nitrate question.

[JetCat USA]

OK, I'll accept your explanation of how it's working and why.

now i have to ask for my own benefit, all that bacteria that the freshly made water killed off/is killing off, how can we keep that from dying off and elevating NO3 levels in our systems?

seams i can completely do away with water changes and that should keep the levels from going up, so do we do less frequent water changes because the fresh water is causing die off and elevating levels??

 

[MCsaxmaster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10584948#post10584948 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kau_cinta_ku
any other info you needed?

What is the water chemistry like?

 

[bertoni]

One of the reasons I'm not a fan of big water changes is the damage that can be done if the salinity doesn't match closely. I wouldn't treat any tank differently, except in case of an ammonia spike or some similar emergency issue. I wouldn't do water changes for nitrate reduction, either, again, excepting emergencies or similar short-term issues.

 

[kau_cinta_ku]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10585004#post10585004 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MCsaxmaster
What is the water chemistry like?

stays fairly good.
pH - 8.0-8.3 milwalkee pH monitor
temp 79-80 ranco dual temp controller
ammonia - 0 API test kit
nitrites - 0 API test kit
nitrates - 40ppm salifert, API, IO test kits
cal. - 420ppm salifert, API test kits
alk. - 10dkh salifert, API test kits
mag. - 1350 salifert test kit
phosphates - 0 salifert test kit
sg. - 35ppm refractometer

that is all i have i think. i dose randy's 2 part everyday

 

[Boomer]

Jet

did you miss this part

Not to mention the organics trapped in the rock decaying

Rock has no N in its crystallographic structure to created NO3-. It is not created by magic. That NO3 has to come from somewhere. Either decomp form the rock or the system is getting organics added to it from some where, to include the air above your tank/container. That rock can have a lot more trapped stuff than one thinks, so I don't' see how you can disagree with me or MC. I'm saying, we are saying and even you are saying, it is the rock for the most part. The rock is the nutrient source.

If it is just the rock you want, with no care of any life forms left in or or on it, then soak it in bleach.

 

[JetCat USA]

OK Boom work with me to get this NO3 out of these rocks without the bleaching........

my holding tank, it's a 100g tank with close to 300 lbs of rock in it. long story short it's the rock out of my 180 that was taken down in Sep 2004 for a new stand building and remodeling that's taken a bit longer then expected the 100g gets a 25-30g water change usually every week to 10 days (I'm retired, i got allot of free time), when the tank was taken down the NO3 levels in that system were roughly 40-50 with a Salifert kit, i didn't have the PinPoint back then, the holding tank after almost 3 yrs now of those regular water changes is at 20ish with the PinPoint and they are ever so slow to come down.

the tank isn't fully blacked out but the only window in the room it's in is covered with a heavy curtain and there is very little ambient light. the air quality in the room shouldn't be delivering anything worth while to the tank and it has an Aqua-C EV180 skimmer on it.

i don't really wanna go to the trouble of adding bleach to it and then having to dry it till the bleach all evaporates so is there a magic ORP we can crank that baby up to and sterilize it all the same? I've got a 500mg/hr unit i can stick on it 24/7 if that'll do the trick.

 

[Boomer]

i don't really wanna go to the trouble of adding bleach to it and then having to dry it till the bleach all evaporates

Not an issue, did it for like 35 years. Add bleach to raise it to 2500 ppm or just go with 20 parts (water) -1 part (bleach) for 24 hrs. Pick-up the rocks once in awhile/ move them around. Rinse the rocks in hot water, it drives off chlorine. Add rock to a container and soak for 24 hrs in std dechlor at 4x. Remove them and rinse again. Take a sample rock and put in a bucket of RO/DI for 12 hrs and then test for chlorine with a cheap chlorine test kit. Add std dechlor to tank @ 1/2 dosage just because and add rocks If you want just try this on 10 lbs of rock.

Ozone. You would have to get up to 600 -700 mV

 

[JetCat USA]

Thanks Boom

 

[kau_cinta_ku]

ok bump for my prob. again please

 

[Boomer]

You are having high nitrates for a number of reasons, i.e. over feed, high bio-load, to many animals, poor house keeping, the LR and SB are not doing much in the area of FAD ( Facultative Anaerobic Denitrification) to convert the NO3- to N2 gas which escapes to the atm.

 

[kau_cinta_ku]

ok thanks for that, what are some things i can do diff. or what can i add (housekeeping) to help out? i didn't think i was feeding alot actually.

I am over stocked? i realize inches per gal. thing isn't squat on SW tanks but i only have about 14" of fish as they are all small. the only ones that will get bigger will be the tangs (small as of now)

always learning new things:d