Biocube 29: Struggling With Nitrates

GimpyFin said:
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.
Click to expand...

From what I read, Prodibio is a form of Carbon Dosing. Am I wrong? If it is, is it best to supplement it with other types of dosing (sugar, vodka, vinegar) and at what regularity should I dose.
 
GimpyFin said:
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.
Click to expand...

:fun2:....
 
GimpyFin said:
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.
Click to expand...

Would dosing MicroBacter7 help to establish this bacteria? I do have a bottle of it that I purchased but never opened.
 
heathlindner25 said:
Vodka
Click to expand...

^What he said^ I would suggest looking at either vodka or vinegar. There's a lot of good info on here and the web to get familiar with it. You are adding a food source to promote bacteria growth rather than just adding bottled bacteria (Like Microbacter or Prodibio.) As the bacteria grow they consume this along with excess nutrients and the waste is pulled out by your skimmer.
 
GimpyFin said:
^What he said^ I would suggest looking at either vodka or vinegar. There's a lot of good info on here and the web to get familiar with it. You are adding a food source to promote bacteria growth rather than just adding bottled bacteria (Like Microbacter or Prodibio.) As the bacteria grow they consume this along with excess nutrients and the waste is pulled out by your skimmer.
Click to expand...

I will go pick up a jug of vinegar today and probably grab a dosing pump to maintain regular dosing. That is why I have tried to avoid it to this point, the daily dosing can get difficult as I have to be out of town every other weekend.
 
You really should do your own research and learn how much to add on your own. If people just tell you how much to add you're not going to read up enough on the subject matter
 
i dont think its been mentioned but is there any chance your test kit is giving the wrong results or your reading it wrong. maybe take a sample to your LFS and have them test it just to make sure your test kit is accurate.
 
heathlindner25 said:
You really should do your own research and learn how much to add on your own. If people just tell you how much to add you're not going to read up enough on the subject matter
Click to expand...

Ive read quite a bit on it in the past and have a dosing chart I found online as well. Just wondering what people's suggestions might be. I know just like everything, every situation is unique.
 
Buzz1ightyear said:
i dont think its been mentioned but is there any chance your test kit is giving the wrong results or your reading it wrong. maybe take a sample to your LFS and have them test it just to make sure your test kit is accurate.
Click to expand...

I tested clean RODI water and the test read correctly at 0. I have used two separate kits and got nearly identical readings on multiple occasions. I would love to take a sample to the LFS but I have vision problems and thus cannot drive. Getting to the LFS is something I only get to do every so often and my wallet pays the price since most online purchases equal lofty shipping prices. Most of my purchases and such are mailed to me unless I can convince a friend to take me.
 
HI I have had similar problems nitrates are a nightmare tried everything pellets kept clogging in two types of reactors,various forms of dosing had little effect ,lager skimmer etc.etc. Only oxygen starved bacteria absorb nitrates and also need a form of carbon whether it be vodka or some other more expensive branded solution such as no3pox any way small siphon from tank via an inline
pre-filter ro canister and some sulfer beads and aragonite, Small drip returned to tank via a tap nitrates after 3 weeks use down from 50ppm to .025 it is now my opinion that many tanks out there do need some form of de-nitrification unit of some sort or another. Otherwise it seems a bare bottom and alot of live rock Regards Mike
 
From my experience if you added more bioload to a tank than the nitrifying bacteria can handle you will struggle with nitrates until you build the bacteria up above the level of the bioload
 
Quick Update

Quick Update

Just thought I'd post a quick update

Looks like Nitrates took quite a nosedive after vacuuming out the back chambers. Not sure why it never occurred to me to clean those out. Testing shows I've moved from 100+ nitrates to about 40 Nitrates in about 3 days without any Vinegar/Vodka dosing. Hopefully this will continue and drop even further over the next week.

Thank you all.
 
Nice! I make it a point to vacuum out the back chambers and sandbed as part of my routine maintenance with weekly water changes. It's absolutely shocking how much crud can build up in those to spots. Glad you found your source of nitrates.
 
Nitrates shot back up..... Pretty deflating.

Now on day 6 of vinegar dosing 10ml a day. No differences yet.

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk
 
By contrast, I run a 29G Biocube with only a small media tray and Tunze 9001 and have less than 0.5 ppm of nitrate in my tank at any given time, it's stocked a little more than yours, I have no algae and I change 1 pail of water every 4 weeks or so.

Is your skimmer working correctly?

-edit, have you tried a DIFFERENT nitrate test kit?
 
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