LOWERING NITRATES..Need advice.

[Zero1091]

Hey guys been looking at ways to lower nitrates in my tank. Have an ugly algae issue im trying to correct
Current parameters are
Nitrates 20-25
Phosphate 0.02
Alk 8.5
Cal 448
Mag 1400
Salt 1.025
Temp 78
PH 8.3

Run a refugium with chaeto and sea lettuce

I have a lot of live rock in the tank, not sure how much in weight but there is a lot lol.

I also run two boxes worth of marine pure spheres in the sump.

In addition have been dosing microbacter 7 in 5ml doses daily for about a month. Just recently upped the dose to 10ml as of today to see if that may help.

Also dose reef trace and reef plus

Any advice?

 

[CivicS14]

Try carbon dosing?

 

[Zero1091]

Pictures may not be the best but here is an example of the algae im trying to remove.
I have a decent cleanup crew aswell, turbos, trochus, hermits throughout the tank

 

[Zero1091]

Try carbon dosing?

Ive considered it but how will it affect my phosphates?
They are already pretty low and wouldn't want to shock the corals with it bottoming out.

 

[CivicS14]

Ive considered it but how will it affect my phosphates?
They are already pretty low and wouldn't want to shock the corals with it bottoming out.

I carbon dose and it doesn't help with phosphates at all. I still have to run GFO to reduce phosphates.

I do a Vodka & Vinegar mix, about 60/40. My nitrates stay between 10 and 25ppm, which is okay for me, corals and fish are happy at this range.

I use GFO to keep my phosphates between .01 - .03ppm.

 

[Zero1091]

I carbon dose and it doesn't help with phosphates at all. I still have to run GFO to reduce phosphates.

I do a Vodka & Vinegar mix, about 60/40. My nitrates stay between 10 and 25ppm, which is okay for me, corals and fish are happy at this range.

I use GFO to keep my phosphates between .01 - .03ppm.

What do you recommend as a starting dose and how much per gallon are you doing?

 

[DirtMcGurt]

I think getting your phosphates up will help. It's not discussed enough and I personally have experience with low nutrients and the impact it had on my tank. When I 1st started my tank, all I ever heard was "keep N03 and P04 as low as possible"... it took forever for me to find out that's why corals kept dying and hair algae kept growing. Now I dose Neophos a couple times a week and my tank looks better then ever. I've never had any luck carbon dosing but that's probably because my P04 was super low, like yours. At 1st I started dosing small and I could tell when that P04 was depleted just by the look of my tank. The diatoms would come 1st, the hair algae starts growing and things get ugly. Everyone's system is different but I keep my P04 at around 0.08. I'm not saying this IS your problem but everyone should be aware of its importance.

 

[Sallstrom]

Dosing a carbon source will likely lower the phosphate as well, but not as much as nitrate. So you are right, you need to consider that IMO. Might go fine if you go with a low maintenance dose to lower the nitrate over a longer period (a couple of months) since phosphate is usually added from feeding the animals. But you’ll need to measure and perhaps more important, look for pale or sad looking corals and also keep and eye out for Cyanobacteria. If that happens or Cyanobacteria appears, the phosphate might be too close to zero.

 

[Fishurama]

Tank size and stocking? You could simply be overstocked, feeding too much, low water flow in certain area will build up phosphates, etc. Carbon dosing, GFO, you can even mix them in a reactor or if you don't want to spend the money/have one, you can even put it in a media bag then your filter sock, albeit in the long run thats more wasteful. Chemical wise lanthanum works best to lower phosphates(if yours did test at .02 its not a worry)IMO but can kill certain tangs if i remember correctly(don't quote me on that).

 

[lmm1967]

Poor Man's Nutrients Control - Donovan's Nitrate Destroyer

Hello fellow reefers!. I have been in the hobby for more than 3 years, the first 2 years was tough. Cyno, diatom, nuisance algae, high NO3 (120ppm at one time) and ich/velvet. I have tried several nutrient control method (poor man, so most of it were DIY project). GFO, water fall scrubber...

www.reef2reef.com

That works - you have to be a little patient - but once you get it dialed in and seeded - you will have trouble keeping any nitrates in your system.

 

[Ubergroover]

Hey guys been looking at ways to lower nitrates in my tank. Have an ugly algae issue im trying to correct
Current parameters are
Nitrates 20-25
Phosphate 0.02
Alk 8.5
Cal 448
Mag 1400
Salt 1.025
Temp 78
PH 8.3

Run a refugium with chaeto and sea lettuce

I have a lot of live rock in the tank, not sure how much in weight but there is a lot lol.

