I need more water for water changes to lower nitrates

[reef tank 2.0]

Wouldn't that kill an good bacteria that I have in the dt as well as in the sump? 75% seems to be a lot at once....no?

I'd be taking out 130 gallons of water!!!! (135dt & 40 sump)

 

[cloak]

Did you use any live rock? If so, are you blasting the rocks with a power head, stirring up or vacuuming your sand bed, cleaning your sump, rinsing any sort of mechanical filtration on a regular basis etc? Your nitrates are probably high because your tank is working overtime to process all the crap within it. Until these things are removed your just spinning your wheels with the water changes IMO.
Just as an example, depending on the size of the tank, if a fish was to die you might see a nitrate spike. Until that fish is either removed from the system or consumed by the CUC it will continually be a thorn in the tanks side.

 

[CStrickland]

Wouldn't that kill an good bacteria that I have in the dt as well as in the sump?

that's how a big waterchange works for folks who do one after the cycle. I thought your question was how to do a big water change without making a lot of water at once. The bacteria is in the rocks and sand. 75% is an example, whatever % you were wanting to do just take that much out and replace it as the new salt water comes ready.

 

[reef tank 2.0]

Did you use any live rock? If so, are you blasting the rocks with a power head, stirring up or vacuuming your sand bed, cleaning your sump, rinsing any sort of mechanical filtration on a regular basis etc? Your nitrates are probably high because your tank is working overtime to process all the crap within it. Until these things are removed your just spinning your wheels with the water changes IMO.
Just as an example, depending on the size of the tank, if a fish was to die you might see a nitrate spike. Until that fish is either removed from the system or consumed by the CUC it will continually be a thorn in the tanks side.

I used 12 pounds of live rock which was sitting in my sump and I placed a jumbo piece of raw shrimp in the DT to get the cycle going. From time to time, I ghost fed the DT as well. I have 4 powerheads located on the back wall of the tank blowing forward. Tons of water movement. I have been cleaning the skimmer out weekly, but other than that, I haven't had anything to clean....Once the cycle was complete, I started doing the water changes.

 

[reef tank 2.0]

that's how a big waterchange works for folks who do one after the cycle. I thought your question was how to do a big water change without making a lot of water at once. The bacteria is in the rocks and sand. 75% is an example, whatever % you were wanting to do just take that much out and replace it as the new salt water comes ready.

Which I'm doing now. It may take awhile but I am replacing what I take out with fresh saltwater.................

 

[BrickFishHouse]

A friend of mine comments "dilution is the solution for pollution," and I tend to agree.

I like the NoPoX compound, also, and have seen mixed results with carbon dosing.

Bio-Pellet reactors have been batting 1.000 for me. It's an investment and takes some time to get into action, though.

Changing up to 50% of the tank's water will probably help, especially if you are giving your substrate a good thorough siphon vacuum in the process. There may be no new fish poop, but you can be surprised at what all can come out!

 

[AcroNewbie]

I think the nitrates are ok for adding fish at this point, personally I would just wait and let the tank get rid of the nitrates itself by developing a good anaerobic bacteria population, which may take a while but will save you a lot of time and headaches down the road, especially if you wanna keep SPS (which you wanting Nitrates to be close to 0ppm would suggest). So just add the fish and make sure to clean your rocks and sand really well (blow on them to get rid of all the detritus), and let your tank mature, you should not be adding any SPS to a tank that's set up for less than 8-10 months minimum. If 10 months down the line you still have a nitrate problem THEN you should consider dosing carbon.

Also, you might wanna consider adding anaerobic areas to your sump for anaerobic bacteria to grow, these should be low-flow areas with extremely porous material, which will culture bacteria that breaks down nitrates.

 

[ZeeSparrow]

Lots of good ideas here, already. When I set up my system, I was in a similar situation as I use two 30G brute cans to hold RODI/saltwater. It took a few water changes, and time, to get the nitrates down to ~20 when I added chaeto to the sump. Another few weeks and continued WC (and a salifert test instead of API) and they were practically non-existent.

There's a reason for the saying "Nothing good happens fast" .....

Good luck!

 

[reef tank 2.0]

I did a 25 gallon water change a little less than a week ago, and started doing smaller ones nightly since then and I do in fact see the nitrates dropping......They are anywhere in between 25-50. Still a ways to go, but I do see progress

 

[CStrickland]

Here is an article about water changes. It has some graphs that might help you predict how much water you'll need to make etc.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/

 

[JMorris271]

A friend of mine comments "dilution is the solution for pollution," and I tend to agree.



Changing up to 50% of the tank's water will probably help, especially if you are giving your substrate a good thorough siphon vacuum in the process. There may be no new fish poop, but you can be surprised at what all can come out!

What would be coming out if there are no organics in the tank?

 

[BrickFishHouse]

Someone a lot smarter than me can give you a better and more detailed answer than I can.

Painting with a really broad brush, if there are nitrates, there are probably organics involved (I say "probably" because if I don't, sure as heck someone is going to say "oh yeah? What about (name something), yada yada")....

But to answer your question, I haven't ever come across a substrate so squeaky clean that something doesn't come out, whether organic or inorganic. Just what everything is, I really don't pay as much attention to as much as I do giving the tank as pristine water as I can.

I know... It's not a specific answer to your question, but I hope it helps.

 

[CStrickland]

Its remarkable how much detritus bacteria create. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't cycle my tank bb. There were piles of it coming out at first and then it slowed down. I think they were pulling phos and carbon out of the dry rock.