need help... high nitrates

zemuss · Jun 24, 2015

What skimmer do you have?

How big is the algae turf scrubber?

Read Randy's thread he linked you might not be dosing enough vodka to see a change in Nitrates. So you might want to increase the dosage.

tgp4274 · Jun 24, 2015

Ok i will. Tho raiseing 5mils a week seems a bit high..... :/

Reefing Madness · Jun 24, 2015

Nope, just gets you there faster. Most think they will overdose their tanks, thats not a worry, you'd have to dump in half the bottle to really mess up your tank. This ramps up the time frame of your dose, so it gets there quicker. The directions you've seen in the past were for experimental reasons, doesn't mean they have to be followed to a T. I've given these directions to countless people, and have not had one incident where we've killed or messed up anything.

zemuss · Jun 24, 2015

Can you dose vodka for a period of time? I would like to dose just to get the cyano out of my system then let the ATS do its thing. Right now I hover at nitrate level of 5 which is tested with a red sea test kit. I have undetectable phos readings but know that is partially because of the cyano and ATS. I know the ATS over time will beat out the cyano but would rather kill it before than later.

iratherBfishing · Jun 24, 2015

Hold up a second! Before I read anyone else's ideas let me tell you mine. Use PRIME to detoxify the nitrate trust me I brought my fish back from the dead with that stuff. And to bring down the nitrates use red seas NOPOx that stuff has my nitrates in my 55 gallon from 10 to 5 ppm average. Try it

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 24, 2015

iratherBfishing said:
Hold up a second! Before I read anyone else's ideas let me tell you mine. Use PRIME to detoxify the nitrate trust me I brought my fish back from the dead with that stuff. And to bring down the nitrates use red seas NOPOx that stuff has my nitrates in my 55 gallon from 10 to 5 ppm average. Try it

FWIW, I'm not convinced that Prime helps with nitrate. I don't see a mechanism for it, and even Seachem cannot say how it works.

When it does "appear" to work, it might be only because it is reducing other toxins that may also be present (such as ammonia).

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 24, 2015

zemuss said:
Can you dose vodka for a period of time? I would like to dose just to get the cyano out of my system then let the ATS do its thing. Right now I hover at nitrate level of 5 which is tested with a red sea test kit. I have undetectable phos readings but know that is partially because of the cyano and ATS. I know the ATS over time will beat out the cyano but would rather kill it before than later.

There's nothing wrong with stopping vodka and other organic carbon dosing after a while, but if you've built up a lot of bacteria on rocks and such, they will probably slowly decline in numbers, possibly releasing their nutrients back to the water.

FWIW, I wouldn't assume that vodka dosing will help with cyano. It might make it worse as some species of cyano can consume ethanol.

zemuss · Jun 24, 2015

Ok, i do remember hearing cyano can live in a tank with low nitrate presense. This would mean cyano doesn't consume just nitrates and phos, but might be consuming other toxins or organics in the tank ?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 24, 2015

Cyanobacteria (at least some of them) are the only species commonly in our aquaria that can use nitrogen gas (N2) from the atmosphere as a source of nitrogen.

Now whether they actually do that in an aquarium where there necessarily is ammonia and nitrate (regardless of kit readings), I do not know.

Since they are bacteria, they can also consume organics of some sorts. Those will often contain nitrogen and sometimes phosphate, and certainly provide energy. Reducing organic matter (better skimming, more GAC, etc.) can sometimes help with cyano.

zemuss · Jun 24, 2015

Well here goes a week of wet skimming..

beaslbob · Jun 24, 2015

Let me see if I understand this correctly.

you have 130ppm nitrates (api test kit)
have lost 5 fish in 3 days recently.
had a seam leak in the tank a few months ago and had to tear it down.
have algae
run an algae turf scrubber.
am dosing vodka (but probably recently)

And feel your fish have died because of the nitrates.

With that as a summary my observation would be it is not the nitrates but rather what casued the nitrate bump to begin with.
With an algae turf scrubber or macros in a refugium, high nitrates can be from the algae consuming a recent ammonia spike and foregoing nitrates for nitrogen. That would be actually a very good thing as the algae is preventing or at least trying to prevent a tank crash.

IMHO you have somehow shocked the tank and that is the cause of the fish deaths. The recent seam leak and whatever the fix for that is high on my suspicion list.

I would stop dosing the vodka and let the algae control the tank. Hopefully everything will settle down and recover.

But that's just my .02

Chaz D · Jun 24, 2015

When you tore down the tank did you use new sand?...If you can, a refresh is definitely worth it.

tgp4274 · Jun 24, 2015

the tank had a seam starting to leak. I moved all the fish rock and corals to a pool in my garage while I ordered new glass and totally built a new tank.. when I was setting the new tank back up I reused all the water. washed and washed and washed the sand. I also quick washed the rock just to blow the garbage outa the nooks and cranies
new tank has been up n running about a month....
I will buy a amm kit tomarow while i'm out n see what come up with...
oh and I have been fighting high nitrates for quite awhile before I had the tear down....

thank allllll of you for your help!!!