Nitrates !!!!!!!

newreefbishop

Premium Member
I have been doing 35 gallon water changes twice a week and for 2 weeks and cant get my nitrates down past 20 ppm Does anyone know where I can purchase a denitifyer, or nitrate remove or nitrate remover or reactor......i have seen a few online but geez 400 bucks is a lot to spend.....
 
Right now to get the trates down i feed ever other day, just enough to be eaten withing 3-4 minutes.....In the sump, i have a recirculating skimmer, LR, some chaeto.....a phosban reactor....and thats pretty much it......I had some ntrate removing media in for about 2 weeks, but i pulled the bags at last water change......
 
Very easy to make one out of PVC. I just did. Look at my gallery for a pic and let me know if you have any questions. The media is expensive though but will last a few years from what I've read from the manufacturer.

djfrankie
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11472589#post11472589 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by newreefbishop
I dont see a pic in your gallery.......vould you post a couple pics and or the plans you used here please.

Try it now.

The plans will be posted in the DIY section if you really need too. There's really no science behind it is just pvc from HD. Get the materials we could make one in about an hour :-)

djfrankie
 
Denitrators, DIY or store-bought, usually take 3 weeks or longer to have any effect. It takes that long for the bacteria that consume the nitrates to become established. Personally, I dose vodka. There's a lot of discussion about it on RC so I won't go into detail. I've also used AZ-NO3, which works more or less the same way. Again this takes time to take effect and you have to be careful to start gradually and figure out the dosage.
 
I've been throwing a teaspoon of sugar into my 120g for the past week, but I don't really have nitrates to begin with, I just want to nip any last ones in the butt, and add some bacteria for the SPS to consume at night.
 
I have chaeto, and its growing well.....I am going to try something I have read.....the cost seems rather low so its worth a shot.....it basically said you can use a phosban reactor as a nitrate reactor, same principle, fill it up completely with Kent marine Nitrate sponge, or some other nitrate absorbing substrate, and turn it down till it drips one drop per second, over a period of three weeks or so, it will get colonized in the same fashion, then you can move up to two to 3 drips per second, which should equate to 40-50 gallons per week of zero nitrate water.......seems simple enough.....I am also going to be building a denitrifyer....just to see which works best.....should take the same time to cycle.
 
I've tried Kent Nitrate Sponge, both in a bag and in a Phosban Reactor with a slow drip. It just didn't work for me. It reduced the Nitrates somewhat, but it never got to zero. I've also tried a DIY coil denitrator, which didn't work for me either (probably user error on that one :)).
 
I had some success with cleaner clams in the sump. Get them from the grocery. aka little neck clams.

Also look at how much food you feed. What kinda food. Some have more nitrates than others. Never let food hit the bottom unless you want to feed someone down there.

Also what kinda fish? I have a blue throat trigger that poops like well...its a lot!

How much rock? Sand? Clean up crew?

Do you have bio balls? Bio Wheel? Filter? sponges? carbon (like chemi pure) or anything else that gets dirty. All these are nitrate factories.
 
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How long have this tank been up?
How much live rock u have?
How deep is your sand bed?
How many critters?
STOP FEEDING!

Those are simple and easy to address q's that should give u an answer prior to adding another piece of equipment and headaches.

just a patch IMHO find the cause first.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11475389#post11475389 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReefWreak
I've been throwing a teaspoon of sugar into my 120g for the past week, but I don't really have nitrates to begin with, I just want to nip any last ones in the butt, and add some bacteria for the SPS to consume at night.
ive been thinking of doing this myself ... i read 1/8 teaspoon for every 25g of water...but do you just throw it in the sump or sumthing?? should i disolve it on a cup of saltwater first??
 
Yea I should have started dosing less, but I figured that it's usually less than the whole teaspoon, and that if you OD, you'll get a large bacteria bloom, and that has not happened, so I'm not too worried. I just throw it into the display and it breezes around and eventually dissolves.

I agree with Manny. Just cut down on the feeding. feed maybe 2-3 mysis shrimp per fish, every other or even every 3 days. That's always the easiest way.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11477435#post11477435 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gasman059
feed once a week. Your fish will not die.
im just always consurned if i dont keep them fed theyll start nipping....i usually rotate between nori one day and mysis the next, once or twice a week i use cyclopeeze and i usually go a day or 2 without feeding each week.... ive been skimmerless for the past 6 months and now that i got a new one im just trying to finally get to zero nitrates :D oh yea and i only have about 2" of sand in the display and none in the fuge but im planning on adding a 6" dsb to the fuge...will that help or should i just leave it be??
 
I have a 110 with a 40 gallon sump, sand bed is new for the most part, I did take a cup and a half from my old sand....about 5-6 inches. I also have roughly 120 pounds of rock, all from my old 65. Tank is about one month old. I set up a second phosban reactor filled with kents nitrate sponge, and daisy-chained it to the first phosban reactor, which is also filled. I have a total about a 3 foot tube running between them coiled in a bucket with heater to keep water at about 80 degrees.......and gues what....coming out the other side nitrates are undetectable. Based on my reading by the time the water gets to the other phosban reactor its running so slow that no oxygen is left. and voila, DENITRIFYER......

I will test it daily as well as monitor the levels in the tank, this is a good experiment without breaking the bank so to speak.

Also whats with this sugar thing? Ive heard of this but are there any benefits?
 
Also whats with this sugar thing? Ive heard of this but are there any benefits?
Lots of experience with it locally and around.
I don't put anything in my tank except what my reactor and water changes will do. but i'm old fashioned lol.

IMO less is more. The problem here is the age of your tank. New tank syndrome is very real.
Time will fix most of your worries if done right from the get go.

here's the link to the vodka-sugar thread.
locally I believe Andy and Pedro(saltwaterfishlover and Pedromatic do it succesfully-u can pick their brains)
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1225324
 
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