New rock or use old rock?

[griffinsreef]

Okay so I’m about to downsize from my 180 to a 110. I’ve always has terrible nitrate problems in my 180 and my last icp showed that they were over 200.

Im guessing this has to do with my rock because I’ve collected my rock from a variety of places, from tank breakdowns to the used rock section at the LFS and never bleached it. From what I understand, live rock will soak up nitrates and if I were to use this rock in my new tank, I would have the same problem. I’ve also had problems such as not being able to keep a torch alive for more than 6 months but acros do fine.

I do the reef moonshine method so what I’m thinking is in the new tank, I can set it up with all new rock and cycle it/stabilize it for a few months while doing corrections with icp and reef moonshine to get all the levels perfect them slowly adding corals over.

My fear of using the rock from my 180 is that it will transfer the nitrate problem to my new tank and I’ll never me able to get them down because after I do a water change, the rock will just release the nitrates back into the tank.
Just need some advice on what I should do from people who know more about this subject or have experience with it. Thanks.

(Pictured is my current 180)

 

[Dcal]

this series might be relevent he powerwashed it all

 

[BossChief]

Your tank looks great why worry about the numbers?

 

[exnisstech]

Sorry if my tank looked that nice I wouldn't worry about nitrates. I can't keep a torch alive and mine are below 10.but I can keep zoas or gsp alive. Just saying

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Okay so I’m about to downsize from my 180 to a 110. I’ve always has terrible nitrate problems in my 180 and my last icp showed that they were over 200.

Im guessing this has to do with my rock because I’ve collected my rock from a variety of places, from tank breakdowns to the used rock section at the LFS and never bleached it. From what I understand, live rock will soak up nitrates and if I were to use this rock in my new tank, I would have the same problem. I’ve also had problems such as not being able to keep a torch alive for more than 6 months but acros do fine.

I do the reef moonshine method so what I’m thinking is in the new tank, I can set it up with all new rock and cycle it/stabilize it for a few months while doing corrections with icp and reef moonshine to get all the levels perfect them slowly adding corals over.

My fear of using the rock from my 180 is that it will transfer the nitrate problem to my new tank and I’ll never me able to get them down because after I do a water change, the rock will just release the nitrates back into the tank.
Just need some advice on what I should do from people who know more about this subject or have experience with it. Thanks.

(Pictured is my current 180)

Rocks don't "soak up nitrate", but can hold onto phosphates and later release them into the tank. I recommend using all new sand, rinsing the rocks off in old tank water as much as possible to remove any accumulated detritus, and then closely monitoring your feeding/bioload in the new tank.

 

[griffinsreef]

this series might be relevent he powerwashed it all

thank you! I will definitely check this serious out.

 

[griffinsreef]

Your tank looks great why worry about the numbers?

I’m just scared that if they keep going up, it might result in a crash.

 

[KrisReef]

Rocks don't "soak up nitrate", but can hold onto phosphates and later release them into the tank. I recommend using all new sand, rinsing the rocks off in old tank water as much as possible to remove any accumulated detritus, and then closely monitoring your feeding/bioload in the new tank.

Yup, 200 Nitrates are not a precipitation problem! What range does the Phosphorus show on the ICP?

 

[griffinsreef]

Yup, 200 Nitrates are not a precipitation problem! What range does the Phosphorus show on the ICP?

 

[griffinsreef]

I guess my main question is if I were to use the same rock in the new tank, would it be possible to get the nitrates down through water changes, refugium, carbon dosing, etc.? My fear is the nitrates keep rising till the tank crashes because I can’t bring them down.
Carbon dosing hasn’t worked so far, I don’t do many water changes, and I’ve never had a sump with a good refugium section but the new tank does have one.

 

[KrisReef]

Interesting. Are you going to be doing water changes in the new tank? If not then getting new live rock might reduce the variables in the new biological system.

The current situation is pretty high in N&P which to me suggests that the biological filter isn’t keeping up with your feeding inputs.

 

[KrisReef]

I guess my main question is if I were to use the same rock in the new tank, would it be possible to get the nitrates down through water changes, refugium, carbon dosing, etc.? My fear is the nitrates keep rising till the tank crashes because I can’t bring them down.
Carbon dosing hasn’t worked so far, I don’t do many water changes, and I’ve never had a sump with a good refugium section but the new tank does have one.

Yessir

more water changes will help with Nitrates but Phosphorus will leach out from your current rock. That can be removed with various media.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I assume the first column is your tank's value and the second is the "ideal" value. You can see that
both nitrates and phosphates are elevated by the same degree (213:2 and 0.40:0.04), so your N/P ratio is still ok according to the ICP target values. I agree that 200 is high for nitrates and hopefully this will change once you've moved over to the new tank, but given the way your current tank looks (gorgeous!) and the N/P ratio, I think you're fine.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I guess my main question is if I were to use the same rock in the new tank, would it be possible to get the nitrates down through water changes, refugium, carbon dosing, etc.? My fear is the nitrates keep rising till the tank crashes because I can’t bring them down.
Carbon dosing hasn’t worked so far, I don’t do many water changes, and I’ve never had a sump with a good refugium section but the new tank does have one.

Again, aside from possibly trapped food, etc in the crevaces in the rock, you're not likely to transfer significant nitrates to the new tank by using the current rock. You WILL, however, transfer nitrifying bacteria that's in the rocks, which will help with your cycle. Plan to have a regular water change schedule to keep things in check, and do what you can to monitor your feeding. Adding good biomedia to the sump will also help long term to convert nitrate back into nitrogen (denitrification), which will reduce overall nitrates in the system.

 

[griffinsreef]

Again, aside from possibly trapped food, etc in the crevaces in the rock, you're not likely to transfer significant nitrates to the new tank by using the current rock. You WILL, however, transfer nitrifying bacteria that's in the rocks, which will help with your cycle. Plan to have a regular water change schedule to keep things in check, and do what you can to monitor your feeding. Adding good biomedia to the sump will also help long term to convert nitrate back into nitrogen (denitrification), which will reduce overall nitrates in the system.

Thank you very very much. Looks like I’ll be using the old rock in the new tank. I really appreciate your help!