Nitrates Rocketing!

PingG25

Member
I've a new setup where the nitrates have gone through the roof between 75 and 100. I've never experienced this before and always managed them at a low level of less than 10. I've never had a Skimmer and my new set up has no facility to include one. Neither do I have a simp and no means of including one. So stumped. My SPS are clearly stripping and recovery very unlikely. LPS look to be struggling but are still surviving. Softies are ok. Any ideas on how I might manage to reduce and control nitrates e.g. Reactors etc. I can't understand why I'm in this situation as I don't overfeed. I'm really concerned.


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Well..
How long has the tank been setup?
You stated "new" does that mean you properly cycled the tank,etc.. and its been up/running for months now or you just threw water in a tank.. headed over to the local store and bought a bunch of sps corals to stick in it?

When did they start climbing?
What changed?
How big is the tank?
How often do you do water changes?
You dosing anything?
Got a filter on the tank?

75-100 is a big problem for corals.. specifically SPS.. It didn't get that way overnight..
 
Its a new tank but I transferred my existing reef tank over a period of time. This included live rock, water and eventually corals and fish. The tank has been stable with transferred corals and fish for over 6 weeks. Water changes are every 10 days last changed on Tuesday last week. I dose with Balling lite and No Po X. On the No Po X point I've recently had to replace the return valve as this had seized so possible not dosing when it should have. The filter is a Oase Thermal but at the moment I also have an Eheim Ecco running. The problem started last Thursday when the SPS corals started to show signs of stress. Until that point they had been growing well. For me it has happened quickly and I don't understand why!


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You need a skimmer in order for nopox to work correctly. I wouldn't be surprised if you now have a large bacterial population that is dying off and creating your problem.
 
Unless you had a MASSIVE death it did not happen quickly..

What were your nitrate results last week? and the week before that?
Anything big missing from the tank?

Are you aware carbon dosing (nopox) requires a skimmer to work/export?
 
The nitrate results were around 20 for the previous 4 weeks. From last week they've been increasing. I've dosed with No Po X for over 6 months and had no issue. Nothing missing. The only change is a new Salifert Kit. I still have the old kit. I'm going to do the Nitrate test and compare the 2. Is just possible that the old kit was giving a erroneous reading.


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Its a new tank but I transferred my existing reef tank over a period of time. This included live rock, water and eventually corals and fish. The tank has been stable with transferred corals and fish for over 6 weeks. Water changes are every 10 days last changed on Tuesday last week. I dose with Balling lite and No Po X. On the No Po X point I've recently had to replace the return valve as this had seized so possible not dosing when it should have. The filter is a Oase Thermal but at the moment I also have an Eheim Ecco running. The problem started last Thursday when the SPS corals started to show signs of stress. Until that point they had been growing well. For me it has happened quickly and I don't understand why!


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Short term solution - 25% water changes, as frequently as you can manage, even dailyi. Be sure that the replacement water has appropriate parameters. I'd also take out the NoPOX for now since it is not getting the job done. Simplification is good.

Long-term solution - determine source of NO3. I'd suspect your filters. I have no experience with the Oase Pond Filter but this would be my first suspect as its primary purpose given the filter pads in it will be mechanical and biological filtration (NH3->NO2->NO3), also known colloquially as a "nitrate factory". Give it a good cleaning to get sludge and debris out (but obviously don't sterilize it or you will have worse problems than NO3). Eheim Ecco is also fine for mechanical and biological filtration but has very little provision to get rid of the NO3 produced.

If it were my tank, I'd take both filters off line, add a hang on back protein skimmer and probably forego mechanical filtration. Your live rock should be able to handle the biological filtration as long as there is enough of it, particularly since the rock is from an established system.

If you are committed to using an external filter, then get one that has the ability to utilize media that can also perform denitrification (NO3-> N2 gas -> gone). This will take many months to get fully operational, but it is worth getting started now. If you can't (or don't want to) add a sump to your system, then I'd recommend an Eheim canister filter of the appropriate size for your tank. Chuck the Eheim media that comes with it and fill the filter with Siporax (stack carefully to avoid impeding water flow). Since replacing the Eheim Ehfisubstrat Pro medium in my discus tank with Siporax about 6 months ago), my nitrate and algae problems have essentially disappeared. That tank (125g) usually ran at > 50 ppm NO3 with the standard Ehfimech & Ehfisubstrat pro media (in two 2217 filters) and weekly 50% water changes (for more than 18 years). Just adding replacing the Ehfisubstrat Pro medium with Siporax, my NO3 levels are at ~10 ppm with the same weekly 50% water change. A few weeks ago, I emptied both filters (previously only 1 had been running Siporax) and replaced all of the media with Siporax. By the way, one of those 2217 filters is > 18 years old, the other is ~15 years old so any investment you make now is likely to last a long time.
 
The OASE is the Biomaster filter. I'll probably need to do what I did with my Fluval 306 and experiment with media to get the right outcome. One device I might need to consider is one of the nitrate reactors. Expensive but may be necessary.


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The OASE is the Biomaster filter. I'll probably need to do what I did with my Fluval 306 and experiment with media to get the right outcome. One device I might need to consider is one of the nitrate reactors. Expensive but may be necessary.


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This filter is similar to the Eheim type canister filter so I would clean it well (but don't sterilize with hot water or something like that), remove most of the biomedia and replace with Siporax. Leave enough media in there to "seed" the Siporax (say around 10-20%). No need for an external nitrate reactor which will take as long to work as the Siporax anyway. You need denitrifying bacteria to grow and colonize the filter material and these bacteria are anaerobic (need to be away from oxygen).
 
by the way - the Hel-X biomedia that comes with your filter has absolutely zero capacity for denitrification as far as I can see. It is a non-porous plastic that will be ok for growing aerobic nitrifying bacteria on its surface that generate NO3 but no place for anaerobic bacteria to convert NO3 to N2....
 
Ordered Siporax. I've got 4 chambers in this filter so a lot to work with.


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It won't happen overnight, but Siporax will definitely reduce nitrates over time. Together with removing the nitrate factory from your current filters and frequent water changes, your tank is going to recover.
 
Just had a shock. Tested the water for a water change. 50ppm. Is it the water or test kit?
ae7e13e74bfb117fc5fd75cf7a249a96.jpg



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Just had a shock. Tested the water for a water change. 50ppm. Is it the water or test kit?
ae7e13e74bfb117fc5fd75cf7a249a96.jpg



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Is this RO-DI water or tap water? If the former, then you either need new filters or a new test kit. If the latter, then this probably explains your issue. I'd get a new test kit just to be certain.
 
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