Nitrate issues in 300g fowlr tank

[nldemo]

They're pretty resilient from what I've seen, as long as its not overtly squishy, it should be fine. Basically any macro that isn't immediately devoured will do something to help until you get your sulfur denitrator ready to go XD

Yea, by no means do I expect it to solve my problems.

 

[nldemo]

Also, what are you feeding, and how much, to what fish? Maybe there's a tweak to be made.

I don't think that I overly feed. Right now I am doing a 4x4" inch square of nori in the morning, and a frozen cocktail mix for dinner. They used to get the frozen twice a day, but I halved it for the nitrates. They are large fish, and they devour it.

 

[nldemo]

Once you get N and P down to a reasonable level, then I find that macro can do a pretty good job of keeping up if you have enough of it (meaning like a 40 breeder size, not some cheato reactor for a nano), but the stuff gets slowed down with higher N and P levels.

Aside from phosphates, is a P level of 1-2 that bad? Since it is FOWLR, my only concern is fish health. I had algae issues in the past, but they've magically worked themselves away into oblivion. It might get bad again when I kick off the denitrator.. but I hope not *knock on wood*.

 

[Tired]

Phosphate isn't toxic to fish (or corals) at any reasonable level. It just sometimes encourages algae growth. And it doesn't even do that in all tanks! Depends on the system.

Algae growth often settles out on its own. Once the less invasive algaes get established, it's harder for pest algae to run amok.

 

[jda]

Part of fish health is providing a good ecosystem for them to live in. Even though P does not affect fish in the water, I have always found fish to be more peaceful and even more colorful with N and P at reasonable levels (not low, but also not high) to where pods and microfauna can grow, coralline covers the rocks and glass and a fuge can grow grow macro algae.

I suspect that your lack of algae is twofold... first, your N and P are probably so high that they will not live, and two, they require traces that they are not likely getting if you stopped changing water. The algae might come back when you lower them, but this is kinda a good thing... not having algae because of super high N and P is kinda like being happy that you don't have to sweep the floor anymore because there is so much dog poop that you cannot sweep around it.

 

[nldemo]

Part of fish health is providing a good ecosystem for them to live in. Even though P does not affect fish in the water, I have always found fish to be more peaceful and even more colorful with N and P at reasonable levels (not low, but also not high) to where pods and microfauna can grow, coralline covers the rocks and glass and a fuge can grow grow macro algae.

I suspect that your lack of algae is twofold... first, your N and P are probably so high that they will not live, and two, they require traces that they are not likely getting if you stopped changing water. The algae might come back when you lower them, but this is kinda a good thing... not having algae because of super high N and P is kinda like being happy that you don't have to sweep the floor anymore because there is so much dog poop that you cannot sweep around it.

lol, i agree.

What would you consider a too high level of phosphates? Since phosphates are usually in the 0-2 range for most folks, it's kind of apples and oranges to nitrates which can get 160+

 

[nldemo]

@Cabinetman also, which media are you using? I found this: https://thehydrosource.com/sulfur-prills-high-purity.html

Just wanted to update on these. They are listed on the website as 99.9%, or so I thought. However they just arrived and they are the same exact packaging as the ones on amazon. 99%. Hopefully it still gets the job done right. I don't know of any other media I could swap in anyway.

 

[nldemo]

Ran a leak test with tap water, unit is all good Going to empty it out, let it dry. Calcium media will arrive tomorrow.. rinse that and the sulfur media off, then off to the races!

 

[nldemo]

Having trouble trying to get the air out of the denitrator. Any pro tips? Quick vid:

 

[nldemo]

Very excited to report that I just hit two weeks with the denitrator and did a testing of the effluent. It came back with ZERO nitrites and ZERO nitrates. Wahoo! It is working, even with the air problems I am having. I found out how to clear the air... it's a real PITA but essentially involves turning off the recirc pump, and rocking the unit back and forth to get all the air bubbles up into the air trap. I have cleared all the air out a few times now, and it keeps coming back.. so i'm fairly certain it is just nitrogen gas forming in the reactor (which somebody else mentioned somewhere, maybe it was @Randy Holmes-Farley ?)

Next I will be increasing the output speed and performing retests, and eventually measuring against the tank water as well. Nitrates were so high that I'm sure it will take some time before it makes a real dent.. but I have hope!