High Nitrate problem Please Help

bnumair said:
check the nitrates in the filter water u use. i bet you thats most of ur problem along with over feeding. i have heard this so many time on so many forums that distilled/filterd water has nitrates as high as 80-100ppm. please check ur water and post ur results i am curious.
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It seems the nitrate level is about 5ppm. I took pic of the tubes and the one on the right is my tank and the left is the filtered water.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1331784039.300753.jpg


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gohstwrighter said:
hi i have red threw this hole artical and i agree regular 50% water changes on a regular bases with therow filter cleenings should cleer this up quickly also here is a link to a cheep HOB refugium.
http://www.aquatraders.com/Hang-On-Refugium-with-Protein-Skimmer-24in-p/43017.htm
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Thank you your input. I am going to order this protein skimmer refugium tonight. But just curious could I still use my other protein skimmer while this is running?


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I have Fish Only With Live Rock 60g display. Nitrates were always low due to skimming, RDSB and moderate feeding. However, since I installed and Algae Turf Scrubber my nitrates and phosphates consistently read 0ppm.

Perhaps that's an option for you to consider. It's cheap, efficient and the benefits do not stop at nitrate export. :-D
 
When was the last time you checked the filter pads in the filter?? A buddy of mine was using a canister filter also and his nitrates were high because he didnt change out the filter pads regularly. I dont run a canister filter but I thought I read you had to change them out quite often because it holds the detritus and waste and becomes a nitrate factory. My buddy removed all of his filter material and put LR in the bottom of his canister and that seemed to help out alot.
 
Carey1465 said:
When was the last time you checked the filter pads in the filter?? A buddy of mine was using a canister filter also and his nitrates were high because he didnt change out the filter pads regularly. I dont run a canister filter but I thought I read you had to change them out quite often because it holds the detritus and waste and becomes a nitrate factory. My buddy removed all of his filter material and put LR in the bottom of his canister and that seemed to help out alot.
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I normally clean the filter pads every two weeks. But that's a good idea about removing them and adding live rock. I will definitely do that.

Thanks


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Carey1465 said:
When was the last time you checked the filter pads in the filter?? A buddy of mine was using a canister filter also and his nitrates were high because he didnt change out the filter pads regularly. I dont run a canister filter but I thought I read you had to change them out quite often because it holds the detritus and waste and becomes a nitrate factory. My buddy removed all of his filter material and put LR in the bottom of his canister and that seemed to help out alot.
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AGAIN, this is a myth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fish are nitrate factories, not filters, just because it traps waste does not mean it is producing more nitrates, we want it to trap waste so that the pads can be rinsed out, your buddy's tank had high nitrates because he either had a large amount of fish & or uneaten food OR he did not do large enough or frequent enough water changes, a filter can only produce the nitrates equal to the ammonia load put on it, it can't produce MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When you read these things, usually what the OP leaves out is the difference between live rock only biological filtration & HOB's or canisters or wet/dry filters. Let's say you have 2 tanks, everything equal except one has just live rock & the other has a canister filter with bio-stars, Bio-load is the same on each tank, nitrates produced are the same, here's the difference, POROUS live rock provides anaerobic (lack of oxygen) conditions that allow denitrifying bacteria to live & to convert some, not all, nitrates into nitrogen gas, something the canister, HOB, or wet/dry can not do, so the difference is that the concentration of nitrates is higher, but they do not produce more on their own, this fallacy must stop.
 
Carey1465 said:
When was the last time you checked the filter pads in the filter?? A buddy of mine was using a canister filter also and his nitrates were high because he didnt change out the filter pads regularly. I dont run a canister filter but I thought I read you had to change them out quite often because it holds the detritus and waste and becomes a nitrate factory. My buddy removed all of his filter material and put LR in the bottom of his canister and that seemed to help out alot.
Click to expand...

While removing and cleaning the filter material may help lower the nitrate, what you are essentially doing is only exporting the nitrates just like a water change or pruning macro-algae in a refugium. In my opinion, keeping live rock rubble in a filter will end up causing the same issues as having filter material unless you clean the rubble just like the filter material. Live rock rubble will trap the detritus just the same as filter material but it lacks the ability that bigger pieces of live rock has to convert nitrate to nitrogen gas. You will still have to clean and blow out the live rock rubble in the end.

