Nitates at 30ppm

[jeffrey750750]

It's probably due to overfeeding and from reaquascaping. What I am doing now is feeding less. I feed lrs reef frenzy and fish frenzy. I stopped two weeks ago using phytochrom and reef roids till this is under control. I change my filter sock every three days and my skimmer is pulling half an inch of waste every 24 hours. It's a 60 cube, I did a 12gal water change Friday and again today. I have a brightwell no3 plate I put in a month ago and have been dosing microbacter7. My chaeto basically disappeared and turned into hair algae. I cleaned all that out and got new chaeto. I'm trying to do everything the most natural way. Is there anything I'm missing to get those nitrates down?

 

[ReefLab]

Water changes are the best way to get nitrates down quickly. Skimming of course helps and change out filter socks if you’re running that. Hair algae will consume some of those nitrates and a lot of people have that growing in their fuge. Not a huge deal & you can scrape it out when it gets out of control.

Keep in mind that in order for your corals/chateo to consume nitrate effectively, there needs to be phosphate. Otherwise nusiance organisms can take hold better.

 

[jeffrey750750]

Water changes are the best way to get nitrates down quickly. Skimming of course helps and change out filter socks if you’re running that. Hair algae will consume some of those nitrates and a lot of people have that growing in their fuge. Not a huge deal & you can scrape it out when it gets out of control.

Keep in mind that in order for your corals/chateo to consume nitrate effectively, there needs to be phosphate. Otherwise nusiance organisms can take hold better.

My phosphates are about .7ppm. I'm using tropic marin compact lab, are you familiar with that one?

 

[ReefLab]

My phosphates are about .7ppm. I'm using tropic marin compact lab, are you familiar with that one?

I’m not.
I use hanna’s ULR checker. 0.7 sounds healthy, though. I would do A 10-20% water change. Do your corals look healthy? Anything unsightly in the display?

 

[jeffrey750750]

I’m not.
I use hanna’s ULR checker. 0.7 sounds healthy, though. I would do A 10-20% water change. Do your corals look healthy? Anything unsightly in the display?

Everything right now looks the best that it has in the year it's been set up. My toadstool isn't extending like it used to, everything else seems to be fine

 

[jeffrey750750]

Everything right now looks the best that it has in the year it's been set up. My toadstool isn't extending like it used to, everything else seems to be fine

It has this chart on it, my no2 is at .1ppm and no3 is 30ppm. If I'm looking at this right my corrected no3 is 25ppm?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’m not.
I use hanna’s ULR checker. 0.7 sounds healthy, though. I would do A 10-20% water change. Do your corals look healthy? Anything unsightly in the display?

I'm not sure I understand, but that water change will have almost no impact on the phosphate reading.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It has this chart on it, my no2 is at .1ppm and no3 is 30ppm. If I'm looking at this right my corrected no3 is 25ppm?

If you are using that kit, yes. Any other kit may have a different correction.

 

[jeffrey750750]

If you are using that kit, yes. Any other kit may have a different correction.

Thank you

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

You're welcome.

Happy reefing.

 

[jeffrey750750]

You're welcome.

Happy reefing.

Since I was talking about nitrates, at what ppm of nitates is safe for inverts? I would like to get a few hermits and shrimp. And being that I cut down on my frozen food, should I cut back on the dried seaweed sheets for my tangs?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Since I was talking about nitrates, at what ppm of nitates is safe for inverts? I would like to get a few hermits and shrimp. And being that I cut down on my frozen food, should I cut back on the dried seaweed sheets for my tangs?

Safe?

50-100 ppm.

 

[ReefLab]

Everything right now looks the best that it has in the year it's been set up. My toadstool isn't extending like it used to, everything else seems to be fine

Don’t change numbers then! If your tank settles in there, let it be.

 

[jeffrey750750]

Don’t change numbers then! If your tank settles in there, let it be.

I'm trying to do everything the right way. I just don't want another bad gha bloom, cyano or dinos. I know I'm on the right track but two months ago I turned my white, green and red spectrums way down. In Hope's to curb the cyano after ridding my dinos. It did slowly work but in the process I killed 6 out 7 clams I had. The only one left is my gigas, but his mantle has shrunken into the shell a bit. So I'm a little paranoid on getting things right. There's so much info out there and everybody has a different answer on how to deal with certain issues