Biocube 29: Struggling With Nitrates

[MyNamezTwitch]

Good afternoon everyone,
I am new to the reef keeping hobby (about 4 months) and loving it so far. I've had my ups and downs and have really hit a wall when it comes to nitrates. I have consistently since the one month mark have been sitting at 0 Nitries, 0 Nitrates and 80+ nitrates. I just cant seem to get them down no matter how hard I try. In an attempt to lower levels I have added dosing Prodibio, bought a new skimmer and introduced Chaeto.

Current equipment
Chamber 1:
EShopps HOB Skimmer 75 Intake
Heater

Chamber 2:
InTank Media Rack (1:Filter Floss, 2urigen, 3: Chemipure Elite)
Fuge Rack w/ Chaeto and Magnet LED

Chamber 3:
Oceanic 245 Return Pump
Tunze ATO


Stock:
2 Clowns (Mocha and Fancy)
1 Bicolor Blenny
1 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Emerald Crab
Various Snails

4 Zoanthids
1 Purple Tipped Frogspawn
1 GSP

In addition, I am currently at week 6 of dosing Prodibio Biodigest and Prodibio Bioptim. I only feed a small pinch of food a day, sometimes every other day. Algae really isn't too much of a problem, just a few small patches of hair algae and the standard algae growing lightly on the glass. I am on week 3 of doing 40% water changes (cleaning sandbed and blowing off live rock beforehand) . I will see a large dip in nitrates and then a few days later, they rise right back up to the point they were at.

I'm so frustrated. I just want clean water! Any help would make you my best friend. Thank you.

 

[farfromsea]

Not very well-versed in this type of system set-up but I wonder if the filter floss is harboring some nitrates? Do you rinse it out regularly? I'm sure others will chime in soon

 

[MyNamezTwitch]

I rinse the floss every other day or so and change it out weekly. I cleaned all my pumps/powerheards etc. The nitrates have to be coming from somewhere but I can't figure it out. There doesn't seem to be any dead spot where debris collects so I think the circulation is fine. I'm stumped

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

 

[heathlindner25]

I rinse the floss every other day or so and change it out weekly. I cleaned all my pumps/powerheards etc. The nitrates have to be coming from somewhere but I can't figure it out. There doesn't seem to be any dead spot where debris collects so I think the circulation is fine. I'm stumped

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

When you rince it, do you do so in tap water? And then placed back in your tank. I would do a massive water change, and look into carbon dosing. It looks like your skimmer is capable of it.

 

[MyNamezTwitch]

When you rince it, do you do so in tap water? And then placed back in your tank. I would do a massive water change, and look into carbon dosing. It looks like your skimmer is capable of it.

What percent water change is safe? As I've done a few 40% changes. Isn't Prodibio a type of carbon dosing or should I carbon dose on top of that?

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

 

[heathlindner25]

I'm not sure about that product, I try not to buy expensive chemicals from local fish stores.I use vodka.

 

[LQT]

I run a Biocube 29 as well... did you remove the sponge between chamber 2 and 3? If left in there it will trap detritus and become a nitrate factory. I also try to change the floss out if my media tray every 3 days.

 

[MyNamezTwitch]

I just recently put the sponge back in once putting chaeto in. Chaeto kept clogging uo the return pump. This is something I will wash out every time I do a water change

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

 

[LQT]

I'm almost certain that is where your nitrate problem is from. The next time you rinse it out you'll notice how much crud builds up in there, that's your nitrate factory. I run a fuge basket as well and go spongeless in between chambers 2 and 3 with no issues other than the occasional chaeto strand making its way into the display. Just clean out your return pump and impeller once a month and you should be fine. With the sponge in there, you're also preventing your pod population from reaching the display as well, as they're getting trapped with all the crud in the sponge and dying leading to more nitrates. I've run it this way since inception and have no detectable nitrates. In fact, since I'm running so clean, I'm considering the dosing of nitrates in order to improve my SPS coloration.

 

[MyNamezTwitch]

I'm almost certain that is where your nitrate problem is from. The next time you rinse it out you'll notice how much crud builds up in there, that's your nitrate factory. I run a fuge basket as well and go spongeless in between chambers 2 and 3 with no issues other than the occasional chaeto strand making its way into the display. Just clean out your return pump and impeller once a month and you should be fine. With the sponge in there, you're also preventing your pod population from reaching the display as well, as they're getting trapped with all the crud in the sponge and dying leading to more nitrates. I've run it this way since inception and have no detectable nitrates. In fact, since I'm running so clean, I'm considering the dosing of nitrates in order to improve my SPS coloration.

