Nitrate reduction without skimmer

[cjb428]

So I have a couple smaller tanks that don’t have sumps or refugiums and they seem to have way higher nitrates than my larger tank with a fuge. One tank is a 10 gal planned usefor quarantine of corals and somewhere to put frags. It has no fish in it but nitrate is between 50-100 ppm. The other is a 36 with a 2 clowns that I intended on being a clown/nem tank and nitrates on it are sitting at 50 ppm. With no skimmers I have to assume vodka dosing is out. Any other ways of lowering nitrate?

 

[C. Eymann]

So I have a couple smaller tanks that don’t have sumps or refugiums and they seem to have way higher nitrates than my larger tank with a fuge. One tank is a 10 gal planned usefor quarantine of corals and somewhere to put frags. It has no fish in it but nitrate is between 50-100 ppm. The other is a 36 with a 2 clowns that I intended on being a clown/nem tank and nitrates on it are sitting at 50 ppm. With no skimmers I have to assume vodka dosing is out. Any other ways of lowering nitrate?

"Dilution is the solution to pollution" = W/C

You could try running some matrix or siprox media, that will help give you better natural denitrification but will take a few months to make an impact.

 

[Bramzor]

Why do you want to reduce nitrate? If you don’t have any algae issues, just leave it. If you do have some algae growing, you could install an algae scrubber but if you don’t have any algae that will not help either. Dosing carbon is a way to reduce nitrate but requires some phosphates too.

 

[cjb428]

Why do you want to reduce nitrate? If you don’t have any algae issues, just leave it. If you do have some algae growing, you could install an algae scrubber but if you don’t have any algae that will not help either. Dosing carbon is a way to reduce nitrate but requires some phosphates too.

I was always under the assumption that you want low nitrates with corals. Guess my concern was taking frags from my corals in my display which has very low nitrates and phosphates and placing them directly into a tank with much higher nitrate levels.

 

[cjb428]

"Dilution is the solution to pollution" = W/C

You could try running some matrix or siprox media, that will help give you better natural denitrification but will take a few months to make an impact.

I’ll have to look into those, never heard of them. Was considering using Nopox

 

[C. Eymann]

I’ll have to look into those, never heard of them. Was considering using Nopox

Do not use NoPox without a skimmer, Like I said temp fix is waterchanges, long term fix is denitrification real estate- like porous biomedia as I mentioned, or you could use macroalgae as nutrient export like the other user mentioned.
Cheato reactors are a great way to reduce nitrates, combination of both might solve the problem long term.

 

[cjb428]

I have a small hang on the back refugium on the 36, it just doesn’t seem it holds enough chaeto to keep the nutrients in check. The 10 gallon I can hardly see any wat to put a fuge on it and I can’t understand how the nitrate levels are so high in a tank with no livestock in it. I keep seeing all these little fish bowls all over the place full of coral and no live stock. You telling me these things are supporting corals with 50-100 ppm of nitrate?

 

[ca1ore]

Best way to manage nutrients in small tanks is with water changes. You could even run your large tanks water changes through the smaller ones. I used to do this, particularly for QT tanks where it can be useful to ‘expose’ new animals to water they’ll eventually be living in.

 

[vetteguy53081]

ChemiPure Blue

 

[Phycodurus]

+1 on chemipure blue.

i also agree on using yr main tank as the source water at least for the 10G quarantine tank.

 

[cjb428]

Well, guess I’ll give that a try and see what happens. Although I did put about 5 gals of water from my big tank into the 10 gal a few days earlier. Maybe I’m just reading into it too much.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

So I have a couple smaller tanks that don’t have sumps or refugiums and they seem to have way higher nitrates than my larger tank with a fuge. One tank is a 10 gal planned usefor quarantine of corals and somewhere to put frags. It has no fish in it but nitrate is between 50-100 ppm. The other is a 36 with a 2 clowns that I intended on being a clown/nem tank and nitrates on it are sitting at 50 ppm. With no skimmers I have to assume vodka dosing is out. Any other ways of lowering nitrate?

WC and sulfur denitrator for me. When done with denitrator, drain, air dry and put away. 2 weeks or less numbers will be 0.

 

[cjb428]

WC and sulfur denitrator for me. When done with denitrator, drain, air dry and put away. 2 weeks or less numbers will be 0.

What denitrator?

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

What denitrator?

Google sulfur denitrator. Since returning 10/2017, never been without one.
My children of the sea, proof they don't mind the denitrator


1 of 33 carnation corals, dendronephthya sp

 

[King Turkey]

water changes.

 

[Rjramos]

I have run a tank a la “ecosystemaquarium” without a skimmer monthly 25% W/C with great success. It is important to follow Ecosystems recomendations on refugium size/display size and amount of mud, 24 hr lighting etc.