Nitrate saga

jpontier212 · Mar 25, 2016

I'm into week 9 of the cycle and my ammonia and nitrite are at 0 but my nitrates are have tested between the range of 30 ppm to as high as 100 ppm. I have 5 turbo snails and 5 hermit crabs. All very very small. I have done 3 water changes so far. First was 30 gallons and the nitrates went down to 30 ppm bit my ammonia and nitrites went up. Then the ammonia and nitrites came down and nitrates went to 80 ppm. Another 20 gallon water change and nitrates dropped to 50 ppm and the others remained at 0. I was told to dose with vodka to help with nitrates. I stayed last week to dose 4 drops of vodka daily and my nitrates haven't changed. I need help

jpontier212 · Mar 25, 2016

jpontier212 said:
I'm into week 9 of the cycle and my ammonia and nitrite are at 0 but my nitrates are have tested between the range of 30 ppm to as high as 100 ppm. I have 5 turbo snails and 5 hermit crabs. All very very small. I have done 3 water changes so far. First was 30 gallons and the nitrates went down to 30 ppm bit my ammonia and nitrites went up. Then the ammonia and nitrites came down and nitrates went to 80 ppm. Another 20 gallon water change and nitrates dropped to 50 ppm and the others remained at 0. I was told to dose with vodka to help with nitrates. I stayed last week to dose 4 drops of vodka daily and my nitrates haven't changed. I need help

I meant started last week

jpontier212 · Mar 25, 2016

jpontier212 said:
I meant started last week

My tank is 55 gallon glass, sump refugium protein skimmer. Live rock and red chaeto

cmcoker · Mar 25, 2016

What are you using for water? ie tap, lfs, rodi unit

What rock did you start with? Dry Pukani can be covered in decaying organisms for instance.

Tell us more about your setup so everyone can help you trouble shoot.

sbash · Mar 25, 2016

Ammonia going up after a water change is a bad sign. This happened to me before I added the deionizer to my RO system. My water source had very high ammonia. That said, your system is clearly processing the ammonia, so that is a good sign.

How much skimmate is your skimmer producing? Is the macro algae noticeably growing every week?

jpontier212 · Mar 25, 2016

cmcoker said:
What are you using for water? ie tap, lfs, rodi unit

What rock did you start with? Dry Pukani can be covered in decaying organisms for instance.

Tell us more about your setup so everyone can help you trouble shoot.

I have 6lbs of live rock in the refugium and 50lbs of dry rock in the DP. My water is from the publix glacier water machine that test. 01 on my tds meter

jpontier212 · Mar 25, 2016

sbash said:
Ammonia going up after a water change is a bad sign. This happened to me before I added the deionizer to my RO system. My water source had very high ammonia. That said, your system is clearly processing the ammonia, so that is a good sign.

How much skimmate is your skimmer producing? Is the macro algae noticeably growing every week?

My micro algea is steady growing and my water source i believe it's right on point. Or at least as close to perfect without me having a RO/di system of my own.

cmcoker · Mar 25, 2016

jpontier212 said:
I have 6lbs of live rock in the refugium and 50lbs of dry rock in the DP. My water is from the publix glacier water machine that test. 01 on my tds meter

I would test the water for nitrates next time you get it, testing for ammonia wouldn't hurt either. If the water machine is filtering tap with chloramine and filters need changed it could be letting ammonia through, that would lead to a nitrate spike and also possibly contributed to the ammonia, nitrite spike after the first water change.

How clean was the dry rock? Did you do any treatment to it before placing in the tank?

Edit to add: I didn't buy an RODI unit for the first 1.5yrs I kept a salty tank, I wish now it was the first piece of equipment I bought. It is so much easier to make water on demand than to go get it. And you have control of the maintenance of it and therefore control of the quality of the water. I'll throw a link up to a good quality kit for a reasonable price here in a second

jpontier212 · Mar 25, 2016

cmcoker said:
I would test the water for nitrates next time you get it, testing for ammonia wouldn't hurt either. If the water machine is filtering tap with chloramine and filters need changed it could be letting ammonia through, that would lead to a nitrate spike and also possibly contributed to the ammonia, nitrite spike after the first water change.

