The quest for lowering nitrates.

[Alexreefer]

I just made it's basket using egg crate.

Some possibilities

1) Error in measurement (discussed already)
2) Nitrate being added via new salt water, possibly from fresh water
3) Overfeeding
4) Nitrate was always high and you just noticed it
5) Presence of nitrite can give high nitrate reading

I've tested my fresh saltwater and it has 0 nitrates. I use a 6 stage ro/di from brs.
I feed a quarter sized block of mysis every 3 days.
I test 0 nitrite.

 

[Reefahholic]

I have mine in a low flow area about 10ogph. Putting them in a "basket" definitely helps to clean them later. I give mine a good shaking about every 6 months to help get rid of detritus.

That's exactly what I do with mine. Shake them off about every month or two. Then siphon out the sump.

I show you just how effective Siporax was on my small 25/G frag tank. It is skimmer-less and has 5 fish. The tank became NO3 deficient and PO4 deficient just after the 4 month mark. I have quite a lot of Siporax on the system for it's size. Originally the levels were very high in the beginning so I just ended up letting the tank cruze after a while because it got to be a headache trying to get the levels down. I had a huge Cyano outbreak. I contribute this to the zero levels of both NO3 and PO4. As soon as I begin to dose NO3 and Feed Reef roids heavily...I noticed that not only the cyano was going away, but also the funky algae that was growing on the rocks and the loc-line and really everywhere. So anyway...I got the tank back under control. Conclusion.....Siporax works well and almost too well. Every tank is different though.

 

[Reefahholic]

 

[Alexreefer]

Thanks for all the input. My Siporax should come in tomorrow. So all i know is when i get them to rinse them off with tank water and then put it in it's basket and wait a couple weeks to months?

 

[Willy315]

Thanks for all the input. My Siporax should come in tomorrow. So all i know is when i get them to rinse them off with tank water and then put it in it's basket and wait a couple weeks to months?

Will probably take a few months..YMMV

 

[Alexreefer]

Oh and just a random question. Do you guys know where I can order a biota mandarin? Seeded my tank with pods from the start. They are crawling everywhere.

 

[Reefahholic]

Thanks for all the input. My Siporax should come in tomorrow. So all i know is when i get them to rinse them off with tank water and then put it in it's basket and wait a couple weeks to months?

Mine took 3-4 months to get fully colonized. Or at least that's how the tank acted. I can't confirm 100%. Could have been sooner.

I say 10-25 liters on a 75 gallon will be enough. I had 50 liters on a 150/g and it was waaaay overkill.

 

[Alexreefer]

Added my siporax 2 days ago and seeded with bottled bacteria. What else would you recommend me doing? I am going on vacation for 10 days. I leave on the 25th. Should I do a water change before that?