fed up with nitrates!!!!

C

coltsfan80

New member
ok I have had really high nitrates 80ppm and higher. I have done everything i can, the partial water changes, scale back feedings, cleaning the canister filter weekly, with only phosban, denitrate and carbon in it. Last week I did about a 60 percent maybe 70 percent water change using ro/di water and it knocked the nitrate to under 20ppm....still high but alot lower than it was. Well I did my weekly testing today and in over a weeks time it is back up around 80ppm again. I am at a total loss as to why they are shooting straight back up. I am positive I am not overfeeding. The canister is still running. Should I just ditch the canister...could it cause my nitrates to shoot that high up again in a week????? I am using a skimmer and I have about 40lbs of live rock in a 29 gallon. Could I get away with not running a filter (canister?)
 
How old is the tank? (maybe your tank has not fully established its nitrate reduction yet?)

How much livestock? (maybe you have too much bioload for your tanks nitrate reduction?)

Do you/have you grown macro? Do you have a refugium?

What type of substrate (if any do you have).

Dave
 
Sorry, the minute I read "cannister filter" it was a dead stop---cannisters are bad in that regard. You should be fine with no filter with that much live rock. In point of fact the cannister and your lr are in a seesaw die-off battle because it's boom or bust with the nutrient-disposal in the filter: clean, the rock gets the waste; dirty, it starves the rock: dieoff of bacteria, new spike. You'll see things level out, I'm pretty sure, once you're rid of it. Use it for intermittent particulate removal: it's not worthless, it just can be out of the system most of the time.
 
How old is the tank? (maybe your tank has not fully established its nitrate reduction yet?)

How much livestock? (maybe you have too much bioload for your tanks nitrate reduction?)

Do you/have you grown macro? Do you have a refugium?

What type of substrate (if any do you have).

Dave



The tank is 3months old. It hsa 40lbs of live rock, I do not have a refugium, sorry to say but I am new at this hobby and dont know what macro is.....I have about 3 inches of live sand....I have a false perc clown and a blue damsel..i have about 10 blue legged hermits and 5 or so asteria snails....ever since the tank has started all levels except nitrate has been fine....is it possible it is still cycling toward the nitrate reduction????
 
yes. Just ride it out and go buy some nirtramax. trust me i had same prob and the nitramax plus water changes helped me alot. but do the water chage first before puting the nitramax. its good stuff. good luck
 
is nitramax like amquel plus??? where might i find nitramax? I looked on liveaquaria and it doesnt look like they carry it...
 
You can also try algone or purigen. They both are pretty good at nitrate removal, as well as removing some other disolved compounds. Combining the two worked very well for me when I was having nitrate issues.

Ariel
 
It's been 6 months and my nitrates finally went to 0.

All the advice sounds good. You could put a couple pouches of Purigen in the canister. It helps, and you can clean and reuse it over and over again.

I stuffed a ball of Chaeto Algae behind one of my rocks in an area with good flow and light. That helped, also.

Patience and diligence. It'll happen for you, too.
 
If you are only using the canister for polishing your water and not for mechanical filtration I do not think that will cause your nitrate problems, I think you are ok doing what you are doing with it at the moment

Sean
 
Take a look at sulfur dinitators, I had same problem and these things work like you wont believe, I got mine from Midwest aquatics. They make a very nice unit and cheaper than the H & S version.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7987984#post7987984 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by syilk1
Take a look at sulfur dinitators, I had same problem and these things work like you wont believe, I got mine from Midwest aquatics. They make a very nice unit and cheaper than the H & S version.
Click to expand...

This is the route that I am wanting to take I think that I will need 2 of them setup in series...

Have you had any issues with them whatsoever?
Do you have to take any precautions when you are using them?
How long do the beads last (is it really 2 years)
Are they just setup and go or are they a pita like my denitrificator was?

Thanks,

Sean
 
I have some purigen in there now, and so far it hasnt helped...I have some denitrates in there too as well as some stuff to remove phosphates...so I dont have a clue...I dont know why they are so high....especially they were around 20 a week ago..now they are around 80 again...I think I am going to do a large water change again, and leave the canister off this time and see what happens
 
Don't worry about the cannister, you do not have any media in there to trap waste like filter wool and sponges, bio balls etc, that should not be the cause of your problems, unless you have not changed the carbonm, antiphos in a very long time?

Just out of interest what denitrifactor are you using, I was using the one by aqua medic and although it was a real pain to get it going once it worked, my nitrates were down to 0 in a couple of weeks...

Sean
 
The carbon in the canister is only a week old. the other media in there is denitrate...its supposed to remove nitrate, and there is a bag to remove phosphate both of those are a week old too...Thats what I was using before the big water change too. I had lots of people tell me the canister is the problem, so I am really clueless at this time. I am getting ready to throw the towel in because with high nitrates like I have I cant get any corals or anything that like becaue they wouldnt surive....I have tried everything I know of and in a matter of days...after the 70% water change using ro di water...they went from around 20 back up to over 80 again....this might sound like a dumb question..but if I move my stuff to a larger tank..would that help the nitrates??? probably not, probably make it a bigger headache to deal with but I figured I'd ask because I am out of ideas
 
IMO...This is what I would do. Use your Fluval to polish and/or run carbon and/or Nitramax.
Feed your fish sparingly.....and just wait another month before you add anything else to the tank. To me, it sounds like a prolonged cycle....did you do water changes during your initial cycle? Are all of your Hermits alive? I suspect the source of your problems is not really the canister....
 
Do you have bioballs or other filtration like sponges somewhere in your system? You have a nitrate factory someplace. going from 20 to 80 in short order is your indicator. I would try to remove anything that may be farming nitrate.
 
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