Nitrates causing brown sps?

jamal-188

jamal-188

In Memoriam
Switched to BB a month or so back and have a fuge with chaeto. Nitrates are comming down but are about 30-40. I have no nussiance algae growth other than maybe the thin film on the glass once a week.

I'm assuming higher nitrates have to do with coloration of coral right... but higher nitrates does not necessarliy meen excess nutrients so I"m a bit confused on this.

I've slowly started dosing vodka again to get them down a bit.
 
Water changes and patience would be the best strategy in my opinion. A good growth light running 24/7 on the chaeto and harvesting growth out regularly. Dilute the nitrate you have with large and repeated water changes and then wait. I would not dump vodka or anything else in although I will acknowledge some folks do it. Some others also trigger big problems.
 
I do have a fuge w/ chaeto lite 24/7, it's probably a bit undersized for my tank but I"m sure it's helping.

I've read a ton of thread on vodka and it seems that starting off with a small dose and gradually increasing is what needs to be done. I've read of some disasters but it's mainly from people who just dump without really understand why and how much to use.

I agree water changes help, but I've read of others doing repeated water changes time and time again without much success. I have a relativley small bio-load with probably 180-200lbs of LR and an ASM G-3 skimmer. I also have an RO unit, just replaced the membrane but I should probably test for nitrates after that just to make sure it's good.
 
The K rating and PAR output of the growth bulb on your refugium is key to getting wild chaeto growth. If you are like many the sump is ignored and an old out of date fixture and bulb covered in salt creep, reduces the growth severely. I have 6.5K gowth bulb 20 watter on mine and harvest handfuls out every two weeks. Nitrates went to zero when I got the right bulb and started growing.
 
I was actually thinking of this today..thanks for confirming :) I am going to order one of the bulbs that melev tested on his website.

My chaeto growth has slowed down over the past few months which I'm sure can be attributed to the aging bulb.
 
Same bulb I have. I have advantage of having Mark here in town and the A to T store here as well. Great bulb, good to fantastic growth. May need to supplement refugium with some iron to keep chaeto healthy but not right now.
 
I couldn't find the bulb at any local HD or Lowes so somebody said to call HD and give them part # 99570, think I'll do that today.
 
The algae could be needing more phosphate. Without enough phosphate, nitrate, lighting, and/or any combination of the 3 growth will slow. Not that I'm saying to add phosphate though :D
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8271943#post8271943 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ChinChek787
The algae could be needing more phosphate. Without enough phosphate, nitrate, lighting, and/or any combination of the 3 growth will slow. Not that I'm saying to add phosphate though :D
Click to expand...

Just tested phosphate last night and it was zero or super close to zero, kind hard to tell on my test kit. Now what?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8272905#post8272905 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jamal-188
Just tested phosphate last night and it was zero or super close to zero, kind hard to tell on my test kit. Now what?
Click to expand...

You read that whole vodka thread yet you failed to test your po4 before the addition of vodka ?

If you have limited N or P vodka won't work .

There are 2 ways to fix that problem . Add PO4 to bring it into a 1 to 10 N ratio or close. Then continue dosing.

Or the best solution do waterchanges.


I have been down the vodka road.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8274533#post8274533 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by clkwrk
You read that whole vodka thread yet you failed to test your po4 before the addition of vodka ?
Click to expand...

My P04 was detectable a week or so ago when I began dosing vodka, I'm a bit surprised that it's at zero so quickly....especially since I've only been dosing such a small amount.
 
Yeah po4 gets sucked out quick when levels aren't in the good ratio.

So that means you had detectable but stil somewhat low po4 before the vodka addition .

I would do the wc's myself
 
Did a 35g water change last night, will test my nitrated tonight to see how much that helped and maybe do another 35g later this week.
 
If I were you, 'd also want to find out why I have such high nitrates in a BB system. IMO, controlling the chemistry has been very predictable and easy, but getting any decent color is the elusive white rabbit. You should be able to evaluate your tank systematically and identify some problem area that is the source of nitrate buildup (lack of export, detritus buildup, overfeeding, underskimmed, etc).
 
I think my problem is/was input water into the tank. My ro unit was pretty old so several weeks back I replaced the membrane and all the cartridges. I am using red sea salt mixed 3:1 with a bucket of mixed salt(bag of kent/ESU/Reef Crystals) that I got cheap becasue they were ripped open. For some odd reason I tested the newly mixed SW last night and it was about 25ppm nitrates.... I'm a bit puzzled. I then tested tap water, it was 50+ and about 10 after the RO unit. Since then I've been told my salifert Nitrate kit doesn't work on FW so I need to pick up a new kit today.

Not sure why my RO unit isn't pulling out what it should be. TDS was 11 BTW and my pressure gauge is 160psi which I've been told "must be faulty".

I'm hoping my new bulb will start my chaeto growing again and possibly a small DSB in the fuge would help as well.
 
Jamal I've never seen a tank with 30-40ppm nitrates and low phosphates unless a load of GFO is being used. IMO if you can detect PO4 on your testkit, on a hanna meter it would be pretty high. I wouldn't mess with vodka. Consider running a GFO or more of it if you already do so, and continue with WC's to get the nitrates down.
 
I'm not dosing vodka since my PO4 is zero. I'm using some Pura Complete which has some GFO in it but I"m not using a ridicolous amount. Using what the container called for in my size aquarium.

I'm really thinking this new bulb and chaeto growth will help along with the WC's...just curious if 6" or so of sand in my fuge would be benificial.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Formulator
8 year old tank with 2.0 PO4 and zero Nitrate
Replies
7
Views
655
Scotty333!!!
S
Anemone
PAR!
2
Replies
25
Views
1K
Misled
Misled
D
Algae issue - and I feel like I've tried everything
2
Replies
21
Views
2K
JCOLE
JCOLE
Corals.com
***Saturday Spotlight: Zoanthids!*** 25% Off All Corals!
Replies
0
Views
233
Corals.com
Corals.com
V
DIY alternative to AZNO3?
Replies
5
Views
2K
vahegan
V
Back
Top