Nitrates

[bigzman]

Nitrate

Nitrate

Ricardo, You are on the right track on Li. Rock could be culprit as the composition is not well known or the bounding agents or coloring agents. If you want to remove LI or it gets to high use a polyfilter before sending out sample to triton. As for Nitrate water changes are great but its not solving root cause. After some thought on my last post I think I am going to opt out of adding additional siporax and get more matrix. I am seeing results with 4l matrix and one liter of Siporax. I stopped vodka dosing yesterday. I will keep you posted and monitor PO4 and Nitrate. I assume my PO4 not increasing is because of the carbon dose. I have been researching if the bio media can aid in any way in keeping PO4 levels at bay not finding anything. Please keep us posted

Bigzman,

Very interesting!....I will try this.
Just got my Triton results back (second test)
All results are in the green except LI. They suggest I check:
-dosing additives for contamination (too vague!)
-contaminated salt (too vague!..ya, I 'll go to the Red Sea to verify what they are doing over there))
-ceramics (I guess as in; ceramic rocks.I have Real Reef Rock...maybe, who knows?)

BTW....ALUMINUM DOWN TO NORMAL LEVELS ...but I have been doing a lot of water changes due to my elevated Nitrates..so the next test will be more accurate for AL.

 

[NeverlosT]

I run a marinepure block and have elevated aluminum levels (98 microgram/liter, Triton considers that greenish/yellow), but that being said, I have not read anywhere definitively that the aluminum will be harmful.

My lithium levels are off the charts, but I have read that has been coming up a lot in folks tanks and it is likely due to the salt used.

My nitrates are high though, often 20-40 on the API kit and ~25-30 on the Red Sea Kit. I do feed heavily, but thats too high.

I have been dosing NO3PO4x and skimming wet to bring nitrates down, but I think some matrix may help as well (I already use some, but would add more). I definitely suffer from detritus collecting in areas such as my overflow, so I can work on that too.

 

[bigzman]

Just made a few more media baskets. Order 4 more liters. This one is 8" high 6"wide and 3" deep.

 

[bigzman]

Ricardo18, did you try adding pond matrix or siporax to your system? I stopped dosing carbon and nitrates are hold study. Added 4 more liters since post.

 

[Ricardo18]

Hi Bigz,

I only added more of my MicroPure blocks and moved them to a low flow area in my sump.My Nitrates are now 5.I think I am good to go.I'll cut my feeding a bit and watch where things go.

 

[bigzman]

good to hear. keep us posted

 

[cwschoon]

Following. Any opinions/experience with Brightwell Xport NO3 dimpled brick?

 

[Ricardo18]

Following. Any opinions/experience with Brightwell Xport NO3 dimpled brick?

I have not "pulled the trigger" on these bricks yet...I'm still using my MarinePur bricks.
I will wait for my latest TRITON results to see if there is anything going on.If there is, and it possibly tracks back to the MarinePur blocks..Out they go!

 

[cwschoon]

On another thread, it seems that some Chinese bricks got into the marketplace. The consensus is that the MP product is fine, tho the Brightwell seems to be better.

 

[cwschoon]

I have seen no positive effects from the Xport NO3 brick yet but I did not seed mine.

 

[Ricardo18]

I pulled all my Marine Pure blocks out a month ago.Interesting fact: I let them sit out in the air to dry. One would expect some sort of a "die-off" smell, if they were housing bacteria...NOTHING!
I am now running bio-pellets in a reactor. It will be a month or so to see if they have an effect.