Rising Nitrates

[CharlieAsh]

Hi!

I'm new to reef chemistry... And I'm pretty sure this is my first question outside of the newbie forum, so bear with me.

I had rising phosphates and Nitrates with algae gone wild and my protein skimmer was out of order because the plumbing arrangement wouldn't allow it to function. To remedy that, I just bleached and recycled most of my live rock, added bio-spira to repopulate the rock, reworked the plumbing, did a 30% water change, and cleaned everything in the sump. Water flow is better than ever. Phosphates are down to .5ppm but Nitrates are only going up.

10/19 - 40 ppm after doing all of the above
11/1 - 80 ppm today after 2 weeks of skimmer running

What do I need to be doing to tweak this? I'm trying to stabilize to get coral back in my tank in the future.

 

[Miami Reef]

There are many ways you can lower nitrates.

Water changes
Carbon dosing
Refugium/turf scrubber

Those are the 3 most common ways we tackle nitrates in the hobby. My favorite of the bunch is carbon dosing.

Here‘s a great article about Nitrate and the ways we can lower it: https://reefs.com/magazine/aquarium-chemistry-nitrate-in-the-reef-aquarium/

 

[CharlieAsh]

Thanks! I'll look up carbon dosing since water change doesn't seem to be a long term solution.

 

[Dan_P]

Hi!

I'm new to reef chemistry... And I'm pretty sure this is my first question outside of the newbie forum, so bear with me.

I had rising phosphates and Nitrates with algae gone wild and my protein skimmer was out of order because the plumbing arrangement wouldn't allow it to function. To remedy that, I just bleached and recycled most of my live rock, added bio-spira to repopulate the rock, reworked the plumbing, did a 30% water change, and cleaned everything in the sump. Water flow is better than ever. Phosphates are down to .5ppm but Nitrates are only going up.

10/19 - 40 ppm after doing all of the above
11/1 - 80 ppm today after 2 weeks of skimmer running

What do I need to be doing to tweak this? I'm trying to stabilize to get coral back in my tank in the future.

Are you sure nitrite Is zero? It can interfere with the nitrate test.

 

[CharlieAsh]

Are you sure nitrite Is zero? It can interfere with the nitrate test.

I don't have a nitrite test. I will look into it further, but I'm pretty overwhelmed with trying to grasp this, is there a summary of how that works?

 

[Dan_P]

I don't have a nitrite test. I will look into it further, but I'm pretty overwhelmed with trying to grasp this, is there a summary of how that works?

When you bleached your rocks and introduced the BioSpira bacteria, the number of ammonia oxidizing bacteria may have exceeded the ones that convert nitrite to nitrate. This might be causing nitrite to be greater than zero.

The presence of nitrite in a nitrate test makes it look like you have a high concentration of nitrate. This happens because a nitrate test converts nitrate to nitrite which then reacts to form the pink or orange colored compound.

 

[CharlieAsh]

When you bleached your rocks and introduced the BioSpira bacteria, the number of ammonia oxidizing bacteria may have exceeded the ones that convert nitrite to nitrate. This might be causing nitrite to be greater than zero.

The presence of nitrite in a nitrate test makes it look like you have a high concentration of nitrate. This happens because a nitrate test converts nitrate to nitrite which then reacts to form the pink or orange colored compound.

Gotcha. And I am assuming they are handled differently?

 

[mdb_talon]

Gotcha. And I am assuming they are handled differently?

If nitrites are causing a false reading then it's just a matter of time and usually happens fairly quickly.

 

[CharlieAsh]

If nitrites are causing a false reading then it's just a matter of time and usually happens fairly quickly.

Matter of time before?

 

[mdb_talon]

Matter of time before?

Before nitrites go down to zero or near zeri....at which point you can test nitrates and get a relatively accurate reading. If they are already zero and nitrates that high then the suggestions above are all good(carbon dose, refugium)

 

[CharlieAsh]

Before nitrites go down to zero or near zeri....at which point you can test nitrates and get a relatively accurate reading. If they are already zero and nitrates that high then the suggestions above are all good(carbon dose, refugium)

Thank you! I think I love and hate reefs because there is so much to learn and it can be difficult to know where to start... Or when to get concerned.