How to lower nitrates

[bcournoyer5]

How can you lower nitrates besides water changes?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Water changes are the quickest method. Otherwise you can incorporate a refugium with macroalgae to consume the nutrients, or a biopellet reactor to take the nutrients out of the water column. But nothing beats a good water change

 

[lapin]

Yep
Short term - water change.
Long range - macro algae , fuge or algae turf scrubber
Also feeding less and what you feed can make a difference.

 

[Waters]

Good quality live rock kept mine undetectable for years.....you need rock that is very porous to allow the anaerobic bacteria in your live rock to convert the nitrates to nitrogen gas. A deep sand bed accomplishes the same thing. I don't have any short term methods other than water changes though.

 

[ducks4rob]

Similar question. I only have live rock in the tank right now. it's a setup that was up for a few years before I bought and moved it. Ammonia and Nitrites are 0. Nitrates testing off the charts. Sample vial looks like it has cherry kool-aid in it with API tests. Tested my Rodi water and it is 0. Any thoughts? Did 25% water change and still high.

 

[GoVols]

How can you lower nitrates besides water changes?

How high are your nitrates?

And... I'd use Salifert.

 

[bcournoyer5]

How high are your nitrates?

My nitrates are about 160ppm, obviously very high

 

[Jason mack]

Question .. when you moved it did you use the same sand ... was it cleaned first ... if not that’s the reason nitrates are so high sturing up all the sand will release lots of nasties into the tank .. normally we wouldn’t advise using the sand again after a move .. I would also recommend water changes in the short term to reduce nitrates

 

[GoVols]

Question .. when you moved it did you use the same sand ... was it cleaned first ... if not that’s the reason nitrates are so high .. normally we wouldn’t advise using the sand again after a move .. I would also recommend water changes in the short term to reduce nitrates

Thanks, Mack

Your on it!!

 

[Jason mack]

Similar question. I only have live rock in the tank right now. it's a setup that was up for a few years before I bought and moved it. Ammonia and Nitrites are 0. Nitrates testing off the charts. Sample vial looks like it has cherry kool-aid in it with API tests. Tested my Rodi water and it is 0. Any thoughts? Did 25% water change and still high.

doing a 25% water change would only reduce it nearly 25 % so a few more will be needed

 

[bcournoyer5]

Good quality live rock kept mine undetectable for years.....you need rock that is very porous to allow the anaerobic bacteria in your live rock to convert the nitrates to nitrogen gas. A deep sand bed accomplishes the same thing. I don't have any short term methods other than water changes though.

I just added caribsea life rock about 2 weeks ago due to an ick outbreak in which I got rid of my live rock about 2 months ago, could that be a reason why they are high, will it go down?

 

[Jason mack]

No

I just added caribsea life rock about 2 weeks ago due to an ick outbreak in which I got rid of my live rock about 2 months ago, could that be a reason why they are high, will it go down?

normally when adding new live rock there’s always some sort of die off .. that’s normal .. that’s possibly the reason you have high nitrates !

 

[ducks4rob]

Question .. when you moved it did you use the same sand ... was it cleaned first ... if not that’s the reason nitrates are so high sturing up all the sand will release lots of nasties into the tank .. normally we wouldn’t advise using the sand again after a move .. I would also recommend water changes in the short term to reduce nitrates

I used new sand with some old to seed it. I washed the sand for what felt like an hour until it ran clear.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

How can you lower nitrates besides water changes?

Very large refugium and patience. After 5 months, I over feed, nitrates stay 1-4ppm.

 

[lapin]

Similar question. I only have live rock in the tank right now. it's a setup that was up for a few years before I bought and moved it. Ammonia and Nitrites are 0. Nitrates testing off the charts. Sample vial looks like it has cherry kool-aid in it with API tests. Tested my Rodi water and it is 0. Any thoughts? Did 25% water change and still high.

If you have no livestock in the tank, do a 90% water change. That will get rid of the issue for the moment. If it comes back then you know something like the rock is causing it and water changes will fix it . Once it stablizes add some livestock

 

[Jesterrace]

How can you lower nitrates besides water changes?

Reduced feeding, Cheato, Algae Scrubber, etc. are all methods to use. I don't recommend chemical methods as they all tend to cause more problems than they solve.