Local emergency reef services

Lion-o

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Hello!

I am wondering if there are any recommended service providers that can show up in a pinch. I have a 300g tank with a nitrate problem, everything was fine for years but I just lost two fish in a week, and now i'm making water as fast as I can but really hard to make a meaningful dent in a tank that size.

Any advice would be great.

thanks,
danny
 
Are you looking for help getting into a deeper water change or just ways to reduce the nitrates?

Tanks that have been set up for years sometimes go through spikes in nutrients after a while. Some call it "old tank syndrome". I am not sure if that is what you are experiencing or if something else has gone in in your tank.

That said, fish are pretty tolerant of nitrates so I am curious just how high you are talking about. I guess maybe a little more information would help.
 
Thanks for the quick reply.

I tested water params and nitrites/ammonia were 0 (or near 0), and nitrates were showing up as > 160ppm. I know, that's really high and I don't know how it got so bad.

This has been an established tank for ~10 years now and I've used vodka dosing to keep nitrates and phosphates down. I guess I got too comfortable with success and stopped testing, now the fish are paying for it.

I am working on a water change now, but the best I can do is ~50gallons at a time with the big brute 25g trash cans. That's only about a 16% water change though , and it takes time to make that much water...

I use RODI only, definitely no tap water.
 
Yes, I have a DSB. Maybe 2" but it's sand, so it varies across the tank.

Btw, phosphates are currently ~2.2 which is not ideal either. I have a digital hanna checker so I know that is accurate.
 
Yes, I have a DSB. Maybe 2" but it's sand, so it varies across the tank.

Btw, phosphates are currently ~2.2 which is not ideal either. I have a digital hanna checker so I know that is accurate.

Because of your tank's age I am guessing the issue resides with the sand. It's pretty common. I've experienced it myself. I generally do one of two things (while maintaining water changes) 1. remove the sand and place new sand in (or leave it out if you like bare bottom) 2. Vacuum the sand really well when you do the water change. Even if this means you lose some sand.

I don't personally think you need to do drastic water changes, like 50% or anything like that. Try doing one or two gallons a day and see how that works out. You can also reduce feeding. Depending on what's in the tank they might be fine with skipping a day between feeding for a week or so.
 
I would do a few large water change. Your tank is a 40G so it should be easy to do. If it were my tank, I would do a 50% water change now and wait a few days and do another 50% water change.

I do 1/3 tank water changes for my 300 gallon but that is always a lot of work.

When doing water changes, try to get your temp, alk and pH for the new water to be similar to your tank values.
 
Your tank is a 40G so it should be easy to do.

This tank is 300 gallons, not 40. I have two :)

What is your home setup that you are able to do 100G water changes? Where do you keep the water? Please, inspire me ... if we didn't live in Arizona where it is 10000 degrees in the summer I would easily keep a big jug in my garage. But in my current house I'm not sure how to make it work. I paid for a 50% water change, but at 272$ it's not something I can afford to splurge on regularly.
 
Honestly, I don't think you need a 50% water change. If you think about it that will only temporarily remove the nitrates. Whatever their source is remains. The key to solving the issue is the source of the nitrates. I recommend searching this forum for "old tank syndrome".
 
Yes, I agree that you should always find a root cause. I have 3x 40 gallon trash can buckets and one big black 100 gallon trough. I think that is what it is called. I usually only do 1/3 water changes using the buckets. I have two 90 gallons RODI spectrapure units so I can make water in a day. I also mix the salt while the water is filling to save time. The problem with changing 5 gallons is that you can’t barely tell any difference.

I also agree you should vacuum your sandbed. I usually vacuum as much as I can during a water change when I remove tank water.
 
Vanpire - any photos of the trough? I'm curious. I may have slightly smaller trash can buckets than you. I have the Brutes - i think they are 25-30g.
 
Update : even after the separate 50gallon (sand vac) and then 150gallon water change, the nitrates are still reading as high as my test kit will go.

I don't know what else to do except upping the vodka and continuing to sand vac on weekends.
 
Is this a standard tank with a sump? If so, what is in the sump? There has to be source for the nitrates. That can be rock, sand, overfeeding, bioballs, and anything else that holds detritus. Also, I am assuming the test kit is good and not out of date.
 
I ran a control test with my kit on the other tank and it gave a valid reading, also took a water sample into the shop. The kit is old, but as far as I can tell it is still working fine.

I don't have bio balls (because I don't like them) but I do have these ceramics in their place in my sump. It is a wet/dry sump (which I hate) but I don't really have the option to change that now. I was thinking it is possible that they or the rocks are just soaked up with nitrates, but idunno.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/marinepure-ceramic-biomedia-1-1-2-spheres.html
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/marinepure-ceramic-biomedia-plate.html
 
My guess is the ceramics need cleaned or replaced. If you don't have the cash to replace them you can clean them. My thoughts are to take them all out, putting them in salt water so they stay good, suck out anything in the sump. Then put them back in but clean about a quarter of them every couple of weeks until they are all cleaned. By doing them a few at a time you reduce the impact on your beneficial bacteria. Rocks tend to get saturated with phosphates more than nitrates but the ceramics do tend to hold onto detritus which produces the nitrates. That is my 2 cents. I've done it myself with bioballs in the past. The ceramics are nice but do have some of the same negatives as bioballs.
 
Yea i didn't know what to do with my wet/dry sump space so i put these in thinking they would act like additional live rock surface area.

When you say put them back in but clean a quarter of them - should I put them all back in at once after I clean them?
 
btw, i vodka dose 19ml of 80 proof vodka daily. Not sure if I should back off on that during all of that, or if that is too high for a 300g tank. I took a look at the guide and it recommends starting at 1.2mL and upping from there (which I did, back when i first started).
 
Yea i didn't know what to do with my wet/dry sump space so i put these in thinking they would act like additional live rock surface area.

When you say put them back in but clean a quarter of them - should I put them all back in at once after I clean them?

You are right, they do act like additional live rock so that much is good. They just require some occasional maintenance is all.

If you clean them all at once or not depends on how you clean them and how much live rock you have.

If you have plenty in the tank I have found that cleaning them all at once doesn't mess things up. I always recommend doing them in parts just to be on the safe side.

If you clean them in salt water then the impact on the bacteria is less. I get a power head, put it in, and just blast them hard with it. The idea is to make sure the little center is cleaned out and any small bits of detritus is removed from the porous material.

Of course you don't "clean" them in terms of scrubbing hard or using a chemical cleaning agent. The idea is just to get the excess crap off. Whenever you mess with these things some bacteria will die off.

That said-based on the size of your tank and the fact you have well established live rock, I think cleaning them all or half would be good. Just don't forget to clean out that area of the sump while you are at it.

I have had this same issue in the past and this is what I did. I always throw in the disclaimer that since I can't see your tank and don't know any more of its history than what you have told me I could be wrong so ultimately you have to decide based on what you know. From my perspective out here in cyberland it sounds to me just like the ceramics are the issue.
 
btw, i vodka dose 19ml of 80 proof vodka daily. Not sure if I should back off on that during all of that, or if that is too high for a 300g tank. I took a look at the guide and it recommends starting at 1.2mL and upping from there (which I did, back when i first started).

For that one I will let someone else give advice. I am not a Vodka expert. I decided I didn't want to use it and have stuck with that. I have studied the issue and am up on the theory but won't put myself forward as someone who knows enough to give advice on it.
 
i can provide pics if you'd like :)

I will probably go ahead and clean the ceramics this weekend. Not sure I have anything to lose by doing so. I can clean the carbon filters out and the ATO reservoir while i'm at it.
 
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