Nitrate problems

Adam_J · Jan 19, 2016

Hey everyone , so I have a 55 gallon tank with sump and skimmer . I do 5-10 gallon water changes per week and I can't get my nitrates to come down. Arm they are sitting at 50ppm and have been fighting them for 2 months or so (tested with Red Sea ) Any help would be appreciated

Adam_J · Jan 19, 2016

I also tested with an elos kit and it read 2ppm of no3 so I'm a bit confused and having trust issues.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 19, 2016

Testing can be a challenge, and when you get two different results, knowing what to believe is difficult.

How long has the tank been up?

There are lots of good ways to reduce nitrate. I use macroalgae, organic carbon dosing, lots of live rock, skimming, and GAC.

I explain the methods and how they work here:

Nitrate in the Reef Aquarium - REEFEDITION
https://www.reef2reef.com/blog/nitrate-in-the-reef-aquarium

Adam_J · Jan 19, 2016

Tank is around the 10 month Mark

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 19, 2016

have you been previously tracking nitrate with either kit?

Adam_J · Jan 19, 2016

No I usually use Red Sea , slacked on my tank for one month due to work and life. When I tested I seen 50ppm

Adam_J · Jan 19, 2016

Which I understand for slacking but I've been trying to work it down this water changed for two months and I have seen any changes

Adam_J · Jan 19, 2016

Thru**

Lim Papa · Jan 19, 2016

I am using this

Adam_J · Jan 19, 2016

Lim this seems more of a temporary fix . I have thought about using something like this but not sure if that's the solution I'm looking for

beaslbob · Jan 19, 2016

IMHO the best way to keep nitrates down is to simply increase consumers like macro algae.

that said some nitrates can actually a good thing. plant life like algae (macros) will consume ammonia during spikes. And forgo nitrates for nitrogen. So it could be your tank is consuming ammonia resulting in some nitrates.

my .02

Adam_J · Jan 19, 2016

I really wanna start a refuge but no room in my sump and not sure a hob would be suffice

AllSignsPointToFish · Jan 19, 2016

Organic carbon dosing is not a temporary fix...it's a tool for nitrogen and phosphorus export. Whether using the Red Sea product or plain old vodka, carbon dosing has been very effective at controlling nitrates for me. Honestly, I've actually backed off some on carbon dosing to allow nitrates to come down a bit as they were nondectable while phosphates remained relatively constant.

beaslbob · Jan 19, 2016

Adam_J said:
I really wanna start a refuge but no room in my sump and not sure a hob would be suffice

you could always do an in tank refugium.

On my old 55g I just "crammed in" egg crate (1/4" plastic grid) 3" from the back glass and added 2 4' 2 tube fluorescent fixture behind pointing forward.

With that I put macro algae between the back glass in the egg crate. Nitrates dropped to 0 in 3 weeks and phosphates followed a few weeks later.

Meanwhile my 2 tangs were constantly grazing on macros that poked through the grid and all the fish enjoyed to pods that thrived there also.

my .02

bobman · Jan 19, 2016

Carbon dosing is a way to get your nitrates down. A piece of advise though is next time to get ready to do a water change test your change water to make sure it is not a source for nitrates. Even if you have an RODI as the filters age they can be adding some Nitrates (although doubt this is your issue). It tell you if one of your test kits is bad. If the elos kit tests 0 nitrates and the red sea still remains at 50 I would suspect the red sea being a bad kit (it does happen) and then got for another opinion at a lfs. With three tests and different people testing you will have your answer on a botched test kit. If the red sea turns out to be accurate then I would consider carbon dosing as it can be hard to impossible to actually lower nitrates through water changes alone. By not doing them nitrates can climb up fast but they don't come down as fast. Carbon will help there

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 20, 2016

Adam_J said:
Lim this seems more of a temporary fix . I have thought about using something like this but not sure if that's the solution I'm looking for

As mentioned above, organic carbon dosing (that brand or others, or DIY such as vinegar or vodka) is not just a temporary solution.

Many of us have used it for years. I use vinegar.

Adam_J · Jan 20, 2016

So I may have found my problem . Noticed my return pump wasn't really pumping very much . Found a nasty filter inside my pump I Dident know it was there

Adam_J · Jan 20, 2016

Was in there for 8 months -_- hoping this solves my issues . Thanks for the info everyone will definitely research carbon dosing .

3dees · Jan 20, 2016

a wc that small is not going to solve anything. it would take a 50% wc to bring the nitrate down to 25ppm. if you don't want to start dosing, then I would suggest doing larger weekly wc's. you also need to know why your nitrates are so high. over feeding? large bio-load? maybe a dirty canister?