nitrate.

liferuiner055 · #1 10/14/2007, 10:51 PM

alright, so basically my tank has been up for about 10 months now. First couple months my levels were great. nothing bad. then 6 months hits and like 100ppm of Nitrate. I had added about 6 fish over the course of 6 months and a couple coral; Nothing too drastic. It feels like i've tried everything. I made a refugium in my sump. Changed my rock around to make sure there aren't any dead spots, and try to feed as little as possible. and i also have a euro reef protein skimmer. I also have tried doing a 10 % water change every week, and nothing seems to work. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me now. At this point in completely lost.

Billybeau1 · #2 10/14/2007, 11:06 PM

Don't starve your fish.... please.

Give this a read.

Nitrates in the Reef Aquarium

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...t2003/chem.htm

JetCat USA · #3 10/15/2007, 12:51 AM

are you using a wet/dry filter??

five.five-six · #4 10/15/2007, 04:29 AM

or a biowheel, what filtration are you using? live sand? what test are you using?

liferuiner055 · #5 10/16/2007, 01:05 AM

No, I'm not running a wet/dry filter or a biowheel. I have a protein skimmer rated higher than what i need, i have about 4 inches of live sand, and 70 lbs of live rock.
Oh yeah, also i used nitrate remover, which helped temporarily, but it still came back.

liferuiner055 · #6 10/16/2007, 01:06 AM

oh yeha and the test kit brand i am using is API.

bertoni · #7 10/16/2007, 01:37 AM

A second opinion on the test kit might be useful, but that's a reasonable brand. This article covers nitrate problems in detail:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...t2003/chem.htm

JetCat USA · #8 10/16/2007, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by liferuiner055
.......... i have about 4 inches of live sand, and .......also i used nitrate remover

if like many who have nitrate reactors you had the attitude 'Hey i can feed as much as i want to, I've got a gizmo that'll take care of it!!!' then the sandbed is filled to capacity and the only way you'll get the levels down is to remove it and not rely on a device to keep levels in check.

liferuiner055 · #9 10/17/2007, 12:36 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by JetCat USA
if like many who have nitrate reactors you had the attitude 'Hey i can feed as much as i want to, I've got a gizmo that'll take care of it!!!' then the sandbed is filled to capacity and the only way you'll get the levels down is to remove it and not rely on a device to keep levels in check.

Yes, i understand that overfeeding could be a very good reason that my nitrates are up, but i know for a fact that this isnt the issue. And i have siphoned the top of the sand bed before.

bertoni · #10 10/17/2007, 12:44 AM

What fish are in the system, and how much food is going into the tank? How much live rock is present?

JetCat USA · #11 10/17/2007, 07:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by liferuiner055
Yes, i understand that overfeeding could be a very good reason that my nitrates are up, but i know for a fact that this isnt the issue. And i have siphoned the top of the sand bed before.

See that's the funny thing about nitrates, they come from the braking down of organics and they have to be introduced to the tank. i doubt your top off water would be that high of a source so unless you had a rather large occupant of your system die and it was left in to decompose overfeeding is going to be the cause in 99.9999% of the cases.

liferuiner055 · #12 10/17/2007, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JetCat USA
See that's the funny thing about nitrates, they come from the braking down of organics and they have to be introduced to the tank. i doubt your top off water would be that high of a source so unless you had a rather large occupant of your system die and it was left in to decompose overfeeding is going to be the cause in 99.9999% of the cases.

yeah i mean the fish are only eating about one a day and im feeding enough so that its pretty much gone in about a minute. so maybe ill cut back to like every other day. I dont know, would you suggest doing like a 20% water change every week for a while coming up and cutting back food more to see if it goes down.

Benny Z · #13 10/17/2007, 09:16 PM

where did you source your liverock?

if it was from an established system, it is possible the liverock has absorbed enough nitrates/phosphates over time that it is slowly leaching it, much like a full dsb. however if your liverock was "fresh" rock cultured in or collected from the ocean this is unlikely the case.

i suffered from this problem for a long, long time with my old system. no matter what i did i could never control nitrates. with my new system i used recycled dry rock and acid-bathed it to release the bound nutrients from the surface. so far so good, and i'm at about 1 year running.

JetCat USA · #14 10/17/2007, 09:20 PM

rock can't store NO3 like it can PO4 so it won't be a source unless there is continued decomposition.