Nitrates out of control!!!!!!!!!

H

HiFi#1

New member
I need help & fast!!!! I didn't realize my trates were this out of control. My tanks is over 60ppm & climbing. I have a high bio load & a strong skimmer. I'm building a nitrate reactor but I didn't know my trates were this bad. I had brown jelly in the past & now its back & its in relation to the higt trate level.

I need a fast solution & need it now. Im looking a a reactor & looked at some deltec's & want some advice. I need to get my trates down fast before I lose my tank. I have also posted in the Deltec form as I was looking into the denitrators.

Will a reactor work? Any other short term solutions?
 
As a very temporary solution, you might consider doing some large water changes, on the order of 50%, just to get your nitrates down.

But I'm sure you know that is just a band-aid solution.....if you are having such high nitrates, you might want to look into the causes and work on them.

-R
 
I agree with lancer99, do some large water changes and try to figure out why you have high nitrates and not just band-aid them. And a de-nitrater is not a quick fix they take 6-8 weeks to fully kick in. So slow down take a deep breath.
 
I'm trying not to panic but corals aren't cheap! I have been under feeding for a long time to control them & as of late I have been feeding a bit more & but not much , now my trates are crazy!!!!

I have mud in my fudge & some cheato but the cheato will not grow. It just stays the same size. I have a 30g tank running with lots of live sand in it & I think I should move the sand to my main tanks fudge. Also my fudge lighting sux I got to do something with that as well.

I'm considering sulfur denitrators not because they are a quick fix but because I know they work, is there any recommendation's on a specific brand? Anything I should watch for?

I know a 50% wc will help but in a day or so it will just go back up.
 
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H&S makes a great sulfur denitrator I have a friend that put one on a 120 FOWLR with a heavy fish load and 40-60 ppm nitrates, it took about 8 weeks his trates are now 0.

How much and what are you feeding?
 
I feed a mixture of frozen mysis shrimp, dry pellets, seaweed etc. I'm careful on how much I feed & the frozen shrimp I strain. Until now I have been under feeding & it was noticeable on the fish so I bumped it up a bit. I alternate what I feed each day one day may be shrimp next pellets then maybe seaweed etc etc. Whan I was underfeeding my trates were 25ppm give or take.

My fudge light is a single 15watt pc spiral!!!!
 
I used "Algone" when I had a nitrate problem and it worked wonder. Water changes can only bring down the nitrate level a little bit and keep it that way for HOURS coz the source is still there. Unless you do a >50% water change but the next day, the nitrates are back again.

Eventually, you have to figure out what the main source of the nitrate in your tank is and remove it/them. The rarely-changed filter pads, prefilter sponges on the pumps/powerheads (this one often overlooked by hobbyists) or the lack of appropriate bio-filteration...etc. I've seen many heavy bio-load FO tanks and the nitrate levels were manageable if not great. I went with the fuge and DSB when I upgraded my tank. In Randy's articles, there are many ways of tackling the problem.

Be aware there are two kinds of filter media available for nitrate reactors. Basically one is white and the other is yellow. The white one actually just provides the propagation environment for the denitrate bacteria and takes a while to kick in, which is metioned on the previous post. The yellow one works a lot faster but it's chemical and is kinda drastic IMO. It might change something in your tank that isn't supposed to be touched. So do your study before rush into any decision. Hope it helps.
 
For the short term, do some water changes. As a long term solution, Zeovit works great for me, and it also keeps phosphates low. I have used the "basic 4" for about 2 years now, and it is very effective....its actually a simple system.
 
Well marcrothschild your bang on, I just got a Zeovit reactor from a fellow reefer & with his advice I will give it a go, I have nothing to loose, except nitrates!!!
 
I used a remote sand bed in a bucket on my last setup and it worked good there is a thread on the subject here on RC
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12096286#post12096286 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stevensun

Be aware there are two kinds of filter media available for nitrate reactors. Basically one is white and the other is yellow. The white one actually just provides the propagation environment for the denitrate bacteria and takes a while to kick in, which is metioned on the previous post. The yellow one works a lot faster but it's chemical and is kinda drastic IMO. It might change something in your tank that isn't supposed to be touched. So do your study before rush into any decision. Hope it helps.
Click to expand...

