Nitrates

[hhholds]

So I am 1 year+ into my reef tank and I have had a high Nitrate issue since about month 3. They have registered as high as 80-100ppm. I do water changes every 3 weeks religiously. I have been running bio-pellets since February. Current Parameters
PO4. .02ppm
NO3. 40ppm (API kit)
Alk. 9dkh
CA. 490
Ph. 7.9-8.0

I have little to no coral growth. SPS typically start losing tissue and bleach after a month or two of being in my tank.

lighting is 2x kessil 150, 4 T5 (coral+,blue+,2x actinic)
75gal display
40gal sump with skimmer, refugiun (chaeto)
I run a carbon reactor and a bio pellet reactor
fish load is light
pair clowns
yellow tang
hippo tang
cloud wrasse
pink spot goby

any help with my nitrate issue would be appreciated

 

[Bpain05]

What kind of food are you feeding and how much/many times a day do you feed?

 

[Crabs McJones]

So I am 1 year+ into my reef tank and I have had a high Nitrate issue since about month 3. They have registered as high as 80-100ppm. I do water changes every 3 weeks religiously. I have been running bio-pellets since February. Current Parameters
PO4. .02ppm
NO3. 40ppm (API kit)
Alk. 9dkh
CA. 490
Ph. 7.9-8.0

I have little to no coral growth. SPS typically start losing tissue and bleach after a month or two of being in my tank.

lighting is 2x kessil 150, 4 T5 (coral+,blue+,2x actinic)
75gal display
40gal sump with skimmer, refugiun (chaeto)
I run a carbon reactor and a bio pellet reactor
fish load is light
pair clowns
yellow tang
hippo tang
cloud wrasse
pink spot goby

any help with my nitrate issue would be appreciated

How much of a water change are you doing? Are you using RO/DI water for your water change and top off? What is your substrate? How much and how often are you feeding? With the fuge, the bio pellets, and carbon reactor you should have very low nitrates, so they have to be coming from somewhere. Also I'd look into the possibility of a different test kit. The API test kits are great for starting out, but aren't good for long term use, especially the nitrate kit. There have been instances of the Nitrate reagents going bad and giving false readings. I'd look into either the Red Sea or the Salifer testing kit for better accuracy

 

[SurfLife]

What kind of food are you feeding and how much/many times a day do you feed?

+1
I thought for sure I was not over feeding. Its a tough one to judge. I now know I was. I have cut back to less than 1/2 of what I was feeding when I thought I was not over feeding. Months later, fish are still fat and healthy and water quality improved.
Seems every time my wife (we are into this hobby 100% together) asked me if we were feeding enough, my Kole Tang would crop dust the tank and I would point and ask her, what do you think? ;Vomit

 

[hhholds]

Thx for replies

I am doing 25gal water change every 3 weeks. water changes and top offs are with ro/di and i have tested the ro water and it is 0ppm nitrates.

my feeding schedule is once every 2 or 3 days. usually a cube of frozen mysis or a few small pinches of pellets (clowns love to eat pellets out of my hand). will put a piece of nori in for them about once a week.

 

[SurfLife]

Thx for replies

I am doing 25gal water change every 3 weeks. water changes and top offs are with ro/di and i have tested the ro water and it is 0ppm nitrates.

my feeding schedule is once every 2 or 3 days. usually a cube of frozen mysis or a few small pinches of pellets (clowns love to eat pellets out of my hand). will put a piece of nori in for them about once a week.

That does not sound like too much feeding. That's only my opinion.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Thx for replies

I am doing 25gal water change every 3 weeks. water changes and top offs are with ro/di and i have tested the ro water and it is 0ppm nitrates.

my feeding schedule is once every 2 or 3 days. usually a cube of frozen mysis or a few small pinches of pellets (clowns love to eat pellets out of my hand). will put a piece of nori in for them about once a week.

That sounds like adequate feeding. I would get a better test kit and retest personally.

 

[hhholds]

so if test kit is bad....what explains the poor coral growth and slow demise of sps....i assumed exposure to high nitrate

and why are bio pellets not seeming to work....btw pellets have turned bright orange...?