I also run two boxes worth of marine pure spheres in the sump.

In addition have been dosing microbacter 7 in 5ml doses daily for about a month. Just recently upped the dose to 10ml as of today to see if that may help.

Also dose reef trace and reef plus

Any advice?

di you use RODI water?

 

[Zero1091]

Yeah

I think getting your phosphates up will help. It's not discussed enough and I personally have experience with low nutrients and the impact it had on my tank. When I 1st started my tank, all I ever heard was "keep N03 and P04 as low as possible"... it took forever for me to find out that's why corals kept dying and hair algae kept growing. Now I dose Neophos a couple times a week and my tank looks better then ever. I've never had any luck carbon dosing but that's probably because my P04 was super low, like yours. At 1st I started dosing small and I could tell when that P04 was depleted just by the look of my tank. The diatoms would come 1st, the hair algae starts growing and things get ugly. Everyone's system is different but I keep my P04 at around 0.08. I'm not saying this IS your problem but everyone should be aware of its importance.

yeah my phosphates are usually up
Anywhere from 0.03-0.08 usually but the macro algae is doing a great job of keeping it down.
Havent even changed out my gfo and the chaeto with sea lettuce is keeping it at around 0.02 alone.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Hey guys been looking at ways to lower nitrates in my tank. Have an ugly algae issue im trying to correct
Current parameters are
Nitrates 20-25
Phosphate 0.02
Alk 8.5
Cal 448
Mag 1400
Salt 1.025
Temp 78
PH 8.3

Run a refugium with chaeto and sea lettuce

I have a lot of live rock in the tank, not sure how much in weight but there is a lot lol.

I also run two boxes worth of marine pure spheres in the sump.

In addition have been dosing microbacter 7 in 5ml doses daily for about a month. Just recently upped the dose to 10ml as of today to see if that may help.

Also dose reef trace and reef plus

Any advice?

when my tank fits 40 PPM of nitrates then I bring out the sulfur denitrator run it for about a week or two then put it away.

 

[Zero1091]

Tank size and stocking? You could simply be overstocked, feeding too much, low water flow in certain area will build up phosphates, etc. Carbon dosing, GFO, you can even mix them in a reactor or if you don't want to spend the money/have one, you can even put it in a media bag then your filter sock, albeit in the long run thats more wasteful. Chemical wise lanthanum works best to lower phosphates(if yours did test at .02 its not a worry)IMO but can kill certain tangs if i remember correctly(don't quote me on that).

Red sea reefer 250
55 gallons With 30G sump
2 orange storm clowns
Purple tang ( Holding it for a friend)
Yellow watchmen
Six line wrasse
Bandit goby
Mandarin goby (Well established copepods)
Skunk shrimp
15 hermits
3 turbos
8 trochus

Feed once every other day an assortment of mysis and rods foods only what I see the fish can eat.
I also broadcast benepets once a week.

 

[Zero1091]

di you use RODI water?

Yes from a reliable source

 

[DirtMcGurt]

How old is your tank? Also, did this new algae growth just start or have you been battling it from the beginning? Do your corals seem happy with the current tank parameters?

 

[Zero1091]

How old is your tank? Also, did this new algae growth just start or have you been battling it from the beginning? Do your corals seem happy with the current tank parameters?

Tank is two years old and corals are happy as can be. Been battling it since then. Usually run blues on my LEDs because the tank looks more appealing. When I run whites the algae shows and makes everything look a bit ugly in my opinion

 

[Zero1091]

As you can see everything looks good but you can see that green coloration on the rock that drives me a bit crazy. I know
it only means there is a good source of nutrients in the tank but Im trying to get the best of both worlds.

Also feel like it prevents coralline from fully covering the rock.

 

[DirtMcGurt]

Hmm... its kinda hard to say for sure what the source of the algae/high nitrates is. With a full refugium and feeding every other day, I would think they couldn't get too high. I did A LOT of reading on here when my N03 and P04 were out of balance. I tried all kinds of things. My problem was my P04 levels, like I mentioned before. Do you perform water changes?

 

[dwest]

I’d run your tank as is. It looks great. Having lower nitrates likely won’t change the algae issue you are having. But it might cause other problems. JMO