I just can't win with Nitrates

[anthonys51]

who is piece of **** lol joking i think i know

 

[kissman]

Spell check lol

 

[anthonys51]

How often do you change your water and how many gallons

 

[kissman]

How often do you change your water and how many gallons

I was doing about 5g a week then I went to two 5g water changes one on Sunday and one on Thurs. Then recently I have been doing bigger water chnages every week

 

[anthonys51]

How often do you clean your filters and protein skimmers

 

[kissman]

How often do you clean your filters and protein skimmers

every water change

 

[anthonys51]

You seem to be doing enough. Do you have a dump with Marco algae in it

 

[kissman]

put cheato in sump 3 weeks ago and it melted away. I have never been able to grow it thinking of buying some mangroves

 

[anthonys51]

Try other Marco first. I never used cheato but I heard others say it melts away too

 

[kissman]

other Macro's can take over a tank I have had Grape Caulpera take over my tank and just started to win that battle and is probably why the Cheato melted away. In my first set up I had mangroves that would grow not sure how much nutrients they actually took up though

 

[anthonys51]

Not sure about mangroves either

 

[anthonys51]

macros arent a cure all for nitrates and phosphates. most will crash if nitrates get too high

what fish do you have in your tank. how much do you feed them and what. lets start with that, because your doing a lot of water changes and you seem on top of that . also what brand of protein skimmer are you using and how big is your sump

 

[kissman]

First post of the thread


[/QUOTE]TANK INFO: This might read like rambling and well because it is, LOL. If there is anything I have missed please feel free to post and ask or say. Please join in! I have a Standard 55g roughly 30lbs+ of Pukani Rock. Warner Marine MF181 Skimmer (Skimz SK181), I have a Reef breeders Photon 48 I am currently raising the intensity 10% a week (The 6x54w T5HO Nova Extreme Pro was beginning to die), Two Hydor 4’s on a Wave maker pointing at each other on 2sec cycle. I also have a Hydor 2 and a Hydor Nano 240 along the back wall. I run carbon in a Phosban Reactor, 20gl tank for sump. I have a Royal Gramma, a Six Line Wrasse, and a Percula Clown. Rose Bubble Tip Anemone, various Mushrooms, Zoas, several SPS corals. Recent issues are at some point and I think it came in my Chaeto but I ended up with a nasty outbreak of Grape Caulerpa. I have been manually removing and trying to beat down nutrients by doing two 5g water changes every week. Nitrates just wont come down. I know because of the Macro algae in the tank I am getting a false reading on Nitrates and Phosphates since the Macro will absorb it before I can test it. SG 1.026, Calcium 420, Mag 1400, dKH 9.5, Temp 78, PH 8.2. I run an ATO with a Kalk mix that runs about 1 gallon a day. Test Kits are Hanna ULR Phos and Hanna for Alk everything else is Red Sea Pro Test kits. PH is a handheld digital. Instant Ocean Salt. I do use a 4 stage RO/DI unit with all new filters, DI Resin and RO Membrane. I Replace the DI when color starts to change and filters are changed at same time. I also replace the RO membrane every year needed or not. I always run ZERO TDS out of unit if the TDS hits one coming out all filters are replaced I keep extra set on hand. Every six months give or take a few weeks I pull all powerheads, pumps, skimmers etc... Out of the tank and give them a vinegar bath. My goals are to rid the tank of algae and improve polyp extension, color and growth on SPS. Any advice would be appreciated.[/QUOTE]

 

[anthonys51]

honestly i think your just feeding too much. i know you say your feeding once a day, try cutting what you feed in half for a month and dont feed your corals, see if that helps. because u seem to be doing everything else right

 

[kissman]

I was feeding twice a day and cut back to once

 

[MellowReefer]

I had really high nitrates when I set up my first tank because I used tap water. Nitrates were at least 50. I used IO Natural Nitrate Reducer for a few weeks and it brought it down to 0 nitrate and I never had to use any again. It gets stuck in your rocks permanently and keeps consuming nitrates. I'm not sure why this product never got much attention but here's an article that likens it to solid vodka dosing. But as the instructions say, and as happened to me, once my nitrates got to zero I never had to add any again.

http://************.com/2009/12/11/natural-nitrate-reducer-from-instant-ocean-aims-to-deliver-fluid-form-of-solid-vodka-dosing-via-suspended-biodegradable-polymers/

I'm not sure why my posts about this stuff are ignored. It really worked, no side effects, never had to dose it again!! (And no, I don't work for IO, just want to help people!)

 

[kissman]

I'm not sure why my posts about this stuff are ignored. It really worked, no side effects, never had to dose it again!! (And no, I don't work for IO, just want to help people!)

I am not ignoring your post I have used IO Nitrate reducer before when I was trying to go from a FOWLR to a Reef tank to bring down Nitrates it did nothing for my nitrates but then nothing did but draining the tank

 

[MellowReefer]

I am not ignoring your post I have used IO Nitrate reducer before when I was trying to go from a FOWLR to a Reef tank to bring down Nitrates it did nothing for my nitrates but then nothing did but draining the tank

It takes a few weeks to work - how long did you use it for?

 

[kissman]

It takes a few weeks to work - how long did you use it for?

I followed the directions can't remember that was some years ago when it first came out

 

[MellowReefer]

I followed the directions can't remember that was some years ago when it first came out

Did you have a skimmer on the tank?