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nitrate control
How can one keep nitrates low on an aquarium? besides water changes, what are ways of controlling nitrates? Has anyone had success with anything?
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#2
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nitrate sponge, reduced bioload AND water change
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#3
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Refugium with macro algae and some people are doing the remote deep sandbed.
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#4
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In addition to Alex's suggestions, Feed less or add a skimmer. Better flow might help also, keeps the poop and food from settling and forming nitrates.
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#5
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denitrator e.g. is midwest aquatics
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the only time i see my firefish is when i look down.... - behind the tank |
#6
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Don't forget the obvious. Live rock. Its pretty much the basis of filtration these days. Helps with the entire ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, nitrogen process. Usually recommended as 1-2 lbs / gal.
Best of luck! |
#7
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if you have bio-balls get rid of them
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#8
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remote deep sand bed/deep sand bed (do a search in the advanced forum)
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#9
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What type of filteration are you using?
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#10
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Yes we need more info on your setup. Pics!! tank and filters....
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Don What have you got to lose? Last edited by sabbath; 05/18/2007 at 06:34 PM. |
#11
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Refugium with macro algea is the best way.
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Lance H. |
#12
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http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...t2003/chem.htm
That article covers nitrate in detail. I agree that growing and harvesting a macroalga is a good approach in many cases.
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Jonathan Bertoni |
#13
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Quote:
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#14
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the only time i see my firefish is when i look down.... - behind the tank |
#15
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Quote:
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#16
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I still believe I made a mistake when I first ordered it - I thought my nitrates were around 15 but later I believe them to be undetectible which made sense as well because of my maintenance, etc - but I installed it anyway thinking what the heck - preventive maintenance... I was a tiny bit disappointed as to a certain buildup in the flow inside the chamber making me have to open it up every three months to clear and adjusting the low flow required a little too much attention for me when I thought it was suppose to be set and forget. these issues are commonplace using these I later found out amongst all the brands I think (I have not kept up lately) - having said all that, If my nitrates were above 10 consistently, and I could not otherwise get them down, I would put it back into service without hesitation - and btw - its for sale with a fresh batch of the right kind of sulfur which I understand is 90% of the clotting problem. They had given me a different sulfur at first which was the wrong size or something.
Quote:
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the only time i see my firefish is when i look down.... - behind the tank |
#17
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Think everyone here already covered your options, either go with a natural apporach, such as a deep sand bed setup, macro algae/refugium setup, water changes, skimming, enough live rock to support sufficient anerobic bacterial growth, ect. ect. ; or go with the artificial apporaches, such as nitrate removers, and other artificial products. In my own opinion, your better off establishing a natural nitrate reduction process in your setup.
fwiw, removing sponges, bioballs, and similar media is a natural process, this removes the excess aerobic bacteria and allows for the sandbed/rock/and other bacteria colonized objects to grow more bacteria and hopefully allow more anerobic bacteria to grow. FWIW, my original thougths were to keep nitrates as close to 0 as possible, as of lately and after much more research, a bit of nitrates in a system isn't neccessarily a bad thing, I wouldn't want my levels sitting at 100ppm or anything, but 5-10 isn't really that bad, dependant on the livestock in question (sps mainly)
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Secretary 2007 Vice President 2008 Central Oklahoma Marine Aquarium Society. ( C.O.M.A.S. ) Click on my homepage to be taken to my RC Blog! |
#18
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Water changes. Feed less - When you do feed: Rinse things like thawed frozen mysis. Remove 'nitrate factories' such as bio-balls etc. Add nitrate consumers/exporters such as deep sand bed (some controversy), macro-algae, and clams.
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Did I say that out loud? Good. Somebody needed to. |
#19
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Quote:
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#20
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Clams with photosynthetic symbionts like Tridacnids will feed on nitrate in the water to some extent. I wouldn't recommend them for nitrate reduction, though, since they have their own significant care requirements.
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Jonathan Bertoni |
#21
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clean micron sock about every other day if you use one.
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