Nitrates

[greg938]

I have a 75G LRWFO tank. Things got a little out of control after having a new baby. Currentyl working on getting back to normal. The following are my test results:
Nitrites 0.1
Nitrates 50 or 50+
pH 8.2
Temp 79F
Alkalinity Normal
Ammonia 0

I have 2 pink bar gobies and 2 clowns

Can I add snails and sandsifters to help clean at this time or should I do more vacumming and water changes to get the nitrates down, while continuing to run the Protein Skimmer? I am going to the LFS, however I do not trust everything they recommend. Thanks!

Greg

 

[iamwrasseman]

water changes will do the most for you now . you have to dillute the nitrates by removing some water and adding fresh salt water ! also the levelof nitrates is high its probably not gonna bother the fish , but you need to get it unger controll asap ! good luck

 

[truebeliever71]

Greg,

Dosing sugar (I used organic) will help with the nitrates. The sugar will create nitrate eating bacteria. Just make sure you have really good skimmer.

The nitrates in my tank were 60+ and dosing sugar (some advocate vodka) brought them down to an almost undetectable level in 3 weeks. I used this because at the time I wasn't using RO/DI water from Walmart and my tap water is high on nitrates and everything else bad.

In a nut shell... you dosing 1/4 tsp per 25 gals of water in your tank every other day for 5 to 7 days, then start dosing daily and every 3 days increase the dosage by 1/4 tsp to reach a max of 1 tsp. Watch everything very closely! Inhabitants and chemistry! If your fish or corals are looking stressed then cut down on the amount and frequency of dosing.

My tank was cloudy for a few hours after each dose... this is the nitrate eating bacteria forming and getting to work. And the reason I say you need a good skimmer is that after the bacteria eats the nitrates it dies and you need to export it. Your skimmate will be like black sludge (kinda like extra strong coffee left out for a few days... been there done that.) I was emptying mine every other day.

There's a lot of references about dosing vodka on this site and only a few on sugar. I found a lot more info by googling the subject. I didn't use vodka for 2 reasons... first, my tank was at my place of employment and I didn't think it would be good have booze there. And secondly, from my reading, sugar is more effective.

If you have ??'s please ask.

 

[Dave VG]

Ok so long story short. I used crushed coral in my first tank. Nitrates thru the roof just like yours. Advice from one of the best (nwrogers) was to get rid of the crushed coral and do a huge water change and skim wet. Worked like a charm.

 

[POSEIDOMORS]

definatly agree with with dave on the huge water change(or series of smaller one close together) and keep the skimmer going. i wouldnt recomment adding any inverts until the nitrates are under control(< 20 ppm).

 

[Dave VG]

After you do the big water change you will see a big drop in nitrates. Should be somewhere around 2/3rds or less . On my 90 I did 50 gallon water change. It wasn't easy but it was worth it as the nitrates dropped like a rock. Took out the crushed coral after I was done and blew the ditrus off the rockwork. They did go back up a little due to stirring things up but went back down after a couple of days of heavy skimming. Good luck keep us posted on how you make out.

 

[truebeliever71]

Greg... what is the nitrate level of your source water? Dave is right about doing large water changes and getting rid of crushed coral, but it's important to test your source water (even if you have RO/DI or filtration system.) Your source water may be high in nitrates (as most municipal water supplies are) and all you'll end up doing is replacing nitrate rich water with more nitrate rich water.

 

[Dave VG]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13879227#post13879227 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by truebeliever71
Greg... what is the nitrate level of your source water? Dave is right about doing large water changes and getting rid of crushed coral, but it's important to test your source water (even if you have RO/DI or filtration system.) Your source water may be high in nitrates (as most municipal water supplies are) and all you'll end up doing is replacing nitrate rich water with more nitrate rich water.

That is a good point truebeliever71 but a common misconception by most about the public drinking water supply. Have you tested your water? If it's over 10mg/l you should call your water supplier to find out why. By New York law it should be less than 10 mg/l. That is the max allowed in public drinking water. Most should be less than that. So even if it was at the max of 10 it would still help get it down from 50+. Now if you or greg938 are using well water that is a different story it should be tested.

 

[truebeliever71]

Dave... at the time I was using Vestal water and it tested out to be around 40. I wasn't aware of the state requirements.

 

[fatrip]

I would suggest a remote deep sand bed. Nate as well as my self have seen great improvments in the level of nitrates in our tanks with in a months time. It keeps the itrates down as well. Doesing sugar is another good suggestion but be carful, over dosing will crash the system. Also after a while it creates such a large colonie of bacteria that is you have high lighting it is likly that your corals will turn a more pastely color and start to loose its brightness. and now that i read back you have a fish only tank so that really doesnt apply.

 

[Dave VG]

I use cheato in my sump, skim wet and feed lightly and have no nitrate problems. 0-5 at most. As a mater of fact I’m in the process of winning the battle against turf algae as we speak. A very hard task I might add. Been at it about 4 to 5 months now. At this point I really think my tank is to clean. My zoas, softies and LPS are not growing as well as they were when nutrients were more plentiful. After the turf algae is gone I will start feeding more and try to balance things out growth wise. I may need to pick some brains for that (Nate, Jerry) lol.

By the way if I lived in Vestal I would be a little pi$$ed at that figure you quoted truebeliever71. I think I will recheck mine even tho I use R/O for fish and drinking water.