source of your macroalgae for possible pests or parasites. Some companies advertise "clean" algae, which is what I use.
2. Test the TDS of your water. Maybe the water tests 0 for nitrate when you first mix it, but perhaps it's got high dissolved solids that later break down into nitrates.
3. Clean your sand bed really well. If your sand bed is really deep, consider removing some of it to make it easier to clean (watch the BRS 160 update video for the potential destabilizing events that can happen with this). Add some sand cleaning clean up crew like nasarrius snails (sp). Clean half your sand bed really well with every water change.
4. Increase the frequency of your water changes. Try weekly. Does this help? If not, then can be diagnostic in and of itself.
5. Consider the type of foods you're feeding. Some have additional fillers. Maybe try using a different brand and see if this changes anything after a week or two.
6. Consider adding a bacterial additive like Dr. Tim's Waste Away, MicroBacter7, or Vibrant. Adding a new strain of bacteria may help with some NO3/PO4 issues.
7. Consider dosing NoPox by Brightwell Aquatics. It is a vodka/vinegar type natural solution that helps to lower NO3 and PO4 in the tank.
8. Switch out your carbon and phosphate for new batches every week or so. Does this seem to help?
9. Feed less! Once a day is pretty good for most fish, absent anthias. Try this for a couple weeks and see how you do!
All of these are relatively simple steps you can take. The macroalgae reactor is probably the most expensive, but increasing your water change schedule and cleaning your sand bed have minimal costs.
Good luck!
Quietman
2500 Club Member
Carbon dosing (there are numberous articles and references) is using ethonal (alcohol) or other sources (sugars) that is readily taken up by denitrifying bacteria. As these bacteria die off they are skimmed out removing the nitrogen.
Easiest without getting into all the DIY stuff and ratios is just a bottle of NoPox honestly. Follow the directions.
This is also the theory behind carbon pellets but that requires reactors.
Oh...make sure you don't drive down nitrate/phosphate to zero with that stuff. That will cause other problems. You still want those detectable. All this assumes you need to reduce nutrients. Many tanks run successfully at higher levels.
Easiest without getting into all the DIY stuff and ratios is just a bottle of NoPox honestly. Follow the directions.
This is also the theory behind carbon pellets but that requires reactors.
Oh...make sure you don't drive down nitrate/phosphate to zero with that stuff. That will cause other problems. You still want those detectable. All this assumes you need to reduce nutrients. Many tanks run successfully at higher levels.
Quietman
2500 Club Member
One last thing as I was sitting here enjoying my morning coffee with the sun streaming in the windows for one of the first times this spring...
One thing I really like about carbon dosing is the ability to dial in pretty easily the level of nitrate you wish. A little or a lot - I have 40 gallon with average fish load and if my nitrates climb to 5 ppm I increase by 1/2 ml and next week they're back down to 3 ppm. They go a little low and I back off 1/2 ml or so. Just go very slow at first until you get a feel for it (if you wish to go this method of course).
You do have to handle phosphates separately but that's true with most solutions at some point.
Best of luck! Do let us know how it works out with all the good suggestions you have.
One thing I really like about carbon dosing is the ability to dial in pretty easily the level of nitrate you wish. A little or a lot - I have 40 gallon with average fish load and if my nitrates climb to 5 ppm I increase by 1/2 ml and next week they're back down to 3 ppm. They go a little low and I back off 1/2 ml or so. Just go very slow at first until you get a feel for it (if you wish to go this method of course).
You do have to handle phosphates separately but that's true with most solutions at some point.
Best of luck! Do let us know how it works out with all the good suggestions you have.
