Nitrate issue.

[hawkinsrgk]

For me the issue was the sandbed. Nitrates were around 50. I started to vacuum the sandbed every week for a couple of months and it slowly went up to 80. Then I started loosing corals. Tested freshly mixed saltwater and it was .2 so that wasn't the problem. Tds on ro water was always 0. Removed the sandbed and it immediately went down to 2.5. Now I am dosing nitrate daily in small amounts to get it up to 5

 

[garcia64]

The only reason I can't go to no sanded is I would like to add a leopard wrasse

 

[hawkinsrgk]

I also tried vinegar dosing for about 3 months and that didn't really help. Basically others have already mentioned it already but once you find the source it is so much better than trying to fix the symptom of the problem

 

[garcia64]

I just have no idea what the source could be

 

[jsker]

What test kit are you using again?

 

[jsker]

Have you tested the LFS water before you added the water to the system?

 

[garcia64]

I use Red Sea and no that will be my next step I guess

 

[jsker]

I would go back to feeding once a day before you start losing fish. I would say

I use Red Sea and no that will be my next step I guess

That might be your source. Have tried using a different kit? All of us fight nitrate issue, and we all do something different to combat nitrates. Like I stated earlier I run bio Pellets in a small reactor and GFO. My nitrates we like 80 when I started running my carbon and GFO
One more question and just did this are you using 1 ml of tank water to 15 ml RO/Di water?

 

[garcia64]

What do you mean? For testing?

 

[Waterjockey]

I have recently discovered a nitrate issue of around 80ppm about a week ago so I did a large water change and started to dose NO3 PO4 X from red sea, I am still having a nitrate issue of between 25-50ppm and I still don't know what to do. My tank is a 65g display with a 15 gallon sump I have macro algae and run a REEF OCTOPUS CLASSIC 150INT 6” INTERNAL PROTEIN SKIMMER that for some reason always need fine tuning but I always pull out some sort of gunk so it seems to work but not at its full potential. My stock includes a scopas tank a firefish and two clowns. and a small file fish that I haven't seen in a while. I unfortunately had to pull a deceased sail-fin that I attribute to the nitrate problem (was the reason why I tested in the first place). I used a sera test kit. Please help me chemistry gods in fixing my problem, I wish to add sps to my tank of mainly zoas and acans and need this issue fixed first.

Edit: I forgot to add that before this I would do a weekly 5 gallon water

Since you are carbon dosing, have you simply tried increasing your dosing for now?

 

[jsker]

When testing with red sea nitrate kit for high side nitrate you use 1 ml tank water, and 15 ml ro/di to get you high side results. I have by mistake use 2 ml tank water and my result we way off.

 

[garcia64]

Since you are carbon dosing, have you simply tried increasing your dosing for now?

I have been following the suggested dosage by red sea for their NO3 Po4 X. Would increasing dosage help and would it be safe?

When testing with red sea nitrate kit for high side nitrate you use 1 ml tank water, and 15 ml ro/di to get you high side results. I have by mistake use 2 ml tank water and my result we way off.

I have not done this nor did I know I could to test high side nitrate

 

[Waterjockey]

I have been following the suggested dosage by red sea for their NO3 Po4 X. Would increasing dosage help and would it be safe?

NO3Po4X is essentially vodka and vinegar mix... There are lots of diy recipes floating around. Just follow typical dosing guidelines for vodka and you will be ok....just slowly ramp up the daily dose until nitrates begin to drop, then back off about 50% for a maintenance dose. I just dose straight vinegar, many many times cheaper.

 

[garcia64]

I will have to ramp up then, but first I will be testesting the nitrates of the LFS fresh water to see what those are at

 

[jsker]

I have been following the suggested dosage by red sea for their NO3 Po4 X. Would increasing dosage help and would it be safe?


I have not done this nor did I know I could to test high side nitrate

flip the card over and there is the test for the bottom. My question then is when getting you result and you using the color wheel? if would and you are testing the low side the highest reading is 4 ppm if you are testing and using the card and using the back side with the low side test, this would be the reason that you are testing so high. There are to scales for the test, low side and high side. and there are two way two ways to test.

• Low side 16ml of tank water +5 drops of A shake for 15 sce> one scope B and shake for 60 sec> one scope of c shake for 15 sec and let stand for 9 minutes compare with color wheel or left side
• High side 1 ml tank water 15 ml Ro/DI +5 drops of A shake for 15 sce> one scope B and shake for 60 sec> one scope of c shake for 15 sec and let stand for 9 minutes compare with color wheel or right side

 

[garcia64]

flip the card over and there is the test for the bottom. My question then is when getting you result and you using the color wheel? if would and you are testing the low side the highest reading is 4 ppm if you are testing and using the card and using the back side with the low side test, this would be the reason that you are testing so high. There are to scales for the test, low side and high side. and there are two way two ways to test.

• Low side 16ml of tank water +5 drops of A shake for 15 sce> one scope B and shake for 60 sec> one scope of c shake for 15 sec and let stand for 9 minutes compare with color wheel or left side
• High side 1 ml tank water 15 ml Ro/DI +5 drops of A shake for 15 sce> one scope B and shake for 60 sec> one scope of c shake for 15 sec and let stand for 9 minutes compare with color wheel or right side

I believe I have a different red sea test kit as the NO3 only called for 5ml of water, I have the NO2, NO3 test kit combo one.

 

[jsker]

I would find this red sea test kit or order it I think the would solve you issue of testing this is the kit I am using, or get a seilfert No3 kit

 

[garcia64]

Is there a big difference in test kits? It's still red sea

 

[jsker]

Is there a big difference in test kits? It's still red sea

My opinion yes, the pro kits are much easier to work with your results. I had a regular Alk kit and it was like guessing the result even though I would follow the test. With the pro kit you can purchase refills and that brings down the cost per test.

 

[garcia64]

Well I'll have to look for a cheaper test kit, lfs wants to much for the pro