Nitrates

[Plesoine]

I,m sure people have asked this question but can't find any real answers. I am running 4 different systems and I have nitrate problems in each. I use RO water. I've tried reactors, vodka, deep sand beds, shallow sand beds. I can't get any of them lower then 80ppm. Any advice?

 

[redfishbluefish]

Ouch!

What do you do in the way of water changes....volume and frequency?

Are you running a refugium with macro algae....to export nitrates and phosphates"

Are you running a skimmer? And actually what else are you doing in the way of a sump?

 

[blacktippr]

Tank size, Bio load, Skimmer, Amount of live rock etc?

 

[Reefing Madness]

Vodka dosing will take a very long time to get to drop if you go by the instructions. If you'd like, I can cut that time way way down.
Lemme know, I can knock it down to a few weeks.

 

[kevinsmixed90]

Vodka dosing will take a very long time to get to drop if you go by the instructions. If you'd like, I can cut that time way way down.
Lemme know, I can knock it down to a few weeks.

I'd like that info please

 

[Reefing Madness]

Start out with 1mls of vodka for the first 3 days. Bump to 5mls for the next 4 days. Bump to 10mls after that for 5 days, bump to 15mls after that for 5 days.
In other words, after the first 7 days, evey 5 days bump it up 5 mls, this will get you to your target dose quickly.
Test every 5 days after you've bumped it up, just before you add another 5mls. Once you see that your Nitrates are starting to come down, leave that target dose, until they've come all the way down to where you want them. Then cut the dose in half. That will be your new daily doseage.
NOTE: Once you get to 10mls a day, split that dose up from AM-PM, meaning, dose 5mls in the AM and the other half in the PM. Do the same for evertyhing above 10mls.

 

[kevinsmixed90]

Do I need to watch any other parameters for falloff such as salinity or alk?, or are these unaffected by the vodka?

 

[redfishbluefish]

Just keep an eye out for cyano, because they too are enjoying this little cocktail.

 

[kevinsmixed90]

Yikes! ok thanks.

 

[Reefing Madness]

You may or may not see Cyano, my tank never went through this. It will not affect the other elements.

 

[Plesoine]

My one system has a water volume of about 250 gallons. I have a hang on refugium on the back with macro. I also have a 50 gallon refugium underneath. I also run a hang on filter along with a fluval 406. Im up to 30 ml a day in vinegar doseing. I do about 30 gallons a month water change. Fish load is average. Phosphates are fine along with everything else. I just battle nitrates. I also use RO water. Heavy load of coral. I also have around 350-400 pounds of live rock. Everything looks fine I just can't get rid of nitartes. Other tanks I have same problem although they are only 55's.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Vodka is a fine method, but there are others as well.

I detail them here:

https://www.reef2reef.com/blog/nitrate-in-the-reef-aquarium

 

[blacktippr]

How high are the nitrates?

 

[blacktippr]

How high are the nitrates, what test kit are you using?

I had the same problem but mine where so high they would not come down using vodka, Bioppellets and or NOPOX. So what I did was lower them first with huge water changes to about 8-10ppm nitrates using RED SEA with the new powder reagents, it's more sensitive than earlier Read Sea and definitely API. Afterwards ran NOPOX to keep it below 5ppm up to 1ppm . On phosphates I control them with lanthanum chloride, injected into skimmer with a dosing pump.

Tank is 460 gallons with 65 gal refugium, currently upgrading sump/Refugium to 300 gallon.

 

[Reefing Madness]

My one system has a water volume of about 250 gallons. I have a hang on refugium on the back with macro. I also have a 50 gallon refugium underneath. I also run a hang on filter along with a fluval 406. Im up to 30 ml a day in vinegar doseing. I do about 30 gallons a month water change. Fish load is average. Phosphates are fine along with everything else. I just battle nitrates. I also use RO water. Heavy load of coral. I also have around 350-400 pounds of live rock. Everything looks fine I just can't get rid of nitartes. Other tanks I have same problem although they are only 55's.

If your system is up around 300g, then your going to be up around 40-60mls before you see a dent in nitrates. The hang on fuge won't do much for your tank, its not nearly big enough for your needs, neigher is the 50g, unless both were just used completely for macro algae, and full. But Im going to take a stab and say your daily maintenance mls would be around 15-25mls a day, so you've got a bit of ramping still to do.

 

[MadCityReefer]

I was dealing with the same issue, doing back to back water changes with RO water, I have a refugium, don't over feed but couldn't get my nitrates down so bought this....Korallin BioDenitrator and after 4 weeks my nitrates went from 40ppm to ZERO....

 

[Plesoine]

I use API test kit and my nitrates are running around 80. So I should bump up my vinegar ? I don't really have a way to add more macro algae. And what do you think the best Macro algae to use is ?

 

[glb]

Do you have any idea how they got so high? That's really high for SW. Since you have the same problem in all your tanks, I'd check your RO unit. What is the TDS of your RO water?

 

[glb]

My one system has a water volume of about 250 gallons. I have a hang on refugium on the back with macro. I also have a 50 gallon refugium underneath. I also run a hang on filter along with a fluval 406. Im up to 30 ml a day in vinegar doseing. I do about 30 gallons a month water change. Fish load is average. Phosphates are fine along with everything else. I just battle nitrates. I also use RO water. Heavy load of coral. I also have around 350-400 pounds of live rock. Everything looks fine I just can't get rid of nitartes. Other tanks I have same problem although they are only 55's.

Maybe 10% weekly water changes would keep it under control once you bring it down. That would be 25g/wk instead of 30g/mos. Good luck!

 

[Plesoine]

My TDS from my RO =0. When I go to LFS theres is usally between 110-200, not much for RO if you ask me. I'm at a loss for the reasons. Maybe its just the API test kit not reading it right ?