nitrate

[maynardjames]

i am having alot of trouble with nitrate.have emperior 400 power filter with bio wheels. is this problem?. have live rock & sand. i can change 20 to 30percent of water each week & problem reaccurs. have tried nitrex & no nitrate media.still stays around 40 ppm. everything else checks good. please help

 

[specialreef]

Yes, the Emperor could be a major contributor for the high nitrate reading.Is this the only method you have for filtration?

 

[t5Nitro]

I am not sure, but is there a foam filter in the bio wheel filter, or what is inside of it? You need to clean those or any other type of filters like that with media. Foam filters can make a lot of nitrates, I just rinse mine out once a month.

Do you have a sump? What type of medias are in there?

What is your fish load? How new is the tank? How much and what do you feed each day?

 

[drummereef]

Yes it can. Tell us more about your system... How much live rock do you have? If you have at least 1lb/gallon I'd get rid of the biowheels, no need for them. Do you use tap water or RO/DI?

 

[maynardjames]

i have a coralife protein skimmer. no sump. around 7 fish & a few soft corals & mushrooms 60 gal tank. all fish are small.. filter uses
carbon cartridge with floss for debris trap & bio wheels for return water to tank. bio wheels also fed water that does not pass thru carbon filter. can add extra media to filter if needed. trying no-nitrate at the moment started tank last november
is filter keeping live rock from doing its job?

 

[maynardjames]

use ro/di water. have close to 60 pounds of live rock.

 

[drummereef]

The filter floss (mechanical media) is adding to the problem most likely. I'd take it out as mechanical media is not needed in reef aquaria in most cases. I don't run sump either and don't need any mechanical filtration. Any place where detritus can accumulate will lead to nitrates. The carbon cartridge, does it have a pre-filter floss? I'd use a media bag instead. Sounds like you are ok on rock so I'd go ahead and remove the biowheel. Just use the filter for flow and carbon.

Also, make sure your RO/DI membranes/resins running efficiently. The tds after the DI stage should be 0. If it's not, you are adding nutrients from the water source.

 

[maynardjames]

carbon cartridge does have prefilter floss. do you run carbon all the time?

 

[drummereef]

Yes, I run carbon 24/7. I have a mixed reef with some 'high risk' softies. I use Marineland Black Diamond carbon in a media bag. Black Diamond is a quality carbon that doesn't leach phosphates if changed regularly. I change mine monthly. Again, anyting that is foam, floss, pads, etc can collect detritus and will eventually build up nitrate over time.

 

[maynardjames]

thanks for your help

 

[glockcoma]

I just took my bio wheel out, cause Im having the same problems with nitrates and put a second sock of carbon in its place, hope this works

 

[drummereef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9836089#post9836089 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by maynardjames
thanks for your help

Anytime friend. :thumbsup:

 

[EvilE]

I have a emperor 400 on my 29, pretty much the same setup as you. I was told to slowly remove the bio wheels like one , then a few weeks later, the other, and just keep the filters in, but rinse regularly, and replace like once a month. I dunno.....

 

[drummereef]

Yes, EvilE you are on the right track. Let your live rock do the bio filtration and use your filters for flow and chemical filtration only. Nitrates are a pita to get rid of once you build them up. Getting to the source of the problem is the only solution.

 

[EvilE]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9836256#post9836256 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by drummereef
Yes, EvilE you are on the right track. Let your live rock do the bio filtration and use your filters for flow and chemical filtration only. Nitrates are a pita to get rid of once you build them up. Getting to the source of the problem is the only solution.

Yeah, I have about 30# of LR in my 29 gallon, so that should be suffiecient for the bio- filtration right? isn't it still important to have some mechanical filtration though?

 

[maynardjames]

same question here. no mechanical filtration is needed?. going to add 22 # of more rock soon

 

[glockcoma]

since I took out the biowheel yesterday, my nitrate levels went from 0 to 20 ppm, should I put the biowheel back

 

[DaveG99]

you have to give it some time to balance out. 20ppm is nothing if you dont have corals. Fish can handle 20ppm very easily. Keep testing and see if it goes down.