The yellow one that you mentioned is sulfur as far as I know it does not add anything to your tank that routine water changes wont take out . And the sulfur is the one that takes 6-8 weeks to kick in
 
If this has been growing for a while, you probably have a nitrate sink in the sand bed,. what i do sometimes is stir up the sand bed, get the detretus airbourne and then filter it out with a magnum HOT filter fitted with a fine micron pad wrapped around the media container to get the crud out. and just keep stirring and micron filtering until the water is clear. then do a BIG water change or two to knock down the disolved nitrates and stuff. It will save time and salt mix .

I either stir the DSB up with my hand or a hand held power head to get the crud out. it can turn the tank to muddy water. but the filter will take it out. and remove the latent source of the nitrates. after that, periodic cleanings will keep it down.

And keep the fuge running at peak growth rate too after that with good flow and light. Remember, you have to clean fuges too. they settle out crud and collect detretus. so isolate the fuge and fluff it up too and filter the crud out once a month. thats the purpose of a fuge. to collect and accumulate waste in the macro, or sediment. so it can be removed.
 
The yellow one that you mentioned is sulfur as far as I know it does not add anything to your tank that routine water changes wont take out . And the sulfur is the one that takes 6-8 weeks to kick in

The drawbacks of sulfur reactors include added sulfate (a minor problem if you do regular water changes), and depleted alkalinity and pH. One can manually boost the alkalinity back up with a buffer, but if you are using a totally balanced alk and calcium additive system (CaCO3/CO2 reactor, limewater, or two part)., you'll need to do some, additional dosing of some sort.

There is also the possibility of dosing poisonous hydrogen sulfide in the effluent.
 
I want to try & stay away from the sulfur reactor because for the dangers it may pose. I have started Zeovit & will give that a go, & also will do some drastic fuge changes.

As for my sand bed I have several sand sifters to stir it up & they do a good job, & I do stir it up when I do a water change.

marcrothschild what 4 are you using for you Zeovit?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12100104#post12100104 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kaptken
If this has been growing for a while, you probably have a nitrate sink in the sand bed,. what i do sometimes is stir up the sand bed, get the detretus airbourne and then filter it out with a magnum HOT filter fitted with a fine micron pad wrapped around the media container to get the crud out. and just keep stirring and micron filtering until the water is clear. then do a BIG water change or two to knock down the disolved nitrates and stuff. It will save time and salt mix .

I either stir the DSB up with my hand or a hand held power head to get the crud out. it can turn the tank to muddy water. but the filter will take it out. and remove the latent source of the nitrates. after that, periodic cleanings will keep it down.

And keep the fuge running at peak growth rate too after that with good flow and light. Remember, you have to clean fuges too. they settle out crud and collect detretus. so isolate the fuge and fluff it up too and filter the crud out once a month. thats the purpose of a fuge. to collect and accumulate waste in the macro, or sediment. so it can be removed.
Click to expand...

Do you recommend using miracle mud or any sand in the fuge if you are not worried about pods? I just want to have the chaeto in there for Nitrate reduction.

Thanks,

Paul
 
I had a fuge set up with a bb. It made it easy to clean and I still had a lots of pods in it. in fact I have one set up now with about 2" of gravel and I can't tell that there is any more pods then bb. But I'm sure that someone will prove me wrong.
 
I am having the same kind of Nitrate problem. I have one fish and only feed it once per day (purple tang). I am running a sulphur denitrator and the effluent reads 5-10 for Nitrates, but the tank is off the charts. I have brown algae all over the tank. I did a 20 gal wc yesterday on the tank (75gal) and the nitrates did not drop at all. I am starting to think my dsb in the fuge is the source. I am going to pull the sand out tonight and see. All my hermit crabs die after about 5 days.

Paul
 
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