Nitrate levels through the roof.

Dkuhlmann said:
In addition to what everyone else has said, do what I did and get NoPox. It helps feed the bacteria that consumes nitrates and phosphates. I had a similar problem where I wasn't testing nitrates or phosphates since everything was so stable. Well I had added two new fish and increased feedings and didn't watch what was going on, next thing you know nitrates of 80ppm. Well I cut back on feeding did weekly 20% WC's instead of two weeks like I had been doing and the nitrates were still above 40. So I bought NoPox after reading up on it. I dosed it for 10 days did a 20% WC and now my nitrates are <5 and phosphates aren't detectable with my kit. NoPox works IMO and IME and I do think you should give it a try.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I am going to get this one just in case.
 
No need to buy Nopox...it's basically vinegar and vodka. Carbon and ethanol I believe. I looked into Nopox and ended up dosing vinegar n vodka n it worked great

Corey
 
Bent said:
FYI, for the past 4 days I've been dosing 30mls of vinegar daily and doing daily water changes. My nitrates are dropping like a rock and my livestock is starting to look better. My euphyllia is starting to extend again, my nem is reinflating, and so far everything looks much better.

My SPS is cooked though, I have a little bit of the monti left, and the birds nest is all but gone except for a few areas.

Is there any way that these two will survive and rebuild? Or should I start fragging them?
Click to expand...
I have a monti that honestly at the time a year ago didn't want. I put it in my predator tank that doesn't have reef quality lights and it slowly lost polyps...but it survived and I had to give it respect so I popped it into a 10 gallon tank Mini reef with no big deal leds and its slowly coming back?!
It depends on how you feel....and as a fake Doctor it sounds like you already know what to do. Frag and save some for the future. Good luck
 
Dr.Duff said:
I have a monti that honestly at the time a year ago didn't want. I put it in my predator tank that doesn't have reef quality lights and it slowly lost polyps...but it survived and I had to give it respect so I popped it into a 10 gallon tank Mini reef with no big deal leds and its slowly coming back?!
It depends on how you feel....and as a fake Doctor it sounds like you already know what to do. Frag and save some for the future. Good luck
Click to expand...

A fake Doctor? What's that mean? Is that a jab of some kind? If so what did I ever do to you?

I've never eluded to being one.

Edit:
I do know a guy named Dr. duff speaking of doctors.

Edit 2:
I can only figure you are talking about the few times that I've said I know some stuff about people diseases. Considering I'm an RN who's worked in the ICU for the past 10+ years and about to finish up my FNP, I feel like I have at least a decent enough understanding of human patho to be able to make that claim.
 
Last edited:
giphy.gif

I skipped a comma there.
He's the fake dr., Bent
Not: he's the fake-dr.-bent
 
R u using bio balls in your sump .. If so these become aerobic.. And the end product is nitrates .. I would remove them if this is the case .. Also as you do that many water changes you are removing beneficial stuff too I would make sure you use a bacterial supplement like special blend if your changing that much .. Also .. Those auto feeders feed a crap ton even on the lowest setting .. I would remove this from the equation .. In a well established tank I recommend once to 2x a day feeding .. Especially with the prepared stuff... With a day in the week to fast and scavenge .. Never found the need to feed 3x a day with healthy fish .. Now with new arrivals I always over feed to help the, out at the beginning .. If u can't feed manually lol .. Ide turn that thing on 1x a day
 
I would also use a nitrate and phosphate free premium reef salt to make water changes more effective .. I've switched from vodka to bio pellets .. They work very well in a reactor with a lift plate (very important it has this .. It's a newer thing for the reactors ,. But it drops the pump size down and makes it more efficient) with pellets and vodka dosing I find that I end up nutrient limiting my system and phos goes up .. Kinda a waste to feed extra to promote nitrates when this occurs and many people say ur feeding pet pellets .. But it's easier at that point to over feed than to turn the reactor on and off .. But my nitrates and phos is generally right where I want since I got the pellets a 4 years ago ..
 
Bent, what size tank do you have? Did you just start at 30ml of vinegar or did you slowly ramp up?

Corey
 
biecacka said:
Bent, what size tank do you have? Did you just start at 30ml of vinegar or did you slowly ramp up?

Corey
Click to expand...

The water volume is about 100 gallons or so.

I started at 30mls. I figured since I'm doing daily 25% water changes to try to get the nitrates down that would put me round about the normal starting dose.

Is it still too much?
 
In my opinion, yes. The process takes a bit, but you could probably eliminate the water changes. I did one over 2 months while dosing and seen no ill affects. Are you dosing vodka too?
Read this if you only wanna do vinegar....http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index...ar-dosing-methodology-for-the-marine-aquarium

The thing is to ramp up and find a holding line to steady that number. This way you don't cross the threshold and get any cyano or other algae.

Corey
 
Right now I'm just using vinegar.

That is actually the very article I was using. Am I reading something incorrectly here?
 
Still waiting on Amazon to drop off my salifert test, so I can't throw out any real numbers. But it's gone from bright kool-aid red, to light orange, so I guess it's well over half.
 
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