Nitrate problem

[Volpone]

Hello mate :
Plz I need ur help to control my nitrate problem here the brief of the story :
I have nitrate spike for long time my tank old 8 months now.
I aint to find what make nitrate high in my tank , I do 20% water change every two weeks , I dont over feed the fish even I have small fishes like fire fish chromis dotty back and Mandarin ,
I clean the sump every water change , I have cheato algea and I start bio pellets reactor for month ago and nothing drop down nitrate ,
I have doubt that sand maybe release the nitrate , I vaccum the sand bed last water change and add more 200 ml bio pellets for the old 200 ml which run for month , after all that I get more spike in nitrat and reach more than 60 ppm while it was 25 ppm before the last time of water change my tank 100 gallon with soft and lps coral
And here some pic I take it now

 

[mike007]

Nitrates are caused by excess nutrients. That can come from source water,poor protein skimming,overfeeding of corals and fish.I would also double check your test results with another test kit. Water changes will help but they are not a fix,you have to find the source.

 

[Volpone]

@ mike
I check the water source I have Ro system and I test the water there is no nitrate and the tds is 0'001 ppm , I dont over feed coral and fish day other day is my feed time , protein skimmer working very well , reef octopus with pump 3000 L/H
Just wanna know how the nitrate come and how It get spike a lot after recent water change plus sand vacuum plus adding more 200 ml of bio pellets ??? Plus cleaning the sump from all dirt .
It's so weird and really I'm thinking now to break all the system and start again from zero . :-( :-(

 

[Keepswiming]

You have to wait for the pellets to become effective.

 

[Volpone]

Plz mate ur help any one had this problem before ? And how he fix it???
Does sand and rocks sucking nitrate and keep it for long time ??? I'm thinking to remove the sand and rocks ? I know it's so risky but I can't find what causes the nitrate till now

 

[Volpone]

I start the bellets for month now , I add around 200 ml and the direction says I have to use 100 ml for every 100 L
That why I add more 200 ml before 3 daysfor the bellets to have more affection.

 

[mike007]

I had the same problem a couple of years ago and i tore down tank and removed some of the rock and reshaped it so as to get more flow through it and eliminate dead spots. I also replaced sand bed and started carbon dosing. Now my tank is doing really well with very little nitrates and phosphates.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Just Vodka Dose and call it a day. Then you don't need to find the Nitrate issues, and you can feed all you want to.

 

[Volpone]

Just Vodka Dose and call it a day. Then you don't need to find the Nitrate issues, and you can feed all you want to.

Just now I read ur post about vodka dose and how u start ur dose morning and evening ,
I have question if I start that vodka dose I have to continue or I can stop when nitrate issue done ?
For ur water change during vodka doze , is it so necessary to do that big volume of water change?

 

[Volpone]

@ reeling madness ,
Is there any problem to keep running bio bellets workng with vodka dosing ? Or I have to stop it

 

[Reefing Madness]

I don't do water changes on my tank but twice a year. With your water parameters being good, theres no reason to do a WC. You will have to also Dose the ALK and CAL and MAG to keep them up if you go this route.
You can't stop Dosing unless you find the Nitrate issue. Thus the reason you are dosing.
I dose inthe AM and PM.

 

[Damon]

Pellets take a while (like 6 weeks) to kick in. That is when you can start measuring and testing for effect. So you have to be patient with them. But it's worth it.

I wouldn't vacuum the bed. That's me personally because over the years I had nothing but issues doing this. I had a nitrate spike which caused a crash and that was the last straw.

Nitrates can come from a number of sources.


From Note 2 on Tap 4

 

[Volpone]

@ reeling madness
Thx mate for ur help just now I need ur help to start vodka dosing because I'm get tired of water chane and bio bellets and refugim and cleaning with no result .
My tank size 120*55*50 c.m that mean around 330 liters plus sump water will be around 430 liters
What dose I need give me ur course plz

 

[Volpone]

Pellets take a while (like 6 weeks) to kick in. That is when you can start measuring and testing for effect. So you have to be patient with them. But it's worth it.

I wouldn't vacuum the bed. That's me personally because over the years I had nothing but issues doing this. I had a nitrate spike which caused a crash and that was the last straw.

Nitrates can come from a number of sources.


From Note 2 on Tap 4

Dear demon I can't find what source of nitrate in my tank , no over feed no dirt, I have very good current inside tank no dead spot for flow big cave and space between rocks , I have cheato and bellets reactor running for month with no result , I know it was small amount of bellets running during this month because recommend to have 500 ml for my water volume and I run around 200 ml first month .
So shall I wait more to see the result of bellets or start vodka dosing ?

 

[Reefing Madness]

113 gallon:
I'd start out at 5mls
Go up 5mls a week until you see the Nitrates start to come down. Which by my my math should around week 3 or 4.
After you see them where you want them, wether its 0 or 5 or 10, then drop your dose in half. That dose will be your daily dose. Try to split up the dosage, split it in half, half in the morning and half 12 hours later.

 

[Volpone]

@ reefing madness so I start with 5 ml from now 2,5 morning and 2'5 at evening till noticing the drop,
As u said may it take like 3 or 4 weeks , what dosing I have to go up later ?

 

[Reefing Madness]

No. My bad. Test every week. Up the doseage by 5mls every week until you see the Trates start dropping. Once you see them start to drop, keep that same dosage until you get the Nitrates to where you want to keep them. Once they are, there drop the dose in half. And yes, dose half in the morning and the other half 12 hours later. Starting out at 5mls, then going up 5mls the second week and another 5mls the week after.

 

[Damon]

I would wait because you did not see. "any" change. That's usually how it is with the pellets while they are building their colony. Then all of a sudden, it starts dropping rapidly.

Either method is going to take a week to a few to see the results.

From Note 2 on Tap 4

 

[Reefing Madness]

I would wait because you did not see. "any" change. That's usually how it is with the pellets while they are building their colony. Then all of a sudden, it starts dropping rapidly.

Either method is going to take a week to a few to see the results.

From Note 2 on Tap 4

Got a point there.

 

[Volpone]

I will take both of ur advice I will wait the bellets now , if there is no result I will start vodka dose .
Bro reefing madness I'm gonna add u and when I decide to start dosing plz guide me to correct dose thx every one for ur help