Want to convert 93 sapphire glass cube to an anemone. Tank but can't get nitrates dow

[nemguy]

I've been wanting to convert my cube to an anemone tank but I can't seem to get the nitrates down its been running 6 years and I've been vodka dosing for a month to reduce phosphates and nitrates but only phosphates went down not nitrates any ideas I tried cleaning out sump minus bio balls and ive been doing huge water changes each week usually around 30/40 gallons. has the following fish purple tang, hippo tang, yellow eye Cole tang, large blue face angel, 3 Easter damsels, 3 blue damsels, 2 black and white damsels, and a wild pair of maroon clown fish. There's a clean crew some corals and a sea Apple along with 2 long tentacle anemones everything looks fine nothing has ever died in the tank but the nitrates are at 20ppm?? And won't seem to go down.


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[ThRoewer]

Are you sure your nitrate test is working properly?

Also, anemones don't seem to sensitive about nitrates - in my tank they are well over 50 ppm and the anemones don't seem to mind it too much.
Though I just started vodka dosing to bring NO3 and PO4 down.

 

[jayball]

You have nitrates because your fish load is huge for 90 gallons. If your phosphate is exhausted than you would need to dose that for the nitrate to come down with carbon dosing. There is a thread somewhere on here about that.


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[ThRoewer]

Yes, NO3 and PO4 need to be at a certain ratio for carbon dosing (or even an algae scrubber) to work.

 

[nemguy]

Yeah my phosphates are at .25 they were the highest they can be on the color card a month ago bun since I've been vodka dosing they went down tremendously but nitrates just won't quit it's frustrating and I'm planing on taking out all the fish I can catch to make room for just clown fish and the skimmer I use is meant for 300 gallons to make up for fish load


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[ThRoewer]

Normally it's the phosphate that's hard to remove as it can deposit in the rocks and sand and slowly leach out later.

I would check the tests you use to see if both are measuring right.
My Salifert test were telling me that my phosphates were quite low but my nitrates high. Since the phosphate test was about 3 months over it's expiration date I had my water checked at the LFS and sure enough, the phosphate was high as well.

 

[nemguy]

Yeah I assumed the test was bad I'm using the api reef master test kit I bought a new kit that's not even close to expiration and I'm getting the same exact levels maybe I should just take my water to the LFS I used to work at and have them test it to get a third set of test data


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[m0nkie]

I gave up trying to figure out the source of my nitrate for the nem tank... I think it's the feeding. anyways, I started dosing vinegar. nitrate went down really fast. 50 > 5 in 2 weeks

problem is I have to keep buying vinegar in bulk now..

 

[nemguy]

Yeah I'm only 19 so getting my parents to buy me vodka for my fish tank takes a lot of convincing but I've used the vodka for about a little over a month with only signs of decreasing phosphates I'm just getting annoyed at the tank maybe if I take some fish out the nitrates will go down naturally


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[NS Mike D]

+2 on verifying that the test kit is correct. Red Sea has a good write up on their algae management product on the various methods of removing nitrates and phosphates. According to them:

Firstly, Vodka dosing should not reduce PO4 and if not combined with a PO4 reduction method, your N P ratio will get out of whack and lead to cyano outbreaks - doesn't sound like this is the case for you.

Vodka dosing with sugar and vinegar will rapidly reduce both N & P, but you risk H2S forming; this is toxic. Also rapid reduction of N&P can destroy the zooxanthellae in your corals.

The bacteria that consume N & P with carbon are complex - each doing different things and producing different results - good and bad. This is, I think, why gradual reduction of N&P on balance is needed.

A refugium accomplishes this, but according to the red sea article, you would need a sump equal in volume to the DP to achieve the nutrient export.


I am not endorsing their product N03-PO4 - X as I have never used it. For now, bio pellets, a skimmer, and a cheato packed fuge (plus 15% water changes) are bringing my N&P down steadily (to the point my the cyano is under control). I will say that the logic they use to justify their algae management product appears to be working in my case.

It's about providing the right nutrients in balance for the different bacteria to do the safest reduction of N&P, but not in a way that will destroy the zooxanthellae in your corals.


Fwiw, I have an overstocked tank and a LTA did great (and got too big from my 30gal). I introduced a red BTA last week for my ocelalris (not the best match up, but I put them together in a floating breeder box and after 10 days, I was delighted this morning to see my female appears to finally be taking to the BTA). I tested yesterday before a long over due water change and my N03 was at 2PP and my PO4 was at 0.08ppm - NO3 down from 3 and the ratio of 25 much closer to my target of 16.

Note on testing - for a year I was testing NO3 and PO4 with API reading 0 on both. But my tank observation was telling me it could not be correct. Last month I switched to Red Sea's test kit and sure enough, I was making decisions based on incorrect numbers.