 

[Crabs McJones]

so if test kit is bad....what explains the poor coral growth and slow demise of sps....i assumed exposure to high nitrate

and why are bio pellets not seeming to work....btw pellets have turned bright orange...?

The poor growth of the sps could be attributed to a number of things, the high nitrates can definitly cause it, but at this point we cant determine where the nitrates are coming from. Lighting could be another issue, if it's to high or two low, Two Kessil 150's and 4 t5's may not be enough for a 4 foot 75 gallon tank depended on where the corals are in the tank. Alk swings, pests....

 

[mcarroll]

PO4. .02ppm
NO3. 40ppm (API kit)

Without phosphates, hardly anything can use the nitrates out of the water for you.

Forget about removing nutrients and focus on balancing them!

In your case, it will help to add some phosphate fertilizer to get at least ≥0.03 ppm.

With nitrates that high, you may find that phosphates will be used up as fast as you add them to the tank.

Because of that, a higher phosphate target like 0.10 ppm might make more sense to begin with....until nitrate levels normalize around 5-10 ppm.

Take the pellet reactor offline and discontinue use of any other nutrient removers as well. They are not beneficial on a tank that young and can even be harmful. Do this before anything else to avoid possible bad side effects.

 

[Bayareareefer18]

Are you running the outflow of the bio pellet reactor into your skimmer intake?

 

[hhholds]

Are you running the outflow of the bio pellet reactor into your skimmer intake?

Yes

 

[drblakjak55]

Dosing NoPox or Vodka? That is the only thing that consistently keeps my nitrates down

 

[BluTang85]

Nopox works Miracles when all else fails. I use it on my 120 mixed reef my nitrates are under 5ppm.

 

[hhholds]

Dosing NoPox or Vodka? That is the only thing that consistently keeps my nitrates down

Nopox works Miracles when all else fails. I use it on my 120 mixed reef my nitrates are under 5ppm.

I tried NOPOX for several months but it did not have any effect on my Nitrate problem so I started using BioPellets. Also tried Dr Tims product Waste Away...worked great on cyano problem.

 

[happyhourhero]

I would honestly just feed my fish more for the phosphate and get a better test kit. 10% weekly water change wouldn’t hurt either.

 

[Seminoles76]

Without phosphates, hardly anything can use the nitrates out of the water for you.

Forget about removing nutrients and focus on balancing them!

In your case, it will help to add some phosphate fertilizer to get at least ≥0.03 ppm.

With nitrates that high, you may find that phosphates will be used up as fast as you add them to the tank.

Because of that, a higher phosphate target like 0.10 ppm might make more sense to begin with....until nitrate levels normalize around 5-10 ppm.

Take the pellet reactor offline and discontinue use of any other nutrient removers as well. They are not beneficial on a tank that young and can even be harmful. Do this before anything else to avoid possible bad side effects.

Take Mcarroll advice. I agree with taking the pellets off line.

A few other questions I would be asking myself if I was in your position:
1. How is the skimmer doing? Is it producing a ton of skim? With Bio-Pellets you should have a substantial amount of skim from the bacteria sloughing off the pellets. If it's not, then you may have skimmer under performing.
2. How is the Macro Algae growth in the fuge? You should have substantial growth with those nutrient numbers your pulling.
3. Are the nutrients getting trapped somewhere where they are unable to be skimmed out? Things to take into consideration with this are sandbeds, tank flow, rock work etc.

I point out these three things because your feeding regime is really, really, really low IMHO and you should be reading 0 nitrates with all the export you have going on with once every three days feeding.

But....before I did any of this I would get a Salifert NO3 kit to get a good accurate reading. If your really at 40 nitrates could be contributing to your SPS problems. If your under 10 on Salifert I'd say it's time to look at other things.

Hope you get figured out.

Cheers,
Jared

 

[srad750c]

Get a Hanna phosphorus test and a better nitrate test kit. Lighting should be fine, I have 2 Kessil A360WE and AI Prime HD over my 90, that’s probably lower than your setup. I don’t think you’re feeding too much. You’re doing way too much of a water change on a 70 gal tank. I do 5 gals monthly. Do 5 gal a week max. Vacuum a small section of your gravel and see what happens. Make more foam on skimmer. Check water weekly.