Nitrates. Confusion. Are they Too high??!

[Azedenkae]

They may eventually harbor denitrifying bacteria but they could also be loaded with nitrifying bacteria contributing to the higher nitrates. You have plenty of live rock so other surface areas for bacteria seem unnecessary.

Nitrate output is a direct function of ammonia input. If there's already enough nitrifiers in say live rock to handle all the ammonia input, more nitrifiers beyond that will not somehow suddenly be able to yield more nitrates. At least where nitrification is concerned.

 

[JCM]

Nitrate output is a direct function of ammonia input. If there's already enough nitrifiers in say live rock to handle all the ammonia input, more nitrifiers beyond that will not somehow suddenly be able to yield more nitrates. At least where nitrification is concerned.

That's a very good point I wasn't considering.

 

[176327]

I've never been called tang police before, I'm honored haha. I actually keep a tang in my 65g as well, just not one that will get two feet long and be unable to turn around in my tank.

Plus having giant fish in a smallish tank is absolutely relevant to a question concerning high nutrients like Cell said.

meh, you could also just do water changes.

I’ll agree that obviously too large fish shouldn’t be in too small a tank. I don’t think we’re there though.

it’s just personally funny to me, the tang police thing. I didn’t mean anything personal (hate directed at you) by it, and don’t think you took it that way anyhow.

I like hippo’s I’m the grandmaster of keeping a tang for a year to two years and then selling it to someone with space for an adult. Now that I think of it, I do this often. I’ve never had a large tank (someday) and have taken to buying juvenile individuals and trading, selling, gifting later on.

one day I’ll get to try easy mode in a huge body of water.

 

[JCM]

meh, you could also just do water changes.

I’ll agree that obviously too large fish shouldn’t be in too small a tank. I don’t think we’re there though.

it’s just personally funny to me, the tang police thing. I didn’t mean anything personal (hate directed at you) by it, and don’t think you took it that way anyhow.

I like hippo’s I’m the grandmaster of keeping a tang for a year to two years and then selling it to someone with space for an adult. Now that I think of it, I do this often. I’ve never had a large tank (someday) and have taken to buying juvenile individuals and trading, selling, gifting later on.

one day I’ll get to try easy mode in a huge body of water.

I definitely didn't, I thought it was funny.

I agree and do the same thing. I've always kept a tank for algae control. I buy the smallest I can find and if it gets too big I trade it in for another small one. A Vlamingi probably isn't the best species for that though in my opinion. They get huge fast. Certainly wasn't trying to shame any tang keepers.

 

[176327]

I definitely didn't, I thought it was funny.

I agree and do the same thing. I've always kept a tank for algae control. I buy the smallest I can find and if it gets too big I trade it in for another small one. A Vlamingi probably isn't the best species for that though in my opinion. They get huge fast. Certainly wasn't trying to shame any tang keepers.

I know 100% less about this tang then you’re giving me credit for.

for me tangs have always just been pretty algae scrubbers / reactors lol.

I don’t currently have any tangs, but I’ve had two or three hippos over the years, (never larger than say four inches) a yellow, powder blue, and … what’s that really pretty black one with blue dots? Had one of those as a kid. It’s one of the really common ones.

I only got back into the hobby because of covid. I always wanted another reef someday, but wanted a big tank after buying a house for example. I’ve moved too many sub 50g tanks over the years. I was done until I knew I didn’t have to move again. Then, covid and suddenly there were all these systems in office buildings for sale dirt cheap… so here we are with another nano reef.

 

[mdb_talon]

Are bio blocks similar in concept to bioballs of years past that we used to call nitrate factories? Agree on the socks or any type of filter the collects stuff, change more often.

Nope not at all. Bioballs of the past were basically just adding surface area. They worked fine for nitrifying bacteria but nothing for denitrifying bacteria, but did trap detritus so in some situations were a nitrate factory as you describe. These are nothing like the modern biobricks that are designed to be very porous and allow very slow flow through them and have proven to be very effective in nitrate removal.

 

[Jekyl]

Sirens going off. Tang police on patrol!!!!

Marginalizing the health of the fish vs people not getting to do what ever they want without conscience

 

[Cell]

Marginalizing the health of the fish vs people not getting to do what ever they want without conscience

What's funny is all that was said was "That tang needs a 500G tank, not 65G" and "Big tang, small tank".

The anti-tang police seem more sensitive than the tang police these days...

 

[Jekyl]

What's funny is all that was said was "That tang needs a 500G tank, not 65G" and "Big tang, small tank".

The anti-tang police seem more sensitive than the tang police these days...

