Fighting Nitrates!

avshockey311 · #1 12/17/2007, 07:36 PM

I have been fighting nitrates now for quite some time. They seem to hold at about 20ppm. I have tried water changes, carbon, and feeding every other day. I dont have the room for and sort of macro so that is out of the question. Is De-nitrate safe and effective? I am keeping mostly LPS in my tank. This is the stuff I am looking at.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...t=nitrate&Np=1

vessxpress1 · #2 12/17/2007, 07:39 PM

I use Kent Nitrate sponge in a couple bags in a hang on filter. Starts working after a week or so. I couldn't get mine below 20 either. < 0.2 ppm ever since.

o.c.d. · #3 12/17/2007, 08:14 PM

So this is a reef tank right? Is everything doing o.k.? Algae blooms? I run my tank with some detectable nitrate and everything has been fine for a long time mindyou I don't buy hard to keep acros. I've fought them to for a long time then read in Julian SprungsReef notes that if the system is stable and things are growing not to worry so much.20 is'nt that high and you can spend alot of money trying to cure that problem Trust me.We should alway strive for perfection but depending on the setup nitrates at 0 hard to do atleast for me.

mm949 · #4 12/17/2007, 08:41 PM

blow your rock offs.....sounds funny but all the denitro happens in the core.....use small powerhead and give'm a good blasting...

avshockey311 · #5 12/17/2007, 10:25 PM

I do have an algae and cyano bloom going on. This all started when I switched to Reef Crystals from IO. I have since returned to using IO.

sunfish11 · #6 12/17/2007, 11:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by avshockey311
I do have an algae and cyano bloom going on. This all started when I switched to Reef Crystals from IO. I have since returned to using IO.

I can't see how that would make a difference. Most likely a coincidence.

Lisa

o.c.d. · #7 12/17/2007, 11:49 PM

Reef crystals and Instant Ocean are made by the same company and RC are designed with more Trace,calcium,mag,ect more reef bang I've tried others and always come back not to mention free shirt

boggs32 · #8 12/17/2007, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mm949
blow your rock offs.....sounds funny but all the denitro happens in the core.....use small powerhead and give'm a good blasting...

interesting... I am actually going to try this as well. Never thought of it being the issue but makes sense. I too am having a nitrate problem.

NocturnalReef · #9 12/18/2007, 12:28 AM

blowing your rocks off was a good tip, but i have battled with nitrates befor efor a long time too... i constantly did water changes and everything.. .really watch all your feeding like down to spot feeding if you have to.. but i too used that nitrate sponge and it worked quite well! i ran it for about a month or two and it heped dramatically with dropping the levels. Check at your local lfs the should have some. i just put it in the sump in my carbon socks and placed it where i would normally place carbon. in seperate socks i also kept running carbon religiously. water change weekly to daily if you can and change carbon weekly. if you are really worried about getting the levels down.

what's your r/o water nitrates coming up as? have you checked them lately?

20 ppm isnt that bad in a reef my levels were at 40+ with seahorses ... that wasn't good!!

avshockey311 · #10 12/18/2007, 01:00 AM

Im not sure if my test is correct. Because my brain no longer fully comes out, my frogspawn also never fully expands, but my hydnophora seems to be doing better than ever. I need to get a freshwater nitrate test for my ro water.

jnewman · #11 12/18/2007, 01:38 AM

i have the same problem. nitrates were almost 0 and now i am up around 50ppm in one month.

Sokretys · #12 01/04/2008, 07:27 PM

I just bought some of the seachem denitrate...i had never heard of such a thing and thought that if seachem isselling it than they know it must actually work. after seeing the drfosterandsmith link i paid way too much .15 for 200 g instead of 15 for 800. but whatever. if this works and can stay in my hang on for a while...why not.

my question...is if this stuff will remove phosphates as well. ive been running a po4 sponge every now and then. i just got a small red bloom and tested my nitrates and they were at 30. notperfect but not bad enough to explain the bloom. turns out my po4's are at .25 instead of the ideal .01. im running a sponge right now and was going to run the reditrate afterwards. can i skip[ the po4 sponge and go right to the denitrate if it will do the same thing for me?

as far as the negaitve of running this stuff for too long...is it similar to the negatives of running a skimmer for too long? ie removing wanted organics+minerals? thanks very much..and happy new year!!

Nate

shootist · #13 01/05/2008, 12:13 AM

Water changes are never going to solve your nitrate issues,they may reduce them for a day or so but never rid you of them. Nitrates are caused by too much rotting matter inside of your tank,including uneaten food,fish poop and the detritus that is on your rocks. You can address the issue from several different directions. First of all you have to get all the crap off of your rocks and back in the cubby holes,you can use a hose to suck the crap out either right off the rock or after using a turkey baster to get the matter suspended in the water column. Another suggestion is increasing flow so the matter is never allowed to settle. Also make sure you suck all the crap out of the bottom of your sump if you have one. Adding more liverock will help as well.Also cutting down on feeding goes a really long way,feed little bitty amounts and insure that the food is being consumed. Fish look hungry all the time and they will pretty much eat 24/7 but will poop more. They really dont require much food at all. If you are using any sort of mechanical filtration(sponges,filter floss,filter sock)you have to keep these things very clean,anything caught in them begins to break down within a few days and goes straight to nitrates. If you arent going to keep them clean then you are better off not using them at all. I use one piece of filter floss where my overflow comes into my sump and it does a wonderful job of collecting matter before it lays down in my sump BUT I change it every 3-4 days. There is no reason to have nitrates better husbandry will reduce them if you are willing to put the time in.

corals b 4 bills · #14 01/05/2008, 01:59 AM

The Korallin Denitrator has brought my nitrates down from 50 ppm to Zero in six weeks, that was two months ago and it is still Zero. ask anyone who has used one and they will tell you that it works, just plug it in and it works. The best part about it is you don't have to change the media for 1 1/2 to 2 years!