Need help with Nitrates

[reefscaper]

Need help with nitrates. I have not yet tested so I don't know my perimeters however when my mushroom leathers don't open and the tips on my birds nest coral are rounded that usually indicates that my nitrates are high. I will do a water change Saturday but any suggestions in the meantime to start reducing?

 

[Connie]

I'd check phosphates as well. Phosphates stunt coral growth. Really need more info on what your load is, do you have a skimmer, tank size, etc.

 

[fragmatic]

In in the same camp with Connie, ...Really interested in knowing salinity, PO4, KH, and NO3. How old is the tank? You need lots of nutrients pulsing through that water, with low PO4.

However, I am not a big fan of leathers so consider that in your evaluation of my advice, ...wink.

 

[pelagic]

There are many ways to reduce N, P

1. Water Change
2. Carbon source - vodka dosing, Bio pellets
3. Algae Scrabber
4. Algae - eg: cheto
5. Phosphate, Nitrate absorption.

a. if you have a skimmer, the easiest/cheapest method is to dose vodka, bio pellets if you are lazy like me.
b. option 3 is pretty popular and effective. I think gmoney mike is the expert of this. not expensive to make, but you need space
c. be careful when you are using option 5, cause it sometimes cause problems

 

[dcfluegel]

we are attacking our nitrate issue on two fronts - added a brs biopellet reactor (currently using the brs biopellets that came with it, will switch over to warner ecobak when these are depleted...) and added a refugium with chaeto and mangroves - just installed 6 weeks ago, so according to advice I have seen on this forum, should start seeing some traction in the next 2 weeks or so and then going forward...

 

[gmoney243]

An algae scrubber will show immediate reduction of nit/phos in the first week if made properly. Some dont want or cant diy or simply dont have room for an algae scrubber. Scrubber is cheap but requires weekly cleanings which take maybe 5mins. A scrubber will also only remove available nutrients if no nutrients it wont grow. Hence it wont strip your tank to clean to fast like biopellets can. Also.smells like the beach in florida not like toilet waste as a skimmer does. This is my favorite since it works the best and is the cheapest. The downside is really the space needed for plumbing and lights and the must do weekly cleanings you can go for longer if you dont have a lot nutrients meaning not a lot of growth on scrubber.

my next easy option is the chaeto it will also show a reduction very fast altho not nearly as effective as a scrubber or biopellets. Usually you still need to run gfo to reduce phosphates also.

Biopelelets work great as well. Expensive but easy to use and maintain but can easily be to much for your system so you need to keep an eye on nutrients to make sure you dont reduce them to much. Since most use a skimmer alrdy anyway this doesnt add any time to ur maintenance just put on a gas mask and empty skimmer cup lol.

I use skimmer , scrubber and biopellets but i have a good load of fish and am carefull with what im doing.

Heres my sump showing all i use

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[shellynjason]

Sorry I can't help because I have the opposite issue, my nitrates have been zero for months and I can't feed enough to even raise then at all. My birds nest tips are so sharp they'd ***** you. but yet my phosphates were really high at .41 until I set up the HC GFO almost two weeks ago. GFO definitely works.

I'd say my film of algae on the glass daily is what is consuming my nitrates , that and the fact I only have three small fish. How many fish do you have and how often do you feed?

 

[pelagic]

0 no3 and 0.41 po4? that doesnt sound right...what test kit did you use?

 

[shellynjason]

0 no3 and 0.41 po4? that doesnt sound right...what test kit did you use?

Hanna checker for phosphates and API for nitrates - I had 10-20 nitrates until I added the ATI t5 lighting and got the brown algae, id say that algae is consuming my nitrates now. Tank has been saltwater for 17 months and reef for 8 weeks. I know it doesn't seem right.

 

[gmoney243]

Hanna checker for phosphates and API for nitrates - I had 10-20 nitrates until I added the ATI t5 lighting and got the brown algae, id say that algae is consuming my nitrates now. Tank has been saltwater for 17 months and reef for 8 weeks. I know it doesn't seem right.

For api nitrate kit 0 really.means between 0-5ppm also.its not that odd since algae.and bacteria use more nit than phos. I would use some gfo to lower ur phos.

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