NITRATE REDUCTION: Top 3 ways to keep Nitrates down?

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I picked other as I don't do any nitrate control but have trouble keeping it above 0.

Been feeding heavily both for fish food, coral food, and amino and which made nitrates barely register on my test kits. Also don't have an algae issue.

Since I don't do regular WC nor have a real skimmer/sump/nutrient export, I'm guessing it's my LRs, Seachem Matrix, and maybe the quasi-skimmer built-in for Seachem Tidal.

It might also be the fact that the tank ran as FOWLR without much lighting for almost a year which may have allowed denitrifying bacteria to take hold before it turned into a reef tank.


1.No particular method
2. Yes but only have trouble keeping it higher
3. ~10ppm for an established system but can't speak with experience. My experience with nitrates in FW is that it can be toxic at high level, but a lot less so than people make it out to be, especially for an older tank. But in new tanks, nitrates can be a sign of other problems brewing.

Any pictures of your tank? It will be interesting since I have all nitrate controls and also some agae

 

[jasonrusso]

Sulfur Denitrator all the way. Went from 200ppm to 20ppm in 4 months. Now it maintains my very messy fowler at 15-20 ppm

 

[Johnnynle]

I use a filter roller, bio pellets, and skimmer. My nitrates stay around 20’ish. I may pull the bio pellets and do either a fuge or an ATS next.

 

[Jacked Reefer]

Justifying my answered here. I work at an lfs so I see a lot of things. A skimmer works efficiently but I have never seen someone strip their water of nitrates with it.

1: is easily water changes. A once hundred percent wc done correctly will get you nitrates down to zero almost instantly. It won’t kill the root of your nitrate issues. Just give you a blank slate

2: bio balls no. Bio blocks yes. (As well a very porous rock) I’ve found that denitrifying bacteria loves the Brightwell bricks. My friend has a 300 gallon shark pond. 2 sharks, 10 tangs, and a bunch of other fish. He was running Fuge, skimmer rated for 600 gals, and doing 20 percent wc once a week yet his nitrates never dropped below 50 or so. 6 biobricks later is ranged between 5 and undetectable. This is with the Fugeshut down and the skimmer at night only. Here’s a nice torch from his tank from yesterday

3: algae turf scrubber. We purchased one for store use and have tried running it on all our display tanks. Nitrates immediately dove and corals start dying. So we sold it used to a customer. These machines were not meant for mortal men.

I don’t currently have a tank, so I can’t really answer any of the questions. But look for a build thread real soon

 

[DaddyFish]

I have messy, heavily stocked FO tanks and I feed them well. I won't delve into my UV and biofilter setups here. Suffice it to say that my mission has been to prove I do not require live rock, skimmers or sumps.

1. Weekly 10-20% water changes, depends on the class of inhabitants. Triggers and puffers are messy eaters and big poopers. Eels and big crabs leave a messy table. So lots of ammonia being generated weekly.

2. Seachem Tidal-110 HOBs with lots of Matrix and a slow flow rate of <50 gph are my skimmers and nitrate busters. Nitrates typically remain below 20 for up to two weeks without a water change.

I test using multiple kits and at least two brands. Never trust one of anything.

 

[Mkissane]

NITRATE REDUCTION: How are you keeping Nitrates down?

Nitrate is an ion that has long dogged aquarists. It is typically formed in aquaria through the digestion of foods, and in many aquaria it builds up and can be difficult to keep at natural levels. In the past, many aquarists performed water changes with nitrate reduction as one of the primary goals. Fortunately, we now have a wide array of ways to keep nitrate in check, and modern aquaria suffer far less from elevated nitrate than they have in the past. In some case, aquarists have even found that they have reduced it too far, and nitrate dosing can even be beneficial.

Elevated nitrate is often associated with algae, and indeed the growth of algae is often spurred by excess nutrients, including nitrate. The same can be said for other potential pests in aquaria, such as dinoflagellates. Nitrate itself is not acutely toxic at the levels usually attained in aquaria, at least as it is so far known in the scientific literature, but elevated levels do seem detrimental to the health of fish. Additionally, elevated nitrate can spur the growth of zooxanthellae in corals, which can darken corals and may decrease the growth rate of a host coral.

For these reasons, most reef aquarists strive to keep nitrate levels down. Some are very successful, and others are not. This article provides some background on nitrate in the ocean and in aquaria, and describes a number of techniques that aquarists have successfully used to keep nitrate levels down to more natural levels in reef aquaria. - @Randy Holmes-Farley


This question of the day comes to you as a request by one of our members! Today let's talk about how YOU are keeping your nitrates down. Let's discuss and talk nitrate reduction methods!

1. What methods do you employ to keep nitrate levels in check?

2. Do you have a problem keeping your nitrate level at an acceptable range?

3. What is an acceptable range for you and nitrates in your reef aquarium?

WCs, skimmer and Matrix. I have recently had struggles with keeping them up. For that reason I try to keep them between 5-10 so they don’t go to zero before I can adjust

 

[Belgian Anthias]

I have always struggled with Nitrates, just can not keep them down and I have tried everything

Everything? Did you try basic active nitrogen management? Do you have a refuge, a bio-filter?
What may be your " struggle" with nitrates?

Shooting the messengers does not win wars.

