NITRATE's
- Thread starter Namyar
- Start date
DARKSILENTTYPE
New member
Make up a fresh batch of saltwater and check the mix .
DST
DST
mark fanara
New member
What type of substrate do you have? How much and how often are you feeding your fish? Has anything died lately, coral or red slime? New live rock?
Teraphage
Premium Member
Your best bet is to look into buying a RO/DI unit. If you continue using tap water, unless you're very lucky with your water source your problems will begin compounding. If you're not in a position to get one, you may want to consider buying distilled water for your changes. I believe you can still get this at walmart. I'm not sure if Marine Oasis, Caribbean Forest, or the Reef Shoppe sell RO water but it's worth checking. I do know some of them sell premade saltwater which might be another option for you.
the tap water is the problem, i had that problem about a month ago. tap water has all kind of chemical in it that you dont need. it has high phosphate and silicate. i did numerous water change and i still had nitrate in my water. i tried doing small water change every week and that did not work, and i also tried doing big water change and i still had nitrate. tom at the reef shop told me to stop using tap water. first i did a big water with the ro water i got from walmart " i live rite behind walmart so it conveniet" and it still tested with a little bit of nitrate, then i did two more 30% water change and today i got it tested and it was all clear, water are back to normal, no nitrate, amon, nitrite, phosphate, alk and calcium are at normal level. hopefully that will help you with you problem/. just my experience.
My nitrates hung around 40 ppm in my 25 gallon tank. I was using a Seaclone 100 skimmer that just wasn't making the grade. I switched to a Coralife Superskimmer 65 and it brought the nitrates down to 25 ppm. I then added .25 ml of vodka to the tank each morning and watch the nitrate level drop to 5 ppm. Now I add 3 drops every morning, and I'm down to 1 ppm. The vodka seems to make the skimmer work more effectively.
belgian_waffleman
New member
Vodka? How does that make nitrates go down?
I have 20 to 30ppm for a year or so, it is almost zero now (3years).
Waffleman
I have 20 to 30ppm for a year or so, it is almost zero now (3years).
Waffleman
eastcoastzigzag
New member
if you search it out their are planes here for a nitrate reactor made fomr pvc pipe. if you cant find it shoot me a pm and ill explain.
Teraphage
Premium Member
I've seen this brought up every now and again for many years, but haven't seen any well controlled testing or solid explaination for why it would work. One of the longer threads on the topic is here. The most common premise I've seen is that the ethanol induces a bacterial bloom which utilizes the ethanol along with nitrates and phosphates in the synthesis of usable macromolecules. These bacteria and/or macromolecules are more susceptible to skimming, resulting in a net depletion of nitrates and phosphates from the system. Functionally, the thinking is a lot like growing algae in a refugium, since any process where you induce something to take up excess nutrients from the water and then remove that object will cause similar results. Using macroalgae for this purpose just sits a lot better with me since it's much more controlled and understood.
Ditto what Teraphage said. I wouldn't look to those kinds of spirits to solve a nutrient problem. It's better to tackle the problem at it's root. I've only ever met one person that's kept (what I would term) a successful reef tank using tap water, and even that I think is still an anomoly. Tap water will contain many kinds of contaminants you don't want in your tank, so doing changes w/ tap water based SW, will not do a lot of help (you may have a net import of nutrients, if your tank's filtration is up to snuff).
I know Tom sells RO/DI, and I'd be amazed if Millie and Jon didn't as well. Walmart's got cheap filtered water in 5-gallon jugs as well. Ultimately, a home RO unit is your best solution. There really is no substitute, and IMO, you can't 'skimp' this part. Of all the things you must have to keep a reef, this is pretty high up on the list (and mind you, you're talking to a skimmerless DSB running weird-o here, so must is a relative term). The Tap Water Purifier is a cheap second, save your $$$ for an RO. There's folks getting out of this hobby all the time, you see folks taking down systems, and lots of folks upgrading. You can acquire what you need for less than new if needed. The RO equipment sold at the local hardware stores will work as well (while there's a difference in types of membranes, Reverse Osmosis is Reverse Osmosis)... tell the wifey you want to get one of those 'whole house' systems, so the drinking water doesn't taste funny anymore...
- Mac
I know Tom sells RO/DI, and I'd be amazed if Millie and Jon didn't as well. Walmart's got cheap filtered water in 5-gallon jugs as well. Ultimately, a home RO unit is your best solution. There really is no substitute, and IMO, you can't 'skimp' this part. Of all the things you must have to keep a reef, this is pretty high up on the list (and mind you, you're talking to a skimmerless DSB running weird-o here, so must is a relative term). The Tap Water Purifier is a cheap second, save your $$$ for an RO. There's folks getting out of this hobby all the time, you see folks taking down systems, and lots of folks upgrading. You can acquire what you need for less than new if needed. The RO equipment sold at the local hardware stores will work as well (while there's a difference in types of membranes, Reverse Osmosis is Reverse Osmosis)... tell the wifey you want to get one of those 'whole house' systems, so the drinking water doesn't taste funny anymore...
