Nitrates and how I can stop them..

[shifty51008]

Sorry but fresh made sw wont have 0 tds reading. But the fresh water before adding salt should have 0 tds

 

[bradshaw]

Vinegar

Vinegar

has anyone suggested using Vinegar yet? For that small of a setup, probably 1/4 of a cap of pure white vinegar every day for about a week should do it... right guys?

Vinegar = carbon source = lowers nitrates and phosphates.. though, you may need to buffer because vinegar *does* lower pH...

:strooper:

 

[BrandonFlorida]

What size power heads are you running? Could be a flow issue?

Two koralia 1050s with the wave maker. Looking to get two mp40s eventually, then when I upgrade to a 180, i will be set.

 

[BrandonFlorida]

Good point about the macros, most are feeding predominantly on phosphate. Careful with other macros though or you could end up with an even bigger problem. Risk of spreading to the display or even crashing a tank. A remote deep sand bed could also be considered if you don't want one in the display and can greatly reduce nitrates.

The purigen I use is more targeted at absorbing organics before they become nitrates and I suspect was a big part of my success. The instant ocean natural nitrate reducer could still be helping still but I doubt it since I only used one full dose administered in two half doses a week apart. I do believe this product was a huge factor in getting the nitrates to start dropping rapidly on it's own.

I haven't been able to find much information on this product aside from a few people who say it's great stuff and a few others who are too against it to provide any valuable information. A huge variety of stuff in my reef (no sps though) and experienced absolutely no ill effects with this product. I guess I'm just lucky this product came with the tank because I wouldn't have even considered it otherwise. Good luck and happy reefing!

Once my 90 gallon predator tank cycles, I will be installing a 55 gallon fuge with a bunch of different macros and plant and mangroves. I will include a fresh sand bed as weil. I added some chemipure elite today and have heard good things about it Nitrates were about 80 today which is better than I expected, but will check them tomorrow as well.

 

[BrandonFlorida]

Sounds like in the tank switch you lost your de-nitrifying bacteria count somehow. Seems you have lots of nitrifying bacteria eating the ammonia and converting to Nitrates but not enough de-nitrifying bacteria to convert the Nitrates to harmless nitrogen gas to escape naturally into the atmosphere. Until they repopulate you will continue to have this issue no matter how good your cleaning habits are. You can try to run a bio pellet reactor or do some carbon dosing IE Vodka method or vinegar method or a combo of both to increase the bacteria in the tank to eat them. How ever if you eshaust all PO4 in the process it will stop reducing the Nitrates as both are needed for process to work. personally I would go with an agressive live bacteria supplimentation approach in addition to good housekeeping skills. IMO Smart Start fior saltwater is best and use the dosing instructions for problem tanks. Past that keep doing what your doing and it may take a while

Merry Skerry

The tank switch was about six months ago. I am running a biopellet reactor with a maxijet 1200. That should hellp out some in 2-4 weeks, i hope..:spin1:

 

[BrandonFlorida]

Sorry but fresh made sw wont have 0 tds reading. But the fresh water before adding salt should have 0 tds

Your correct, I only have a tds meter on the ro unit, I misspoke. What is the TDS of fresh salt water at? Curious..

 

[ReefKeeper64]

The tank switch was about six months ago. I am running a biopellet reactor with a maxijet 1200. That should hellp out some in 2-4 weeks, i hope..:spin1:

A biopellet reactor will definitely consume those excess nitrates. If this is your first time using one, be prepared that it will not bring your nitrates down for a couple of weeks while the bacteria population is building up. After it kicks in, you'll notice your skimmer starts pulling out a ton of skimmate every day. That is all the extra bacteria in the skimate.

The quantity of pellets has to be sufficient to get ahead of the game but be prepared to dial it back or remove a portion of the pellets when your nitrates drop to zero (they will).

A final word of advice... Biopellets can work TOO well. You can accidently starve your corals in the long run so test your water often while getting used to it. Once your have your nitrates down, plan to reduce the quantity of bio-pellets in your reactor until you start to get a hint of a nitrate reading. You won't need as much to maintain your nitrates long term.

Its easy to use bio-pellets if you know these basic rules. Good luck!

 

[shifty51008]

The tds of sw will read much higher than any tds meter i have ever used so i am not sure what it will read

 

[Drae]

The tds of sw will read much higher than any tds meter i have ever used so i am not sure what it will read

Ive never tested tds of fresh made salt. I meant the ro/di tds.