Nitrates aarrggg

[Michelle Crossley]

I have been running my big tank for a year now with no problem. Clever me thought I knew it all and didn't do any water checks for 3 months as everything looked OK. Noticed the corals not looking to good so I did a water test. My Alk was too low and my nitrates were off the scale. I then did a 100litre water change and added a fluidised media reactor. My tank and sump hold 112 gallons. I have got the Alk back up but my nitrates are 75. Please help

 

[Malifry97]

I have been running my big tank for a year now with no problem. Clever me thought I knew it all and didn't do any water checks for 3 months as everything looked OK. Noticed the corals not looking to good so I did a water test. My Alk was too low and my nitrates were off the scale. I then did a 100litre water change and added a fluidised media reactor. My tank and sump hold 112 gallons. I have got the Alk back up but my nitrates are 75. Please help

Large water change to get that down. The. Slowly bring alk up. If your saltwater is mixing low alk then get a new salt

 

[Michelle Crossley]

Large water change to get that down. The. Slowly bring alk up. If your saltwater is mixing low alk then get a new salt

I assumed a 22gallon water change is large. My alkalinity is fine now.

 

[Michelle Crossley]

Large water change to get that down. The. Slowly bring alk up. If your saltwater is mixing low alk then get a new salt

Sorry Malifry97 forgot to say thank you. So Thank you lol

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

I have been running my big tank for a year now with no problem. Clever me thought I knew it all and didn't do any water checks for 3 months as everything looked OK. Noticed the corals not looking to good so I did a water test. My Alk was too low and my nitrates were off the scale. I then did a 100litre water change and added a fluidised media reactor. My tank and sump hold 112 gallons. I have got the Alk back up but my nitrates are 75. Please help

Sulfur denitrator, a manly toy.... not for children. Within 3 weeks or less,your NO3 will be close to 0. How do I know? Pictures don't lie. One of the most difficult corals, dendronephthya sp, carnation coral , bathing in a DT that has a sulfur denitrator

1 of 16 carnation coral, dendronephthya sp

 

[Michelle Crossley]

Sulfur denitrator, a manly toy.... not for children. Within 3 weeks or less,your NO3 will be close to 0. How do I know? Pictures don't lie. One of the most difficult corals, dendronephthya sp, carnation coral , bathing in a DT that has a sulfur denitrator

1 of 16 carnation coral, dendronephthya sp

Wow. Yes I agree. Thank you

 

[Malifry97]

No problem

 

[brandon429]

do you have a sandbed, is it clean or dirty if so

 

[Tastee]

I assumed a 22gallon water change is large. My alkalinity is fine now.

A 22g change in a 112g system is only going to drop nitrates from 75 to about 60 due to the %age of water you are changing. 22/112 = 19.6% * 75 ppm = 14.7 ppm removed. You would need to do this 5 times to get nitrates to ~10 ppm. And each time you do it you reduce the nitrates less as it is proportional to the nitrate level you start what the heck.

Water changes will reduce it but to get it right down means a lot of WCs. Other options are carbon dosing (NoPoX and similar, plenty of DIY mixes you can find on the forums), a refugium or algae scrubber. Skimming a bit wetter and changing filter socks more frequently will also help - won’t reduce existing nitrates but will reduce an increase in new nitrates as you are removing organic matter before it becomes nitrates.