- Mac
I first started using macroalgae to reduce the nutrients in my aquarium. I happen to be using green grape caulerpa. I find that it is extremely effective in reducing the phosphates in my tank (the level quickly went down to zero and stays there), but that it is only moderately effective in reducing my nitrates (brought me down from 50 ppm to 40 ppm). Perhaps there is another variety of macroalgae that someone can recommend that is more effective at controlling nitrate levels.
I have a 25 gallon tank on the desk in my office. I have no room for a sump. (This is my first tank that I am practicing with - if this goes well then I'm going for a large tank in my livingroom with a sump located in my basement). I keep my caulerpa in my tank and trim it back every few weeks. So in my situation, I have to rely on this and effective skimming. I upgraded to a Coralife skimmer and, after reading a bunch of threads on this forum, decided to try small amounts of vodka to boost the performance of the skimmer.
My understanding is that the bacteria present in a marine tank that metabolizes the nitrates requires carbon, and that it can get it easily from a substance such as vodka (I use Smirnoff). At the time I started, I had a level of 25 ppm of nitrate in my tank. I started adding .25ml (0.01ml of vodka per gallon of water in the tank) of vodka each morning. The nitrate level in the tank quickly dropped to 5ppm, so I cut back the vodka dose to 3 drops every couple of days. I'm down to 1 ppm. This is contrary to the approach of many people who slowly increase the amount of vodka they add to the system. I figure if that if the nitrate level has dropped, then why continue to add something to the tank that is really not needed, so I am decreasing the dose.
What I have to figure out now is whether or not the vodka simply worked as a catalyst to cycle my tank more quickly, and that my low nitrate level (I'm down to 1ppm) will remain there with regular skimmer maintenance and partial water changes, or whether I will need to occasionally dose vodka to keep to keep the nitrate level down. Only time will tell.
I have a 25 gallon tank on the desk in my office. I have no room for a sump. (This is my first tank that I am practicing with - if this goes well then I'm going for a large tank in my livingroom with a sump located in my basement). I keep my caulerpa in my tank and trim it back every few weeks. So in my situation, I have to rely on this and effective skimming. I upgraded to a Coralife skimmer and, after reading a bunch of threads on this forum, decided to try small amounts of vodka to boost the performance of the skimmer.
My understanding is that the bacteria present in a marine tank that metabolizes the nitrates requires carbon, and that it can get it easily from a substance such as vodka (I use Smirnoff). At the time I started, I had a level of 25 ppm of nitrate in my tank. I started adding .25ml (0.01ml of vodka per gallon of water in the tank) of vodka each morning. The nitrate level in the tank quickly dropped to 5ppm, so I cut back the vodka dose to 3 drops every couple of days. I'm down to 1 ppm. This is contrary to the approach of many people who slowly increase the amount of vodka they add to the system. I figure if that if the nitrate level has dropped, then why continue to add something to the tank that is really not needed, so I am decreasing the dose.
What I have to figure out now is whether or not the vodka simply worked as a catalyst to cycle my tank more quickly, and that my low nitrate level (I'm down to 1ppm) will remain there with regular skimmer maintenance and partial water changes, or whether I will need to occasionally dose vodka to keep to keep the nitrate level down. Only time will tell.
becon776
New member
The prob with tap is it is inherently unstable. mid summer and mid winter are great. And after all we just so happen to be lucky enough to live and an area with hard water (poor discus farmers). In my aquatic studies @ brockport we used to test the water to a ppt and found that spring and fall creates "flashiness" in tap water levels of many things but especially nitrate. This is due to snow melt and precipitation runoff into any and all of the tributaries that feed our tap water supply. Winter and summer tend to be much more stable.
With this mentioned I have never had a tank run more smoothly and have less of an algae problem then my current one which is 100% tap water. Probably my worst nighmare of a tank was my 125 (see gallery) which started with tap but even after being switched to 100% rodi still gave me algal headaches. JMTC
With this mentioned I have never had a tank run more smoothly and have less of an algae problem then my current one which is 100% tap water. Probably my worst nighmare of a tank was my 125 (see gallery) which started with tap but even after being switched to 100% rodi still gave me algal headaches. JMTC
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
So did your supervisor buy into this excuse for having a bottle of Vodka at your desk?
Are co-workers suddenly and mysteriously setting up nano reefs on their desks?
BTW- I've heard of the Vodka thing. (There are many threads in the Reef Chemistry forum on the topic.) I couldn't help bustin' on 'ya. Sorry!
