nitrates to high I am stumped

[grtmmt]

ok I really need some help! I have a 155 gallon bow front with a 110 gallon sump and a second 30 gallon sump for my protein skimmer. The tank has been running for about 10 years. I have lots of soft corals and few LPS all doing very well and I have a medium bio load of fish and all healthy. Combined I have about 200 lbs of live rock. I use RO/DI water and I do weekly 10% water changes. I have a good skimmer that I empty about three times a week.

For the last two months I have been battling nitrates ranging from 40-80 ppm. I cleaned my protein skimmer, I added chemi pure blue which I researched to death and hoped it would work. Phosphates are low, by temperature is a constant between 78-79 degrees. Salinity I keep at 1.025. my corals are fine my calcium is 400 and alkalinity is 9 to 10.

My goal is to start moving to more spa but I can't until I figure this out.

 

[daviesp007]

You might want to consider using a carbon source. From researching this to try and fix a nitrate issue, I watched a BRSTV video that mentioned the problem in reef tanks can be a lack of a carbon source for the bacteria to break down nitrates efficiently. I use Red Sea’s NO3O4-x and this works wonders. Some will mention that vodka is a cheaper alternative, but I know this stuff works, so stick with it.

Hope this helps!

 

[nikon187]

bigger water changes. i assume you nutrients are now out competing your nutrient removal. possibly swap out some rock for some new if it is caked in coraline algae

 

[mcgyvr]

Very common problem..

Carbon dosing is likely the best solution.
All you need is vinegar..
Everything you need to know is right here..
http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index...ar-dosing-methodology-for-the-marine-aquarium
Enjoy..

 

[grtmmt]

Thanks

 

[AlSimmons]

Just out of curiosity do you have a sand bed in the tank? If so, do you ever clean that? Do you ever blast the rocks with a powerhead? A lot of crap can accumulate in those nooks and crannies.

 

[NO3]

This just my opinion....

I think you don't have enough flow around all the LR. I think you have lots of pockets where fish food and fish poop is collecting and settling out.

I would consider two things:
1) getting a Powerhead that flows out a jet stream and free hand it around the tank to blow all the stuff that is collecting in caves, corners and unreachable zeroflow spots.

2) get a pair of high flow rate power heads (like 1200+ GPH for each) and mount on left and right walls near the bottom of the tank (5ins above the bottom) and ONLY plug them in for 20mins a day to BLAST flow thruout the tank. Make it a hurricane inside your tank for 20mims. Fish can handle a 20min pinning to the wall, lol. They'll find a safe place. They'll come to expect it if done everyday and will know where to go hide out everytime once they get the hang of it. Everyone in the tank will benefit from this 20min blast out. Hopefully you have very little substrate and it can handle 20mins of blasting

 

[nikon187]

yeah the nitrates have to be comming from somewhere. carbon dosing may work but the cause of the nitrates still needs to be determined.

 

[grtmmt]

I do have a sand bed and I do not clean it, I do on occasion stir the top layer as it sometimes turns brown.

 

[Sk8r]

Your skimmer may not be pulling its weight...I had a similar problem before I upped the quality of the skimmer from a Coralife 200 g to an Eshopps 200 . Nitrates dropped like a stone after that.

 

[mndfreeze]

I do have a sand bed and I do not clean it, I do on occasion stir the top layer as it sometimes turns brown.

Do you not have any sort of CUC that messes wtih sand? Even a bunch of nassarius snails can be super useful specifically because they bury into it and stir it up a little bit every time they surface to eat leftovers.

A tiger tail cucumber also works well for keeping sand cleaner.

 

[NO3]

Even a bunch of nassarius snails can be super useful specifically because they bury into it and stir it up a little bit every time.

I can never get snail to live past 12mos..... Then its a pain in the butt to pull out 30-50 empty shells.

 

[mndfreeze]

Buy small ones and large ones. The small ones will eat the large ones as they die off.

Why are you removing empty shells? That's just more calcium to slowly break down in your system over time. Just let them mix into the sand bed.

You also could get the tiger tail cucumber, or another species of sand specific cuc.

IMO, if you are not manually cleaning your sandbed semi regularly, at least the top of it to get rid of built up detritus, then you need supporting lifeforms that will do it for you.