How to get nitrate below 20ppm

[Shergar11]

Alright folks I have been dosing Red Sea no pox for a 2.5 weeks now but I can't seem to get nitrates below 20 ppm, I am considering vodka dosing, my tank is only 8 months old and I would just like to know if it should be safe to vodka dose ??

Thanks

 

[extremecoral]

have you tried Seachem de-nitrate yet?

 

[glb]

You could also try Seachem purigen. Do you know what the source is?

 

[Shadow1]

Find the source and eliminate it. If you have a heavy bioload you will learn to dose vodka, vinager, vsv, or some other carbon source red sea no3po4x works too. None of it will work in 2 or 3 weeks. Reef keeping is a slow hobby, if you force it to happen fast, bad and expensive lessons will follow.

 

[Shergar11]

No I haven't tried anything other than the nopox, I have a yellow tang, 2 percula clowns royal gramma blue damsel and pink spotted goby in my 200 litre 4 ft tank, could the bioload be to high ?? I test my water weekly and have never had even a trace of ammonia or nitrite, only the nitrates that I can't seem to get below 20, maybe al give the nopox another couple of weeks and see how it progresses

 

[Shadow1]

My system is 300 us gallons I have been using red sea for close to a year. Current livestock is 55 assorted fish including 6 large tangs and 4 large monos. My nitrates were above 40 it took close to 3 months to get to 0. I now dose 2ml every 4 hours and rarely have nitrate levels above 5. Do remember if you have SPS keep your ALK in check I keep my ALK at 7.8 DKH and get burnt tips if it gets above 8.0?

As one of my friends say

Go Slow Let it Grow.

 

[falconut]

I had nitrate issues back when I first started. I was using a canister filter, a sand filter and tap water. So, my issue turned out to be the filtration system and tap water. I was getting nitrate of 100ppm, even with loads of water changes. I setup my 2nd tank differently and use RO/DI water and a good skimmer, my levels are now good. If you can find the source, it should help to eliminate the nitrate levels.

 

[Shergar11]

Nice one mate am gonna keep going with that just now then, just one more thing to ask tho the nopox is 3ml if nitrate is above 10, am I right in saying this is per 100 litres and for my tank I should be putting 6 ml in ?? I have only being dosing 3 ml until the other night when I realised it should probably be 6 !!!

 

[glb]

I had nitrate issues back when I first started. I was using a canister filter, a sand filter and tap water. So, my issue turned out to be the filtration system and tap water. I was getting nitrate of 100ppm, even with loads of water changes. I setup my 2nd tank differently and use RO/DI water and a good skimmer, my levels are now good. If you can find the source, it should help to eliminate the nitrate levels.

I agree. You need to figure out the source if the nitrates and eliminate that. Good luck!

 

[Shadow1]

I don't know ml per liter but it is 3ml per 25 gallons per day, to start I think. So a 100 gallon tank is 100\25=4x3ml=12ml per day.

It is best to dose throughout the day rather than all at once, if your water begins to turn cloudy, cut amount in half.

 

[glb]

I think additives should only be a short-term solution to water quality problems. Seachem purigen or denitrate are adsorbers, which continuously filter out nitrates, so they're working all the time in the filter. I think it's risky to not know why you have the problem. Liquid additives may temporarily help, but some can skew test results or cause other problems. I used Prime in my freshwater tanks for years but learned on this forum that it's not good for saltwater tanks. Just my 0.02, but I'd encourage you to look into it a little more. Good luck!

 

[mike007]

You will need to give the Nopox more time and it does work Excellent product, Also most nitrate problems are excess nutrients in water. Water changes , protein skimming, circulation and most important do not overfeed.