An oversized skimmer may create a nutrient imbalance as a skimmer does not remove inorganic nutrients as ammonium and nitrate but continuously does remove part of the building materials needed to make use of the inorganic nutrients present and does this very selective. ref: https://www.baharini.eu/baharini/doku.php?id=nl:makazi:het_water:filtratie:eiwitafschuimer

Nitrate is a usable nitrogen source and the level is easily managed as nitrate-nitrogen considered not valuable for the system is easily exported by using a bio-filter, for example, through an application of BADES ref: https://www.baharini.eu/baharini/doku.php?id=nl:badess:start. Even without BADES, a simple nitrifying bio-filter may export +-16% of TAN, with BADES >60% . Those who claim a bio-filter produces nitrate and this would be a bad thing, what about TAN?
Import and export.
It all starts with proper cycling and conditioning the system.
Feeding, the food source used, feeding the end-users directly, or and indirectly, creating a food chain, using high or and low protein food, from marine origin, managing the food C/N ratio, Using nutrient modified F2 media in bio-filters and refugia for cultivating food or and for harvesting and export.
Managing growth rates by controlling the C/N ratio and the nitrogen source used ( organisms prefer ammonia-nitrogen and may grow +- 8X faster using ammonia-nitrogen instead of nitrate-nitrogen)
A skimmer, GAC, GFO etc.. influencing remineralization rates, the reproduction and availability of essential building materials.
Managing the preferred growth-limiting factor! Wich my opinion may never become phosphorus.
It all can be managed.
Managing nitrogen availability should never become a real problem.

 

[725196]

I do weekly water changes, have a protein skimmer and an ATS but non of those are for nitrates. I use them to control phosphates and clean the water. My nitrates are low. Last I tested they were a 7. Too low for my tank. My nitrate goal is 10-20 so I try to raise it with more frequent feedings.

 

[aquaman67]

I voted other.
My method?
Stop worrying about it.

 

[esther]

Clams. Its hard to keep measurable nitrates.

What kind of clams do you keep and do you keep them in the fuge or main?

 

[brandon429]

Page three nobody doubts their test readings or bothers to confirm we’re flying completely blind here is that right

in summary
we take nitrate readings that other testers won’t agree with and we run with that, full steam. By page six, a hundred people making changes to a system with no idea of the real measures

its simply too interrupting to our planned controls to admit we don’t know what our nitrate actually reads.


hey for 25 years we accepted api .25 anywhere it was shown as accurate, and assumed bac were dead or stalled (Seneye now shows cycle sages were making up stuff all the time, and still do)


lol to guess testing and reefer’s resolve that they’re in control.

 

[galantra]

I personally do daily water changes with some bio blocks.
Nitrate really don’t watch all that much but has always been zero. In the start had a situation a while back from moving tank and traveling had a huge spike in nitrate. I used Quantum HR &LR nitrate remover that was very affective in days. I keep this stuff on stand by actually forced me to checkout more of there products

 

[ReefGeezer]

Page three nobody doubts their test readings or bothers to confirm we’re flying completely blind here is that right...

I'll stipulate that hobby grade test kit are not terribly accurate or precise. However, paying attention to the trend not the number should determine the need for a response. It's not "flying blind", it's more like walking through a dark but familiar room.

 

[brandon429]

Accepted mid ground

but fifty point spread is huge / so many threads showing api vs Red Sea vs salifert @ 50 ppm variance, really stands out since we shoot for such tight controls / 5 ppm etc with these things we invest in

 

[jda]

Serious, if you had a tank and did this, you would know that a 50 ppm variance is not even close to accurate. Even a bad hobby grade test kit can get you within 2 to 5 and 10 at the most. It is just not good at being less than one. Either this is hyperbole or just lack of experience - either way, it is not helpful.

 

[Rie]

I don't use any of them. I have to dose nitrate daily to keep it measurable.

 

[ReefGeezer]

I don't use any of them. I have to dose nitrate daily to keep it measurable.

Doesn't that mean something is exporting, using, or binding nitrates?

 

[Doctorgori]

For whatever reason I’ve never Measured Nitrates above 20, most times its about 5.
I haven’t done a real scientific examination; my experience is long but just as likely limited:
- I use a undersized skimmer: Octopus 150 on a 210G and 150INT on a 150G
- macro algae refugium
- dose lanthium AND use GFO (standard grade) ... I know its really for Phosphates
In addition I have those dimpled bricks in my sumps

 

[Belgian Anthias]

The question links the nitrate level to algae growth.

In the early days of the marine aquaria hobby having green algae in the aquarium was good husbandry. Although nitrate levels above 100ppm were considered normal, algae growth rates were low and certainly not in relation to the nitrate level. This changed when stony corals were introduced and the reef aquaria hobby became popular.
We do know the nitrate level does not increase algae growth, nitrogen availability may. What we measure is what is leftover.

An important parameter influencing algae growth, and in relation to keeping stony corals, is CO2 availability. CO2 is limited available in seawater. Coral calcification produces CO2 , used by the symbiodinium, but also available in the immediate environment, supporting algae growth. ref: https://www.baharini.eu/baharini/doku.php?id=nl:makazi:chemie:calcificatie#calcificatie_bij_koralen

The only reason for keeping on a low to very low nitrogen reserve is to prevent the nitrogen reserve may become responsible for using up the phosphorus reserve , to avoid phosphate may become the limiting factor for growth. This means the nitrate reserve is limited to x9 the phosphate reserve in weight, if 0.1ppm phosphate max 0.9ppm nitrate

 

[ReefGeezer]

The question links the nitrate level to algae growth... We do know the nitrate level does not increase algae growth, nitrogen availability may. What we measure is what is leftover.

An important parameter influencing algae growth, and in relation to keeping stony corals, is CO2 availability. CO2 is limited available in seawater. Coral calcification produces CO2 , used by the symbiodinium, but also available in the immediate environment, supporting algae growth...

When you speak of nitrogen availability as opposed to nitrate when discussing algae growth, what form of nitrogen are you speaking of?

I thought CO2 was present in seawater at equilibrium with atmospheric CO2 and not limited. Are you maybe speaking of organic carbon rather than CO2? I can't read the link, it only comes up in what I think is Dutch.