I was agreeing

 

[Cell]

I know

 

[MabuyaQ]

Great looking tank, so option one is do nothing and enjoy. Option two is start dosing some carbon source (my personal preference is vinegar) to give the denitrifying bacteria a boost. Just keep an eye on PO4 because you don't want that to get below the curren 0.03 ppm.

 

[JAWSIII]

Guys. Thanks for all the input and suggestions. I am being serious here!! The last few posts I have made were not very well responded to. But you guys have made it a pleasure and it’s exactly why I post on these forums at all.

All that being said - yes the vlamingi is to large of a fish but the wife picked it out when it was very little and I have strong hopes of getting a 320 gallon here soon. If not then he already has a spot in my LFS 700 plus gallon DT reserved.

thanks for all the input on the bio lock. I am not familiar at all with dosing vinegar or vodka as I have read. Does this provide a better environment for denitrifying bac?

I have a skimmer it’s a reef octo 90 HOB. I am sure that there are better skimmers out there but mine produces 2-3 inches of dark skimate every 3-5 days or so. When I setup the tank I didn’t have a sump and when I got my DIY sump I just figured into keeping the reef octo and loading the sump with cheato and macro algae. Yes the cheato and the macro are growing so I think the lights are enough. In fact that macro grew from a nickel size piece that I got for free from the LFS.

The tank has been up and running for right at a year now. However I did have a system crash Super Bowl Sunday night. And doing my DIY sup, I use the wrong silicone like an idiot that had mold inhibitors in it and I killed all but 2 of my fish. After that I basically had to start over and ran a canister filter with probably six or 7 pounds of carbon for multiple days after I felt like all of the poison was out of the system I did a massive water change ran carbon again and then started over that took about a month. So even though the tank is a little over a year old really it’s probably only about six months old because I basically wiped out and started over. So maybe I just don’t have enough time in for the denitrifying bacteria to be there yet

but the large piece of bio block that I got from the LFS was in their system and it’s pretty new to mine only about three weeks end.

I think for now I’m going to keep the equipment that I have and let it ride I’m just going to increase the filter sock changes and keep up with the water changes. And I will take most of yawls advice and just look to the corals for my identifiers. If I see the car start to stress then I’ll investigate why but as long as things keep looking well and growing I’m just gonna run this course

 

[JCM]

Vinegar and vodka are forms of carbon dosing. The extra carbon feeds bacteria that in turn consume nutrients. It works very well but If you go that route, research it well and start slow.

"If the livestock isn't stressed, then I'm not stressed" is a good outlook.

 

[BanjoBandito]

Things I don’t really care about in my reef tank:

nitrates
Phosphates under .2
Corals opening and closing randomly
White light %
What Facebook says

 

[vetteguy53081]

Guys. Thanks for all the input and suggestions. I am being serious here!! The last few posts I have made were not very well responded to. But you guys have made it a pleasure and it’s exactly why I post on these forums at all.

All that being said - yes the vlamingi is to large of a fish but the wife picked it out when it was very little and I have strong hopes of getting a 320 gallon here soon. If not then he already has a spot in my LFS 700 plus gallon DT reserved.

thanks for all the input on the bio lock. I am not familiar at all with dosing vinegar or vodka as I have read. Does this provide a better environment for denitrifying bac?

I have a skimmer it’s a reef octo 90 HOB. I am sure that there are better skimmers out there but mine produces 2-3 inches of dark skimate every 3-5 days or so. When I setup the tank I didn’t have a sump and when I got my DIY sump I just figured into keeping the reef octo and loading the sump with cheato and macro algae. Yes the cheato and the macro are growing so I think the lights are enough. In fact that macro grew from a nickel size piece that I got for free from the LFS.

The tank has been up and running for right at a year now. However I did have a system crash Super Bowl Sunday night. And doing my DIY sup, I use the wrong silicone like an idiot that had mold inhibitors in it and I killed all but 2 of my fish. After that I basically had to start over and ran a canister filter with probably six or 7 pounds of carbon for multiple days after I felt like all of the poison was out of the system I did a massive water change ran carbon again and then started over that took about a month. So even though the tank is a little over a year old really it’s probably only about six months old because I basically wiped out and started over. So maybe I just don’t have enough time in for the denitrifying bacteria to be there yet

but the large piece of bio block that I got from the LFS was in their system and it’s pretty new to mine only about three weeks end.

I think for now I’m going to keep the equipment that I have and let it ride I’m just going to increase the filter sock changes and keep up with the water changes. And I will take most of yawls advice and just look to the corals for my identifiers. If I see the car start to stress then I’ll investigate why but as long as things keep looking well and growing I’m just gonna run this course

For nitrate/PO4 control, rinse or drain any frozen foods you feed and add a small pouch of chemipure Blue or Elite which will keep these in check and polish your water at same time.