So you thought YOUR nitrates were high...

[SakuraSky]

Okay so I read through about 20 or so Nitrate threads, super helpful! But every time I'd read...my nitrates are like 70ppms! Lol
WELL I just tested my 90g Fowlr and they exceed 250ppms....
I did the high range red sea ( 1ml of tank water and 4ml of ro) results multiply by 5. And they definitely exceed the 50ppms color.... it is not faulty and I did 2 tests correctly

My fish are doing great though. I have dosed prime.
Background: rehomed tank. A month since move. Removed hippo tang that was too big and providing a lot of waste. 3 other very large fish that poop a LOT. I dont overfeed but will cut back.
All other parameters in check. Phos low
Sump is a pro clear aquatic system with bio balls. I am adding a filter sock. I already added 5 xport bio blocks, purigen and chemi pure blue.
I was thinking about adding fish. NOPE not now lol.
Doing a massive water change. But I doubt that will help. Will keep doing it.
Have a few options,, add Chaeto to sump with a light, chaeto reactor, and thats pretty much all I've got haha.
This is going to be a struggle

 

[Arlen nemeth]

Okay so I read through about 20 or so Nitrate threads, super helpful! But every time I'd read...my nitrates are like 70ppms! Lol
WELL I just tested my 90g Fowlr and they exceed 250ppms....
I did the high range red sea ( 1ml of tank water and 4ml of ro) results multiply by 5. And they definitely exceed the 50ppms color.... it is not faulty and I did 2 tests correctly

My fish are doing great though. I have dosed prime.
Background: rehomed tank. A month since move. Removed hippo tang that was too big and providing a lot of waste. 3 other very large fish that poop a LOT. I dont overfeed but will cut back.
All other parameters in check. Phos low
Sump is a pro clear aquatic system with bio balls. I am adding a filter sock. I already added 5 xport bio blocks, purigen and chemi pure blue.
I was thinking about adding fish. NOPE not now lol.
Doing a massive water change. But I doubt that will help. Will keep doing it.
Have a few options,, add Chaeto to sump with a light, chaeto reactor, and thats pretty much all I've got haha.
This is going to be a struggle

Only suggestions i have is reduce feeding and stock seems insanely high though. Anything die lately?

 

[Gravity]

Assuming you got a skimmer you can always carbon dose. Since you are already taking steps to reduce the bioload it may only be needed temporarily until things get back to normal, which may save you from upgrading all the equipment then removing stuff later.

 

[Arlen nemeth]

Assuming you got a skimmer you can always carbon dose. Since you are already taking steps to reduce the bioload it may only be needed temporarily until things get back to normal, which may save you from upgrading all the equipment then removing stuff later.

Hey im generally new to reefing hobby have had tanks for about 7 months now and what is carbon dosing ive heard of it but what is it?

 

[C. Eymann]

Short term- Dilution is the solution to pollution

Long term - bio pellets/ vodka/ vinegar or Nopox on a doser

 

[laverda]

I would remove the bio balls and replace with live rock, deep sand bed or ceramic media. Bioballs work for fish only tanks where you do not care about nitrate levels. The break down waste to ammonia and then nitrite and finally nitrate. You need a way to break down the nitrate. If you your rock is dry only change out a portion at a time. Large water changes are going to work quicker.

 

[laverda]

Short term- Dilution is the solution to pollution

Long term - bio pellets/ vodka/ vinegar or Nopox on a doser

These methods will not work well with low phosphates as the phosphates will go to zero too quickly and the process will stop I believe.

 

[laverda]

Only suggestions i have is reduce feeding and stock seems insanely high though. Anything die lately?

High Nitrates will not kill fish. The issue is there was no way of removing nitrates in the past it sounds like.

 

[Gravity]

Hey im generally new to reefing hobby have had tanks for about 7 months now and what is carbon dosing ive heard of it but what is it?

Basically, you are promoting bacterial growth that would be removed by the skimmer. As the bacteria grow they will consume nitrogen and phosphorus.

Here are some dosing directions or you can follow or use a reef product such as NOPOX or Biofuel... which will have its own set of directions.

Vodka dosing: Lower phosphate & nitrate step-by-step

Learn about vodka dosing in a reef tank--what is vodka dosing? why is it helpful in a reef tank? How do you dose vodka? All you need to know

www.google.com

Here is some background info if you want read more. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/

 

[Arlen nemeth]

Basically, you are promoting bacterial growth that would be removed by the skimmer. As the bacteria grow they will consume nitrogen and phosphorus.

