High Nitrate Help

djscribz · #1 05/04/2007, 01:24 AM

With the help of funman, i discovered my nitrates rocketed to 70ppm. I think the cause was a result of stirring my sand bed, and FW dipping a few of my LR's. I have a big ball of chaeto in the fuge, but was curious of any others methods of quickly reducing nitrates.

kevin95695 · #2 05/04/2007, 01:35 AM

Water changes, followed by adding nitrate eaters such as additional specimens and/or other species (correct latin='specii or specie?) of macro-algae & clams etc.

You could also dump a wad of some nitrate absorbing/adsorbing media in a bag in the path of your flow, but that would be a short-term fix.,

kevin95695 · #3 05/04/2007, 01:49 AM

What's your source for tankwater? What are the potential "nitrate factories" in your system?

djscribz · #4 05/04/2007, 02:02 AM

source of tank water is O St. or CRS RO/DI. Nitrate factories....hmm honestly low bioload, low feeding, just aquascaping and the such.

dots · #5 05/04/2007, 02:32 AM

What is your:

Water change schedule.....be honest.

feeding regiment: what and how much

how old is the tank?

Any dead stuff recently? Missing fish etc....

MrMikeB · #6 05/04/2007, 02:43 AM

70 PPM? Wow, that is high, you sure that is an accurate measurement? That just seems exhorbitantly high compared to your tank and load. I think good size water changes are your safest bet at this point (20% or more) - done over a couple of days so as to not shock your livestock.

I would look into more long term strategies too to keep your nitrates from reaching that high - lower feedings, cheato, better skimming/organic waste removal, etc.

djscribz · #7 05/04/2007, 03:07 AM

Water change schedule.....be honest: 1 time every 2 weeks amt of 5gallons

feeding regiment: CoralAccel everyday 10mL, 5 Dainichi sinking pellets

how old is the tank: 3 months

Any dead stuff recently?: xenia after dKH shock, left in tank for 3 days hoping it would bounce back.

norcal99 · #8 05/04/2007, 03:21 AM

Running the fuge light 24/7 will help a little bit but it'll take some time. Are you running any type of skimmer? Skimmer, fuge, and water changes should bring it back into normal levels.

bluenassarius · #9 05/04/2007, 04:29 AM

Is there alot of waterflow going through the ball of chaeto? Detritus can get trapped in the chaeto and cause nitrates to be higher. Pruning the Chaeto might help or shaking it clean.

kevin95695 · #10 05/04/2007, 09:28 AM

You aren't running bio-balls... Are you?

Nu2SW · #11 05/04/2007, 10:31 AM

some people have said dosing Vodka or sugar works with nitrates, there are links on RC somewhere. But if something goes wrong bye bye tank.

Water changes are your safe bet, every few days do a bigger water change than you would normally do. If you do 5, go for like 7 or 8

If you have 30 gallons of actual water volume, then it would take 6 water changes to completely get all of the water out.

I dont remember skimming getting rid of nitrates and never have seen anything really good in a form of some sort of media in a bag to get rid of nitrates.

to my understanding it was clams, chaeto and water changes

but adding a clam in now , would probably not be good for it as the nitrates are so high.

kdblove_99 · #12 05/04/2007, 11:02 AM

Well the tank is only 3 months old, Couldn't it be just part of the cycle?

kevin95695 · #13 05/04/2007, 11:03 AM

Yup. What they said.

MrMikeB · #14 05/04/2007, 11:10 AM

Skimming is not to get rid of nitrates, but will get rid of more organic waste before it turns into nitrates through the nitrification process.

funman1 · #15 05/04/2007, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MrMikeB
70 PPM? Wow, that is high, you sure that is an accurate measurement?

I measuered it with two test kits, my new Elos and my old Tetra
Yeah it's really that high.
We were trying to figure out why some of his softie corals were not looking so good. So I ran a full line of tests on the water.
Only thing way out in left field was Nitrates, other tests were normal or just off by a bit.

norcal99 · #16 05/04/2007, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MrMikeB
Skimming is not to get rid of nitrates, but will get rid of more organic waste before it turns into nitrates through the nitrification process.

More along the lines of what I was alluding to.

djscribz · #17 05/04/2007, 01:06 PM

no skimmer, i think i didnt have enough flow on the chaeto, im running a MJ 900 directly on it now and siphoned the top layer of sand. Some of the softies are already recovering. i want to hold off on the water change for a bit so i dont get a system shock

MrMikeB · #18 05/04/2007, 07:09 PM

So you do not run a skimmer? - Might be worth looking into long term. With nitrates that high and cyano on the sand ( I think I remember you posting a little while ago about this), you have some nutrients in your water that is fueling the fire.

Reefugee · #19 05/04/2007, 07:39 PM

I was wondering where people found information that getting a clam is good for nitrate control? The only clam that I heard was good for nutrient control was the Hippopus hippopus. A link with more information would be great.

Minh

Justin74 · #20 05/04/2007, 08:09 PM

Clams will not cure a tank of nitrate problems period. The nitrates they consume are virtually imeasureable. And the only ones that people use to be proactive are Hippopus hippopus as Minh pointed out, even with those they need to be used in multiples to actually keep 1-2 parts down.

-Justin

dots · #21 05/05/2007, 03:15 AM

At this point I am thinking the nitrates are from the initial setup of the tank and you have had some die off that has had a slow rate of accumulation and due to "mini cycles" of adding livestock, some die off as you mentioned, and general daily production that is not being offset by your WC schedule gave you this high number.

I added some live rock last year and completly overlooked the possibly of a spike. When I checked my nitrates, they were 50ppm. I changed 50% of the water and naturally it only droped to 25ppm. After realizing it would take 4 water changes at 50% to get it at least below 3ppm.

(75g tank, I live in an apartment with no RO/DI unit and have to lug 5gal jugs to a fro the store)

I decided to try sugar dosing and within 24 hours was down to zero. However, Edwin is correct and is not to be taken lightly. I have nearly crashed my 75g twice and have purposly crashed my nano 3 times just to perfect the application of it.

Sugar dosing is NOT a crutch to be dependant on to make up for overfeeding, lack of proper equipment or poor husbandry practices. It causes a large bacterial bloom which pulls O2 from the water and produces Hydrogen Sulfide(?) gas and smells like the sewer if done too much. I have seen it mess my alk and ph way up and should ONLY be considered for situations such as I encountered above for the casual user. Its a practice I have gambled with and nearly lost a bunch of times and in good conscious can not recommend it lightly. However, if you find this is your case to, I would suggest as Edwin says and heavily research it before doing so. Size of tank, gallon wise, is the defining factor. Can multiple, large WCs be done instead?

As far a food, you say your using pellets. Recently John at Yourreef was having problem with Nitrates as well and was commenting on when he switched from pellatized food to frozen, he saw a large drop. You may want to consider this as well.

Clams.......1-2ppm sounds reasonable and expected, and what I would suggest if one is close to thier disired level more of a "polisher" than cure. I suppose that 1-2 depends on size of clam and size of tank in question,

(larger clam in smaller tank may have more of an effect than a singular smaller clam in a big tank, correct?)

Didn't know that only one specie was effective in this..........would love to see some more on that as well......