How clean was the dry rock? Did you do any treatment to it before placing in the tank?

I didn't treat the rock. It was dry when I put it in the DP. I washed it with RO/DI water until the rubble and dust came off and put it in

Wilsoni · Mar 25, 2016

I love the title of your thread! It makes me think of P. Diddy saying, "the saga continues..." haha

cmcoker · Mar 25, 2016

jpontier212 said:
I didn't treat the rock. It was dry when I put it in the DP. I washed it with RO/DI water until the rubble and dust came off and put it in

OK, where did you get the rocks? Like I mentioned above certain types of rock are known for being dirtier than other (pukani is worst culprit I think, I use it though, love the look)

Here's the kit I would get if I was buying one today
http://spectrapure.com/RO-RODI/RODI...ment-Filter Kit-TDS Meters-Chlorine-Test-Kit

Has everything you need plus a set of replacement filters. If you have plumbing concerns, they can be worked around. You do not have to make a permanent connection or pierce anything into your water lines for these to be setup.

jpontier212 · Mar 25, 2016

I got the rock online on ebay. It was key largo rock and i thought i did a pretty good job rinsing and cleaning it but maybe not

cmcoker · Mar 25, 2016

It's probably fine, I would lean toward water being the culprit. I had ammonia breaking through my rodi unit when I lagged on upkeep. Was having high nitrate despite water changes, finally figured it out.. I had TDS of zero as well, ammonia doesn't show up on the TDS meter

cmcoker · Mar 25, 2016

Here's the thread when I was trying to figure out the ammonia in my rodi water if you care to read, and why I think it should be ruled out as a cause for the problem you are having reducing nitrates
https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/221194/

jpontier212 · Mar 26, 2016

Ok. So what should i do if i want to have anenomes and polyps, feather dusters and zoanthids? Nitrates really screw with them.

jpontier212 · Mar 26, 2016

Wilsoni said:
I love the title of your thread! It makes me think of P. Diddy saying, "the saga continues..." haha

Thank you. Lol. It's wearing on my nerves though. I want to get zoas and anenomes in the DP before I get fish

dwebb1031 · Mar 26, 2016

cmcoker said:
I would test the water for nitrates next time you get it, testing for ammonia wouldn't hurt either. If the water machine is filtering tap with chloramine and filters need changed it could be letting ammonia through, that would lead to a nitrate spike and also possibly contributed to the ammonia, nitrite spike after the first water change.

How clean was the dry rock? Did you do any treatment to it before placing in the tank?

Edit to add: I didn't buy an RODI unit for the first 1.5yrs I kept a salty tank, I wish now it was the first piece of equipment I bought. It is so much easier to make water on demand than to go get it. And you have control of the maintenance of it and therefore control of the quality of the water. I'll throw a link up to a good quality kit for a reasonable price here in a second

+1
Also keep in mind that drinking water has added mineral that aren't ideal for your tank. Ro/di (ideal water) takes out minerals and other unwanted what nots from "normal" water. Drinking water (filtered) not only leaves those in but adds more because they're good for the human body.

jpontier212 · Mar 26, 2016

dwebb1031 said:
+1
Also keep in mind that drinking water has added mineral that aren't ideal for your tank. Ro/di (ideal water) takes out minerals and other unwanted what nots from "normal" water. Drinking water (filtered) not only leaves those in but adds more because they're good for the human body.

Thank you. I was looking at the process of it on the machine and i thought i was making the right decision.

.

jpontier212 · Mar 26, 2016

jpontier212 said:
Thank you. I was looking at the process of it on the machine and i thought i was making the right decision.

.

It will be RO / DI water from my LFS.

Squid · Mar 26, 2016

I'll make things short and simple for you. Your tank is cycled but you don't have a large enough bacteria population to convert the ammonia before you detect it. You need more surface area (rock) for the population to be big enough and stable enough to handle your very small bioload. Stop dosing and just maintain water changes to get your nitrates in order. Add more rock if you can and keep testing but remain patient. Ok so that wasn't so short but it is simple. KISS don't over think things