I will remove the sponge in that case but I'm positive that's not the cause of the nitrates since I just added the sponge back two days go. I've been fighting this problem for months.

The chaeto is growing fine, the tank isn't algae infested and with 0 nitrites and ammonia I am obviously quite frustrated. I want to stock this tank but it clearly has other ideas aha

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

 

[LQT]

Hmmmmm. When you do water changes, try siphoning out the back chambers... you'd be surprised how much detritus can settle back there... I do religious 5 gallon water changes once a week in my BC29. I will the vacuum the sandbed, then I siphon the back chambers to make sure I can get as much detritus out of these two areas as possible.

 

[splix]

vacuum your sand. I had nitrate issues (around 10ppm) in my 125 running wet skimming, carbon, etc. I vacuumed the sand and my nitrates dropped to almost 0.

 

[minus9]

What's your water source? RO? Tap water? Also, are you feeding pellets or frozen? Do you have any nassarius snails? How much of the sand bed do you siphon each time? I have an AIO and I have to clean the back chamber every 6 weeks or so. How often do you change your chemical media?

 

[MyNamezTwitch]

Hmmmmm. When you do water changes, try siphoning out the back chambers... you'd be surprised how much detritus can settle back there... I do religious 5 gallon water changes once a week in my BC29. I will the vacuum the sandbed, then I siphon the back chambers to make sure I can get as much detritus out of these two areas as possible.

I will have to try siphoning the back chambers. This is something i haven't done. Doesn't seem to be too much built up back there but I will do it nonetheless. I plan on doing a large water change today so I will do that today.

 

[MyNamezTwitch]

vacuum your sand. I had nitrate issues (around 10ppm) in my 125 running wet skimming, carbon, etc. I vacuumed the sand and my nitrates dropped to almost 0.

I have always siphoned and stirred my sand bed since I started. Sand appears to be clean with not much detritus built up on it.

 

[MyNamezTwitch]

What's your water source? RO? Tap water? Also, are you feeding pellets or frozen? Do you have any nassarius snails? How much of the sand bed do you siphon each time? I have an AIO and I have to clean the back chamber every 6 weeks or so. How often do you change your chemical media?

I change up the feedings between frozen and flake. CUC consists of some Nassarius, Astrea, Cerith and Nerite snails and a few Hermits and one Emerald Crab.

Since starting (4 months) i have changed my Purigen three times, filter pads with every water change and 2 bags of Chemi Pure Elite.

 

[Sk8r]

Are you using ro/di?

 

[MyNamezTwitch]

Are you using ro/di?

Sorry, i forgot to address that. Yes I am. Never use anything other than freshly filtered RO/DI water. I have switched out the DI cartridge already. Pretty much have replaced everything that has to do with the water since setting up the tank at least once.

I have to be doing something wrong. I have spent way too much time scouring forums, blogs and every dark alley of the internet for ideas.

Should i take out all the sand and put new sand in? Haven't done that yet.

 

[alcimedes]

would it be smart to test the theory before removing the entire sand bed? that seems like it could be very disruptive to the tank.

would it work to set up a 5gal bucket, put some totally clean RO/DI freshly made salt water in there, and then take a cup or two of your sand and put it in the bucket?

If you suddenly are getting nitrates in the bucket, you can be pretty sure the sand is at least a contributing factor. if you get no nitrates in the bucket, the source is probably something else, right?

 

[GimpyFin]

To me, it doesn't sound like your issue is with your floss, powerheads, maintenance, etc. It sounds like your tank is kept pretty clean and your using good water. IMO, I think your tank just doesn't have an adequate amount of denitrifying bacteria to break down Nitrate into Nitrogen. (Different from the bacteria that break ammonia down to Nitrate.) Not an uncommon issue, depending on the tank setup/conditions for housing that type of bacteria. This can cause Nitrate build-up and like heathlindner25 mentioned, many people use some form of carbon dosing to counteract it. I use biopellets on my tank, but vodka/vinegar work as well provided you have a good, solid skimmer. I definitely recommend at least looking into it.

The Chaeto is great to have too, but it will do more for phosphate than it will nitrate.