Reducing Nitrate

thabizness · Jan 30, 2017

I am having issues reducing nitrates in my 180g display. They have been at 25 for the longest time. I believe my growth and colors are ok but there is room for much improvement - nitrate reduction being one of them with a goal to get between 1-5. The tank has been up for a little over a year and a half in this incarnation of it. Here are some params from my last test:

Tank: 180g w/ 40 sump
Cal: 415 (Salifert)
Alk: 8.4 (Hanna)
Nitrate: 25 (salifert)
Phos: .04 (Hanna ULR)
Mag: 1320 (Salifert)

I do run filter socks and change every 3 days or when clogged. I am dosing vinegar at 37ml/day during daylight hours and slowly raising. I am skimming wet. I use a DOS for AWC and do about 1.7g a day. My reef has about 18 fish. I feed LRS (2-3 times a week), pellets (2x day auto feeder), Nori (every other day). I also have snails, shrimp, and crabs as a CUC. I do run GAC and GFO.

My first thoughts are to stay the course and keep upping my vinegar dose 4ml weekly. I was also thinking I may add vodka to get more diversity in nitrate reducing bacteria. I'm not against BioPellets but that would add a equipment charge and thus another point of failure/complexity/issues I really dont want to do. My LFS recommended Dr. Tims waste away but not sure about adding more chemicals. I could easily change my AWC to do more per day. My reservoir is 50 gallons so I could easily program that in either a continuous water change or take x gallons out then put x gallons back in but I am not sure on a daily dose to reduce nitrates.

What are your thoughts on the above?

CodyRVA · Jan 30, 2017

Have you tried doing without the auto feeder?

Jimbo662 · Jan 30, 2017

CodyRVA said:
Have you tried doing without the auto feeder?

My first thought too. Do you use a controller to shut off the return pump before the feeder drops food? If not, my concern would be how much food goes into the overflow before the fish have a chance to eat it.

thabizness · Jan 30, 2017

When I first started the auto feeder I was doing twice a day for the anthias as you always hear they need to eat multiple times a day. I did reduce it to once a day for a period of time and didn't see any change in nitrates.

I'm not against stopping that but would be worried about feeding those specific fish. The amount fed is one rotation (small amount) twice daily.

thabizness · Jan 30, 2017

The feeder is placed in a area where all pellets are gone before going to overflow or sand bed. I never see pellet remains in the sock. I do not turn off the return for that. I have watched many times to be sure all food is gone.

So would that be the first recommended option?

CodyRVA · Jan 30, 2017

Well, just because you don't see pellets in the socks or display does not mean the food isn't contributing to the issue. It's hard to guess because i've never seen your setup, but your AWC isn't removing any of your vinegar is it? Seems far fetched, as in... does your AWC kick in at any point when you're dosing vinegar? Do you have any algae issues? Are the nitrates increasing, or just remaining steady? What kind of fish make up those 18? One easy thing you could do is swap your filter socks every day for a week and test your nitrate, see if it makes any difference. Whatever you do, do it slowly and only do one thing at a time so you can keep track of what works and what does not, it makes narrowing down the issue much easier.

thabizness · Jan 30, 2017

Nitrates have remained steady. Vinegar is dosed during daylight hours. 12noon - 8PM. AWC goes between 12 midnight to 4AM. No algae seen but I have tangs. I am getting a minor brown dusting on sand bed. I haven't looked under a microscope to determine what it is but I did have a fight with spirulina a month ago confirmed by my microscope. This new dusting looks different then the spirulina looking cyano. Fish are Tangs, wrasses, clowns, Anthias, Goby, cardinal.

I will take the food advice and shut off the auto feeder. I have seen the stop pellet food in a few other threads. A week should be long enough to see a change. I'll report back then.

bgoldb · Jan 30, 2017

thabizness said:
Nitrates have remained steady. Vinegar is dosed during daylight hours. 12noon - 8PM. AWC goes between 12 midnight to 4AM. No algae seen but I have tangs. I am getting a minor brown dusting on sand bed. I haven't looked under a microscope to determine what it is but I did have a fight with spirulina a month ago confirmed by my microscope. This new dusting looks different then the spirulina looking cyano. Fish are Tangs, wrasses, clowns, Anthias, Goby, cardinal.

I will take the food advice and shut off the auto feeder. I have seen the stop pellet food in a few other threads. A week should be long enough to see a change. I'll report back then.

Have you tried Brightwell's NO3 Export brick?

thabizness · Jan 31, 2017

I have not. I will look into it. Anything you can add about it?

Therapy · Jan 31, 2017

I had the same problem. Questioned my Salifert kit. SO I bought another one. Even immediately after a huge WC I saw no effect on Nitrates. So I bought a Red Sea Pro test kit. Big difference. I can now see it varying even into the low range numbers. (currently 4ppm)