Nitrate

[kenconnect]

Ok my nitrate is a lil high was wondering whats the best way to lower it. I have a 57 gal rimless tank with a sump and refugium. I do 10 gal water change once a week. Any advice will help.
Thanks
ken

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

Ok my nitrate is a lil high was wondering whats the best way to lower it. I have a 57 gal rimless tank with a sump and refugium. I do 10 gal water change once a week. Any advice will help.
Thanks
ken

You can use a carbon source to do that if you feel comfortable with it and if yes I can guide you through it or you will find many info about it and how to do it (you will also find people that had problems with it, but if it is well done you should not have problems)

You can use biopellets in a reactor also for that purpose...

But before you do anything tells us a little about your experience as well as your present set-up.
Also if you use frozen foods, rinsing them with fresh RO water will help you to put less nitrates in the system.

Pedro Nuno

 

[Aquatic Life Direct]

where is your nitrate level and how established is the tank?

 

[kenconnect]

My tank was been up and running 4 a lil over 5 months. I'm using the red sea pro test.
Phosphate 0.08ppm
Nitrate 4 ppm.
My sump lifereef with refugium
Skimmer lifereef
I just got a gfo using bulk reef supply high capacity phosphate reducer.
I do feed frozen food

 

[kenconnect]

here are pics of my sump set up

 

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

Thats a nice sump set up bro

 

[rambler67]

nice sump im getting jealous lol. Are you using ro water or tap and how often are you feeding? how much live stock do you have in your tank?

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

The GFO will surely help :approve:
Now that's a very nice and well organized sump you've got there, however the refugium may need some "help" as it is still a "young" refugium and the caulerpa will remove mostly other components from the water and not drain more nitrates ... you could consider a algae scrubber ... it will not be dificult to put in your set up and will help the refugium to do its job ... have a look on what a friend over here made ...

http://www.youtube.com/v/9fLgaSEFppE

Pedro Nuno

 

[kenconnect]

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE COMPLIMENTS. I DO USE RO WATER AND I CHECK THE LEVELS ON THE RO WATER TO MAKE SURE THE RO UNIT IS FINE. I FEED 2 CUBES A DAY. I HAVE 2 PICASSO CLOWN, 1 YELLOW CORSET WRASSE, 1 SLEEPER GOBY, 1 BRISTAL TOOTH TANG, 1 Anthias,

 

[mazon56]

feed less. and soak the cubes in ro before, that helps with nitrates

 

[MatthewScars]

feed less. and soak the cubes in ro before, that helps with nitrates

Yeah, nice man. Mine looks like ****.

GFO, feed less, Strain food cubes, up it to 15g WCs

 

[Jzhou]

wow that is a nice sump. The your tank might be somewhat overstocked because of those triggers. Those guys are heavy eaters.

 

[kenconnect]

Thanks again for comp. By i dont dont have triggers

 

[Jzhou]

opps misread that, i saw picasso triggers instead of clown

 

[kenconnect]

Lol i fig that ...big diff in fish..lol

 

[rambler67]

I would try cutting back on feeding every other to every 3 days. And rinse to food. See if that helps before you go doing anything drastic. And make sure to keep yoursock clean so it doesn't build up to much waste in it.

 

[Jzhou]

How is the flow inside your tank. The nitrate can be caused by rotting debris that is just laying around. Also, check the expiration date on the test kits. Some LFS sells test kits that are years past their date because the make a habit of bulk ordering everytime Royal has a sale.

 

[kenconnect]

I have a ehiem as a return pump and a mp 40 for flow. The test kits are new. I had them order it and it never seen their self.. I was there when it came in..lol

 

[Jzhou]

you seem to be doing everything right, not sure why your nitrate levels are high. The only other things that are left aside from too much food, would be if you didn't wash your filter socks enough. But judging how yours is so white, I doubt that is the case, By 10 gallon water changes, do you mean topping off included? Some people count adding water to their systems as part of their water change.

 

[kenconnect]

I chage my sock every 2 days in the tank. (not my feet)..lol and no i have a auto top off, that fills the tank when needed... And every sunday i do a 10 gal water change.