As sporto0 mentioned, live rock that is not rubble will convert some nitrate into nitrogen, but not all of it especially in a fully stocked tank. If you want undetectable nitrates, a combination of methods should be used to keep nitrates down. These can include using porous live rock, heavy skimming, a deep sand bed (remote or in tank), denitrifying filter media, a refugium with macro-algae, and an algae turf scrubber. That and of course water changes.

But I don't see what is the harm in keeping nitrates low even if in a fish only tank. It may not harm the fish unless concentrated at super high levels, but it will make it easier to transition to a reef tank if and when the person wants to go to the dark side :smokin:

edit: There was an article that I saw not too long ago that examined live rock's ability to convert nitrates into nitrogen gas, as well as the ability or rather inability of live rock rubble to do the same. If I can find it, I will post a link to it here.
 
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Your right Peter, it doesn't hurt to keep nitrates manageable but with his livestock, he's not going to be able to keep many corals anyway & like I said before with his current stock list, nitrates will be a constant battle & it's just not worth the headache to worry about. I agree with everything you just posted & I'm glad to see that there are people who actually understand the biological filtration & nitrate factory nonsense, sometimes I feel like I'm banging my head against the wall with this subject.
 
Peter T said:
While removing and cleaning the filter material may help lower the nitrate, what you are essentially doing is only exporting the nitrates just like a water change or pruning macro-algae in a refugium. In my opinion, keeping live rock rubble in a filter will end up causing the same issues as having filter material unless you clean the rubble just like the filter material. Live rock rubble will trap the detritus just the same as filter material but it lacks the ability that bigger pieces of live rock has to convert nitrate to nitrogen gas. You will still have to clean and blow out the live rock rubble in the end.

As sporto0 mentioned, live rock that is not rubble will convert some nitrate into nitrogen, but not all of it especially in a fully stocked tank. If you want undetectable nitrates, a combination of methods should be used to keep nitrates down. These can include using porous live rock, heavy skimming, a deep sand bed (remote or in tank), denitrifying filter media, a refugium with macro-algae, and an algae turf scrubber. That and of course water changes.

But I don't see what is the harm in keeping nitrates low even if in a fish only tank. It may not harm the fish unless concentrated at super high levels, but it will make it easier to transition to a reef tank if and when the person wants to go to the dark side :smokin:

edit: There was an article that I saw not too long ago that examined live rock's ability to convert nitrates into nitrogen gas, as well as the ability or rather inability of live rock rubble to do the same. If I can find it, I will post a link to it here.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your input. There is so much to learn when it comes to salt water.


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Peter T said:
But I don't see what is the harm in keeping nitrates low even if in a fish only tank. It may not harm the fish unless concentrated at super high levels, but it will make it easier to transition to a reef tank if and when the person wants to go to the dark side :smokin:
Click to expand...

Oh man I'm terrified of the dark side but have a bad feeling I will end up there IoI. :-)




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I just ordered the refugium with protein skimmer. Bought 1/4 lbs of macro algae. I have limited my feeding once a day and I plan on doing a 50% water change this weekend. Also will clean my filter pads on my fluval filter. However I do have a question though ..... When I clean my canister filter should empty out all the water or just clean the pads only?


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thought would update everyone with my tank situation. I did a 60% water change, replaced it with already mixed ro/di filtered water from my LFS. I also tested for nitrates and did not trace any. Also removed all the bio media from my protein skimmer and fluval canister filter. I added carbon as its replacements and also clear max nitrate reducer.

So I tested the water and my nitrates went down from 80-160ppm to 40-60 ppm! So happy :-)

So I will continue my regular water changes and will make sure I don't over feed. I will clean out my fluval canister every two weeks.

Posted some pics of my tank. It's less cloudy then before.


I appreciate everyone's helpful tips and advice. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1332031091.549709.jpg

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I

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