Nitrate problem - need some advice

[Razor]

I have a 155 Gallon reef and my nitrates are off the charts.

All my coral and fish are doing great, even a brand new Elegance Coral, which I thought was to suppose to be very delicate, but when I added an anemone he started to decline immediately. Wondering what the issue was I took some water to my LFS to get tested and they found trace levels of ammonia and high nitrates. I went ahead and did a 50 gallon water change, 1/3 of my tank, and while the ammonia is completely gone the nitrates are still super high. I added some water conditioner, which is suppose to remove chlorine, nitrates etc., which hopefully wasn't a mistake, but the next day the levels are still high.

My tank filters though a sump with bio balls in the first chamber and then mud etc. in the next chamber. Is is possible that the bioballs or "miracle" mud are keeping my nitrates high?

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jolieve]

Both are possibilities. There were some great articles floating around on the net about miracle mud a while back and why it's not a good idea to use it.

I can't say with any certainty that the miracle mud is your problem, but given that several articles that I read a while back said that this substance contains copper, which is poisonous to your livestock, I would recommend removing this media from your sump in stages (about 1/3 of the material a week, and do a water change to coincide with this media removal). If you wish to keep a substrate in your sump, you could use a deep sand bed with oolitic sand as an alternative to miracle mud that is much safer for your animals. But there is some debate on whether remote sand beds such as this are effective.

The bioballs would be my first suspect for your nitrate problem. These need to be cleaned on a bi-weekly basis to keep them from becoming nitrate factories over time. If you haven't cleaned them in a while, rinse them vigorously in RO water and replace them in the sump. If you don't want to clean them every two weeks, take them out in stages (1/3 of media per week) and just toss them in the garbage. These things aren't a necessity to maintaining a healthy tank, and if you don't want the work it takes to maintain them, you're better off without them.

I would also recommend a series of daily water changes to keep the nitrate levels low, but you've done such a large water change already that I wonder if daily water changes are safe. Hopefully someone with more experience with nitrate problems in a tank will pipe up with some more info.

Good luck,
J.

 

[Anonymous]

I have a 155 Gallon reef and my nitrates are off the charts.

All my coral and fish are doing great, even a brand new Elegance Coral, which I thought was to suppose to be very delicate, but when I added an anemone he started to decline immediately. Wondering what the issue was I took some water to my LFS to get tested and they found trace levels of ammonia and high nitrates. I went ahead and did a 50 gallon water change, 1/3 of my tank, and while the ammonia is completely gone the nitrates are still super high. I added some water conditioner, which is suppose to remove chlorine, nitrates etc., which hopefully wasn't a mistake, but the next day the levels are still high.

My tank filters though a sump with bio balls in the first chamber and then mud etc. in the next chamber. Is is possible that the bioballs or "miracle" mud are keeping my nitrates high?

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Some follow up q's for you, to help diagnose....

What are you feeding the tank? Many foods, especially ones not consumed will add to the nitrate levels. Also, how much you feed.

What is your substrate in the tank? Crushed coral, sandbed....

The bio balls are the most likely culprit I can see immediately. Get rid of them, they do nothing in a set up such as yours. You may also want to look into a skimmer for the sump once you get rid of that mud stuff that I hate.

Add some cheato in the sump as well. It does a decent job.

Are you overstocked? Too many fish in that tank? List the inhabitants if you please.

EDITED TO ADD: Also, your source water...have you tested that as well?

Thanks

 

[Razor]

Ok, lots of questions...where to start:

Tank Inhabitants:
Naso Tang - 8" long
Blue Tang - 6" long
Unicorn Tang - 8" long
Kole eye tang - small
3 yellow tangs - small
Foxface - 4" long
Pair of Goldstripe Maroon Clowns - 1 medium , 1 small
7 blue/green chromis - small
Japanese Wrasse - small
Harlequin Tusk - 5" long
2 spotted cardinals - small
black and white striped gobie - 12" long
firefish - small
sea cucumber - small
BTA - 8" across
Hand full of snails
Sea Urchin - small


The tank itself is 155 Gallon Bowfront - with a deep sand bed and about 300 lbs of live rock.

The sump has bioballs in the first chamber, "Miracle Mud" in the second chamber and reutrns to the tank through the third. It has an auto topoff using a Kent Marine RO unit, which has been tested and produces no nitrates, actually the straight tap also has no nitrates.

I think one of the main problems is I have not been able to get anything to grow in the refugium chamber of the sump. I've tried several types of algae and nothing takes hold.

I feed the tank once a day with either frozen or flake Brine Shrimp Plus from Ocean Nutrition. Also, every few days I feed the anemone frozen prawns. The food is normally eaten within five minutes and I use a feeding ring to prevent any food from going into the overflow.

Any suggestions?

 

[Anonymous]

The bioballs are the main cause. The end result from bioballs is nitrate. Some remove them a little at a time and others remove them all at once. I removed them all at once and suffered no ill effects. The nitrates went down after about a week.

 

[Anonymous]

Also, remove the "miracle mud". All it is is just mud. Use some fine sand and add some chaeto algae. Also try feeding a little less for a while. Try to use frozen or fresh foods, dried are loaded with nitrates.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I think you are too overstocked for what you have as a filtration, but it is close enough not to be too bad. 300 lbs of rock, I am going to say is the right amount for your bio filtration.

I suspect that given the bio balls, and the miracle mud, this is what is contributing the most to the nitrate problems. Bio balls especially, like I first suspected. Get rid of them.

I didnt ask about flow, make sure your gph is turning the volume of the tank over at around 15x and the flow is getting water flowing all over the live rock.

I may suggest adding a skimmer for your tank. Since you already have a sump, it will be simple to add, and will dramatically reduce nitrates....

also, cheato I find to be a good addition for helping keep nitrate sunder control.

Good luck, I hope this all helps a bit.

 

[WRASSER]

i have a similar set up and added a denitrator to the tank. i do a 5 gal. water change 2 times a day. i also took out a little over half the bio-balls out of the wet/dry. and i do a 125gal. water change about 6 to 8 months depending on water quality. 8)