Nitrates won't go down

[IridescentLily]

Kind of a dumb question but i had to ask anyway; regarding what you said above "A couple weeks later we noticed the snails were dying off and the nitrates had gone up to 100 ppm."
Did you get all the dead snails out?

 

[mm949]

1/4 teaspoon of sugar daily till tank clouds up for a day....retest when clears(24hrs)....should be zero

 

[spw4949]

You could try doing a series of LARGE water changes, 20 gallons every 4th day four times.....see if that helps......

 

[spw4949]

Kind of a stupid question but your not adding food to the tank for the crabs right?

 

[seapug]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15475313#post15475313 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GrimReefer82
That is probably the most incorrect statement I have ever heard regarding nitrate removal. It will absolutely bring it down, I have seen it myself time and time again. For example a friend of mine had 160 ppm of nitrate in his 125 gallon and added some chemi-pure to his canister filter based on my recommendation and the nitrates went down to almost 0 in 48 hours! It was the ONLY change made to the tank.

Interesting. Those are some bold claims.
I've used Chemi Pure in my small tanks for years. It works great for clearing up water but I have never ever noticed a reduction in Nitrate from it.

Anyone else ever had success with using Chemi-Pure as a Nitrate REMOVER?

Seriously....this is a groundbreaking discovery. based on what GrimReefer82 is saying, all this Vodka, Carbohydrate, VSV, Carbon stuff we do is a waste of time when Chemi-Pure supposedly works a thousand times better in only 48 hours!

 

[Shane Hoffman]

I will not be as sarcastic lol........but I used chemi pure and did not notice a nitrate drop AT ALL....It was a few years ago when I used it.....so if the ingrediants are the same I wouldnt recommend it for nitrate reduction.....

 

[seapug]

No sarcasm intended on my part. Removal of 160 ppm Nitrate from a 125 gallon tank in 48 hours is what he said it did. I'm just wondering if anyone else has ever duplicated that result, because it could be one of those "hiding in plain sight" solutions to a very common problem in reef tanks.

I might have to give it a try on my 90.

 

[fishfanv]

No, it's not a stupid question at all. The answer is no, we're not adding any kind of food to the tank at all. We've only put in water during water changes.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15544042#post15544042 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spw4949
Kind of a stupid question but your not adding food to the tank for the crabs right?

 

[fishfanv]

Yes, all the dead livestock was taken out of the tank. The only things in the tank are live rock, live sand (plus some brand new live sand added the other day) and the previously mentioned leftover crabs/snails.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15542290#post15542290 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by IridescentLily
Kind of a dumb question but i had to ask anyway; regarding what you said above "A couple weeks later we noticed the snails were dying off and the nitrates had gone up to 100 ppm."
Did you get all the dead snails out?

 

[fishfanv]

I forgot to mention that we are waiting a few days to see if the new sand has any effect. Then we will re-test. Also, we added a nitrate reducer and will wait to see if it has any effect too.

If these things do not work, my husband said he would take out all the live rock & boil it then put it back into the tank. Previously he just scraped it after the die-off, then added it back to the tank for the re-establishment of the tank. We figure this will make a cycle start but at this point, what is another month or so of waiting?

Anyone think this is a good idea or not? We would appreciate ALL feedback, as whatever we've been doing is obviously not working. So frustrating!!

 

[Albanets202]

no, do not boil live rock! Just get coil denitrator, it will bring down nitrates to zero in no time. You can get them at ebay for around $100. End of story. Save all the hassle...

 

[Albanets202]

and if you have crashed coral substrate anywhere, I would get rid of it.

 

[morphiii]

Chemi pure does not remove nitrate, but do remove DOC so that they don't decompose and produce nitrate.

 

[fishfanv]

No, we don't have crushed coral, only sand.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15555543#post15555543 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Albanets202
and if you have crashed coral substrate anywhere, I would get rid of it.

 

[fishfanv]

I just looked up coil denitrator online (sorry, had never heard of it before) and the article mentioned that it is a cylinder with a coil of tubing & bio-balls. I had always heard that bio-balls were a no-no in any saltwater tanks. Has this changed, are bio-balls now considered ok?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15555532#post15555532 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Albanets202
no, do not boil live rock! Just get coil denitrator, it will bring down nitrates to zero in no time. You can get them at ebay for around $100. End of story. Save all the hassle...