Nitrates 100+ppm, Need help with Dosing Vodka

[Ashish Patel]

This will be an interesting experiment. We know that a sandbed across the bottom of a tank is sufficient keep no3 near zero. What we do not know is if that area is 1% populated with anoxic bacteria, or if it is saturated. I also think that the sandbed will make a difference once it gets established, but I have no idea if it will slow the rise, arrest the rise, start to decline or decline fast.

You can start a tank with dry everything and eventually get bacteria and some algae out of nowhere... enough to add a fish which can bring everything else. It just happens from the air, your breath or where ever. Just water in a jug with circulation and some light will start an ecosystem of some sort.

It can take months for anoxic bacteria to develop, so have some patience.

What did you no3 end up at with all of the water changes?

I tested the water today (after adding the sandbed) and the purple on the salifert seems much darker than it did on the last test 2 days ago. I wouldnt be surprised if there was some die off on this ocean direct sand or maybe its just false reading - I rinsed the sand good with about 30 gallons of saltwater but hoping it was in fact alive and not exposed to these cold northeast temperatures.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

it for sure went down but the problem is the Nitrate (NO) is way above 100PPM.

To avoid future confusion, nitrate is NO3-. NO is nitric oxide, a colorless gas. Since nitrogen has many oxides, it is important to either say nitrate or NO3-.

 

[ReefGeezer]

The sand you added may take months to begin to process nitrate. There aren't any easy solutions to remedy nitrate levels that are as high as reported... particularly if it needs to be done quickly. Water changes are about the only method of rapidly reducing them. However, they must be done in multiple large changes (~50%) and done close together.

Since your Salifert kit is maxed out let's assume the nitrate level is really 200 ppm. That means it will take at least three 50% water changes done back to back, to reduce the nitrate to 25 ppm. If it's higher that 200 ppm, it could take more. If you don't do the water changes back to back, something like every 24 hours or less, their efficiency is reduced.

 

[Ashish Patel]

To avoid future confusion, nitrate is NO3-. NO is nitric oxide, a colorless gas. Since nitrogen has many oxides, it is important to either say nitrate or NO3-.

Oh wow, thanks for the Knowledge Randy! Just to be clear are Phosphates PO? Or do they contain a number

 

[jda]

Orthophosphate is po4. There are more complex forms floating around too. Most folks can only test for orthophosphate, so just po4 is fine.

 

[Ashish Patel]

The sand you added may take months to begin to process nitrate. There aren't any easy solutions to remedy nitrate levels that are as high as reported... particularly if it needs to be done quickly. Water changes are about the only method of rapidly reducing them. However, they must be done in multiple large changes (~50%) and done close together.

Since your Salifert kit is maxed out let's assume the nitrate level is really 200 ppm. That means it will take at least three 50% water changes done back to back, to reduce the nitrate to 25 ppm. If it's higher that 200 ppm, it could take more. If you don't do the water changes back to back, something like every 24 hours or less, their efficiency is reduced.

Yeah what you mentioned is 100% correct bc those numbers would turnover the starting tank water by 70%. The current method is barely turning the water over 30%.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Oh wow, thanks for the Knowledge Randy! Just to be clear are Phosphates PO? Or do they contain a number

PO4---

 

[Ashish Patel]

Dose 35mL of vodka per day.

what about the lanthum cloride i am dosing? should i stop it ? Does vodka also reduce PO3

 

[Miami Reef]

what about the lanthum cloride i am dosing? should i stop it ? Does vodka also reduce PO3

No. Don’t stop the lanthanum.

Vodka isn’t very effective for phosphates. It is much more effective for nitrates. Franky, I would much rather dose vodka than make water changes for the sake of controlling NO3, much cheaper and easier.

 

[Garf]

No, it took the amount of time I said. I use aragonite sand in my DSB. Nitrates reached almost undetectable levels in about a month in my current 110G. In my previous 150G it took 5 weeks to go from 80 to essentially zero. In fact, it dropped so fast that I thought my nitrate test kit was bad, so I got another one that gave the same results. Why are you disputing my experience?

Nitrite interference?

 

[AKReefing]

Nitrite interference?

That would require a permanent nitrite interference, because my nitrates have been around zero for the past 5 years.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

That would require a permanent nitrite interference, because my nitrates have been around zero for the past 5 years.

I think the idea behind the comment is that the 80 ppm nitrate may have actually been 1-2 ppm nitrite, and losing that amount in 5 weeks is less surprising than 80 ppm real nitrate to zero in 5 weeks.

 

[Ashish Patel]

No. Don’t stop the lanthanum.

Vodka isn’t very effective for phosphates. It is much more effective for nitrates. Franky, I would much rather dose vodka than make water changes for the sake of controlling NO3, much cheaper and easier.

Does it matter where I dose it or what time of day?

 

[Miami Reef]

Does it matter where I dose it or what time of day?

It doesn’t matter where you dose it. It’s best to dose it sometime during the daylight hours.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Cleaned the skimmer and dosed 5ml of Vodka today

 

[Ashish Patel]

This is what the tank looks like. Growth had been impacted but its amazing how resilient acros can be if flow and alk is stable. They may not grow past a nub but they sure as he'll try.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Very preliminary finding but this Stylo I've had growing in my 400gallon for 1 year and while it looked healthy and growing, it never ever showed the white growth tips from mother colony. Until now I see the white tips coming. Also had to increase my Kalk by 1000ml per day. I did increase my photo period by having the max at an additional hour and intensity go up by 2%. PE at night on 2 acros has also improved since the waterchanges, adding sand, and 3 days of vodka dosing

 

[Miami Reef]

That’s awesome!

 

[Ashish Patel]

Does anyone have a suggestion for a good inexpensive trustworthy pump that I can use to dose Vodka? I'm not a fan of daily dosing and to be honest I wouldn't mind a simple doser without wifi and manual indicator. Unfortunately most new products are all wifi and I don't particularly like them. My GHL doser i can't even work the app 4 years after I moved and just had it set to 100ml per day and use a simple timer to adjust the doser on my old vat. Is it me or do all German product stuck in the 50s with all hardware testing and trash software ?

 

[Ashish Patel]

17ml Vodka dosed Today