Here are some dosing directions or you can follow or use a reef product such as NOPOX or Biofuel... which will have its own set of directions.

Vodka dosing: Lower phosphate & nitrate step-by-step

Learn about vodka dosing in a reef tank--what is vodka dosing? why is it helpful in a reef tank? How do you dose vodka? All you need to know

www.google.com

Here is some background info if you want read more. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/

Thank's but wont this not work long term becuse the phosphates will gomdown to fast? Whats a good way to maintain phosphates?

 

[Gravity]

These methods will not work well with low phosphates as the phosphates will go to zero too quickly and the process will stop I believe.

Thank's but wont this not work long term becuse the phosphates will gomdown to fast? Whats a good way to maintain phosphates?

This is true you will need phosphate but that is removed at a much lower rate. You could remove the purigen and chemi pure to reduce your phosphate removal. Then just keep an eye on it and either reduce the carbon dose or add brightwell neophos to boost it a bit.

 

[jayoman]

Unless you are looking to keep Lps and Sps I wouldn’t get overly concerned with nitrates. Stability is more important than a number. If your fowlr tank is not suffering from algae blooms or other visible issues and your fish are not suffering, I would concentrate more on preventing your nitrates from rising. Perhaps adding an algae scrubber may be all you need to keep it in check and stock within reason.

 

[Cory]

You can build what i made a sulphur denitrator sock or roll.

Buy some elemental sulfer beads, roll them up in a filter sock and place in the sump. Over time your no3 will drop to zero or 5ppm like mine did from 150 ppm no3.

I made a pipe 3" tower that i filled with sulfer beads and placed in my sump. Its got little holes drilled all over for passive water flow. It worked and in about 2 months of it sitting no3 is 5-15ppm.

Other way is macroalgae with a high powered red led.

 

[C. Eymann]

These methods will not work well with low phosphates as the phosphates will go to zero too quickly and the process will stop I believe.

Define low?

Uhm, yes these methods do work very well for many reefers to reign in high nitrate, myself included
sure PO4 with any carbon dosing method should be monitored closely but carbon dosing will impact N much greater than P. I dose a mixture of vodka and vinegar and because I feed NLS pellets with an auto feeder I hardly have to dose potassium phosphate to maintain above .05


Then there is the straight forward dilution method = waterchanges, which if done with in reason can help get them manageable, esp if OP has an old substrate that is filled with detritus/nutrients.

 

[laverda]

The op only said very low!

 

[SakuraSky]

Only suggestions i have is reduce feeding and stock seems insanely high though. Anything die lately?

Yes I'm already reducing feeding! Also having that hippo tang gone will help a lot in not making it worse....
There's only a heniochus, foxface, hawfisk and bird wrasse in there right now. So only 4 fish. I dont feel like that's too much, but 3 are decent sized. Nothing has died since I moved the tank, everyone survived and has been healthy because I was well prepared. No inverts or anything.

 

[SakuraSky]

Assuming you got a skimmer you can always carbon dose. Since you are already taking steps to reduce the bioload it may only be needed temporarily until things get back to normal, which may save you from upgrading all the equipment then removing stuff later.

Don't have a skimmer. One did not come with the tank and I've been on the fence about ordering one. I've read a lot with Fowlrs its not necessary and just a bonus I guess. I've just started reading about carbon dosing and stuff

 

[SakuraSky]

Short term- Dilution is the solution to pollution

Long term - bio pellets/ vodka/ vinegar or Nopox on a doser

Gotcha. I've just started reading about carbon dosing/vinegar/vodka etc. Not too informed on it yet but gathering info, thanks!
Are bio pellets the same as purigen?

 

[DonTavo27]

What are nitrates?

 

[SakuraSky]

I would remove the bio balls and replace with live rock, deep sand bed or ceramic media. Bioballs work for fish only tanks where you do not care about nitrate levels. The break down waste to ammonia and then nitrite and finally nitrate. You need a way to break down the nitrate. If you your rock is dry only change out a portion at a time. Large water changes are going to work quicker.

Well it IS a fish only tank. No inverts or anything. But I still would not want my nitrates so high! I'm working on improving the sump, I've never really liked bio balls.... but don't think I can covert to a refugium type sump. I will definitely be doing lots of water changes