Nitrates will not go down!!

[Kenpro]

Hi, i would have done like this.

Do waterchanges to get rid of excessive nitrates 20% two times a week for 2 weeks, do this slowly since fast changes if if good ones can get you problems.

Dose bacteria every 2 weeks type Microbelift specialblend etc all the time for a strong biology

Get a returnpump that turn the real systemvolyme about 10x trough the refugium, this makes the refugium work properly, just a couple of small liverocks and macroalgae int he fuge, good strong skimmer behind the fuge, skim wet and get rid of filtersocks and other things, the algaes will polish the water and need the things in the water to grow, some small particles in the water do the corals healthy. Get a maxima clam or two the polish the water to perfection and eats nitrates.

Get for example koralsea pestfree caulerpa algae and other quality alges to get a more complete nutrientexport, many times caulerpa or other algae are better suited to your system that your choosen algae, therefore a wide variety of algae is needed since they all have their benefits in nutrientexport. not many people understand or do this since chaeto is so good to eat nitrates on most tanks.

Do a icp test and correct your wtaerparameters and follow up what your tank needs, this ensures that algae species dont go sexual as alast attempt to survive if waterchemisty is bad. A good wter chemistry is the base for all other things to work properly, if iron is 0 in your system the algae wont grow for example.

Fix your biopellets reactor or get rid of it and dose nopox or vodka vinagaer sugar to help the biology until the algae bed has grown up and you can balance your parameters with the refugium. Small amount will do if you get your refugium working its easy start slow and let things take time, look over your fuge lightning if needed. A plant growing light is perfect if you dont have already

To get your system to work you have to have more corals, corals filter the water and are good at eating the nitrates and grow to beatiful colonies. A system is stable first after a year ecause the corals grow and do the wtaer cleaner and cleaner if you just put in whats go out. Balance between in and out is all that is needed to get a system work. A simple effective natural system with balances in and output is all thats needed for a astonishing tank. Sorry for my english its not my first langauge

 

[Kenpro]

Get a hanna ulr phosporuhus checker and turn the po4 to 0,02-0,03 and nitrates to 0,25-5 and you can have all corals as you want thriving in there

 

[Kenpro]

Actived carbon in a bag and some triton al99 po4 remover and change between this and gfo or rowaphos to not get high aluminum in your water if your algae bed dont turn the phosphate down wich it would longterm. Prune the algae to balance the parameters when hitting your sweetspot

 

[mpjmeyer]

I reduced the amount of biopellets like they said, now the reactor has them tumbling like crazy. In fact, I had to turn down the amount of flow to the reactor which increased flow to the fuge and display! I feel this is coming together nicely. I just rinsed out the foam filter, added the coralline shells and plan on a 20 gallon change on Tuesday. Should I add carbon? I have a mesh bag and carbon available

 

[Kenpro]

And if your phopates is low and nitrates much lower nitrates wont go dont before you turn up your phosphate since the biology dont work properky when imbalanced

 

[mpjmeyer]

So I need to raise my phosphate levels?

 

[IslandLifeReef]

I reduced the amount of biopellets like they said, now the reactor has them tumbling like crazy. In fact, I had to turn down the amount of flow to the reactor which increased flow to the fuge and display! I feel this is coming together nicely. I just rinsed out the foam filter, added the coralline shells and plan on a 20 gallon change on Tuesday. Should I add carbon? I have a mesh bag and carbon available

So I need to raise my phosphate levels?

I wouldn't add carbon to your filter sock yet. The carbon dosing that was mentioned earlier refers to vodka, vinegar, sugar, or NoPox. These all promote bacteria growth. You need to be running your skimmer wet if you dose these.

I would wait and see how the change in your reactor effects your nitrates. Also, you could try removing that sponge. All that does is trap food that might be consumed by the livestock in your tank and allows it to rot in the sponge. My LFS call sponge filters nitrate factories and I agree. They only work if you clean them well and often.

Your phosphates are fine, just reduce the nitrates. A 20%-50% water change with the other items you are doing and removing that sponge should work well.

 

[Cscultho]

Im still trying to understand what your issue is?

Is there something going on that is causing reason for alarm? Im not seeing anything that would cause you to go on this goose chase to start making drastic changes?

 

[Kenpro]

He wants to have a balanced system with low nutrient levels so he can have a clean looking tank with all corals of his choice. The tank dont perform as good as it can be even if does keep animals alive.

The changes i suggested above is gonna make your tank work extremely good but theres thousands of ways to reefing. When you have animals in your tank carbon in a sock is always needed, carbon is the final stage of the filtration that in your case is refugium bio pellets , skimmer and finally carbon. Carbon gets rid of heavymetals like copper from your water, and take the small unwanted nutrients that yellowing your water and make it superclear. Change this at least once a month and use 1 dl per 100 liters of net water to begin with. I havent read all the posts so if you have ,edicine in your tank wait until tis is over since it rub the medicine from your water. You can go without carbon but no reason to not do it the best way, too much carbon will have neagtive effects like everything else in this hobby.

If you have massive imbalance in the bacteria that lives on the nutrient it shows like imbalanced no3 vs p04. If you want the process to get a kickstart you can slowly increase the p04 but as said in the post above waterchanges and a better working system will take care of this imbalance, there will dosing a bacteriablend also help to get several bacteriastrains working in your system and strenghting the biology.

As said when having a refugium you dont need socks and sponges since you rub the food from the algae, also to have several things like biopellets and refugium is simply just more things to try to balnace and adjust even if they can help you for the moment. A good algae refugium or a pelletreactor or nopox is all thats needed for a splendid system

 

[Cscultho]

He wants to have a balanced system with low nutrient levels so he can have a clean looking tank with all corals of his choice. The tank dont perform as good as it can be even if does keep animals alive.

The changes i suggested above is gonna make your tank work extremely good but theres thousands of ways to reefing. When you have animals in your tank carbon in a sock is always needed, carbon is the final stage of the filtration that in your case is refugium bio pellets , skimmer and finally carbon. Carbon gets rid of heavymetals like copper from your water, and take the small unwanted nutrients that yellowing your water and make it superclear. Change this at least once a month and use 1 dl per 100 liters of net water to begin with. I havent read all the posts so if you have ,edicine in your tank wait until tis is over since it rub the medicine from your water. You can go without carbon but no reason to not do it the best way, too much carbon will have neagtive effects like everything else in this hobby.

If you have massive imbalance in the bacteria that lives on the nutrient it shows like imbalanced no3 vs p04. If you want the process to get a kickstart you can slowly increase the p04 but as said in the post above waterchanges and a better working system will take care of this imbalance, there will dosing a bacteriablend also help to get several bacteriastrains working in your system and strenghting the biology.

As said when having a refugium you dont need socks and sponges since you rub the food from the algae, also to have several things like biopellets and refugium is simply just more things to try to balnace and adjust even if they can help you for the moment. A good algae refugium or a pelletreactor or nopox is all thats needed for a splendid system

I guess this is the age old question and argument in reefing....what is balance? "Balance" in one reef may not necessarily be a good balance for another. I guess each reefer must be able to see and recognize the changes in their system and change slowly.

Im not a big fan of carbon dosing. My experience with carbon has caused more harm than good. Dinos being the biggest issue. Ive tried to make more of a "natural" approach and have let it ride with good results.

IMO his system looked healthy but a picture is only half the story.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

get rid of the sponge.