High nitrates

[candide]

My nitrates have been creeping up slowly, despite water changes with an RO/DI (TDS reading 3-5 on the output water). Sunday I pulled all of the bioballs out of the sump, and did another 20g water change. It is a 120g system, with a 20g fuge and about 10g in the sump, so probaly 140g total water in the system.

How frequently should I do water changes, without hurting the the system? I have a 20g container I use, and could do 20g a night changes, but worry that would be too fast? I also have a 15g container,w ould it be better to do 35g at once?

All of my corals (hammer, torch, colt, 2 star polyps, and shrooms) are growing and extending each day, but I know I need to get it down.

Thanks!

 

[Juck]

How much LR & Sand is in the tank? What are the nitrate readings?

 

[HClH2OFish]

And how often do you do your water changes? How much do you change out?

Also, what fish are you keeping in the tank?

 

[Fatal Morgana]

1, RO/DI should give you "0" ppm, but you may have a miscalibrated meter, or you are pushing the RO thru the DI too quick for it to work well.

2, after you pull out the bioballs, keep an eye on the amonia...

3, you can do larger water change, (50% WC should knock the nitrate down by 50% right away, if you have no nitrate in your RO/DI). Just make sure you get the temperature and salinity to match the old water, and replace the new water gradually, say, 35 gal or 70 gal over an hour or two.

4, But if your corals are in good shape, don't be too dramatic in your action to lower the nitrate. As Juck asked about, how bad is it? What you are feeding to the tank?

 

[ChrisRD]

In addition to the other questions... ...what skimmer are you using?

 

[candide]

Thanks for the responses folks, been in meetings all day.

125g tank, I've lost count on how much live rock, but over 140lbs. 2" of sand. 20g fuge with prolifera, and 15lbs of live rock rubble, another 2" of sand.

I've been doing water changes every 3-4 weeks, of 20g.

My protein skimmer has a label on it, of some local company to Jacksonville FL. I think it is a very generic skimmer, that companies then self market or whatever. It does steadily pull out some really dark gunk, but then again I don't have a "good" skimmer output to compare it with.

The nitrates have been creeping up, they stayed steady at 20 for a while, but now are a bit darker than 40 this past week.

I did a 20g change last night.

Tank has 1 O. clown, 1 yellowhead sleeper goby, 1 red lipped blenny, 4 green chromis, 1 neon dottyback, and 4 damsels (1 big one, 2 mid sized, one very small). fire shrimp, peppermint shrimp, 2 skunk cleaner, and assorted snails, conch and crabs.

 

[Anonymous]

The reason your nitrates are creaping up is the system is not consuming nitrates fast enough to keep up with your bioload and your efforts to reduce them.

As plant life spreads in the display and anaerobic bacteria build up then they should come back down.

Or you could expand your added plant life or get the existing plant life growing faster, and nitrates will come down. But then as long as the corals are doing well perhaps it's best to just continue doing what you are doing.

 

[Anonymous]

The reason your nitrates are creaping up is the system is not consuming nitrates fast enough to keep up with your bioload and your efforts to reduce them.

As plant life spreads in the display and anaerobic bacteria build up then they should come back down.

Or you could expand your added plant life or get the existing plant life growing faster, and nitrates will come down. But then as long as the corals are doing well perhaps it's best to just continue doing what you are doing.

Beaslbob's methodologies might work for him (has not been proven), but they're unorthodoxed and not recommended by most (actually all) experienced hobbyists I know. We recommend new reefkeepers stick with tried and true methods like those successful systems you've seen featured in print and online magazine

 

[Anonymous]

How old is the thank?

125g tank, I've lost count on how much live rock, but over 140lbs. 2" of sand. 20g fuge with prolifera, and 15lbs of live rock rubble, another 2" of sand.

I've been doing water changes every 3-4 weeks, of 20g.

The nitrates have been creeping up, they stayed steady at 20 for a while, but now are a bit darker than 40 this past week.

I did a 20g change last night.

Tank has 1 O. clown, 1 yellowhead sleeper goby, 1 red lipped blenny, 4 green chromis, 1 neon dottyback, and 4 damsels (1 big one, 2 mid sized, one very small). fire shrimp, peppermint shrimp, 2 skunk cleaner, and assorted snails, conch and crabs.

Smaller water changes take longer to make a dent in water changes than larger ones, so if you want to dilute it faster, you should do a bigger water change. However, if your animals aren't stressing, I prolly wouldn't worry all that much.

The nitrates creeping up is a little concerning, but before we get worried, how old is your tank and what is your feeding methodology?

 

[Anonymous]

Small water changes, in my own experience, are completely ineffective at reducing nitrate levels. I've found that a very large (on the order of 75%-100%, make sure it's well aged!) water change is what's necessary. Sometimes more than one may be needed to help bring things back into check.

I'll also recommend highly a refugium where you can get some good macro algal growth going. Many folks don't care for Caulerpa, though I've used it with excellent success, and no troubles with it dying off or going 'sexual'. This is, I believe, related to how I pruned it back. However, there are certainly plenty of other macros that can be just as effective. The book "The Natural Marine Aquarium-Reef Invertebrates" has a decent listing of macros, as well as explaining 'fuge setups.

In any event, pardon my French, but a 20 gallon water change on a 120 tank is like peeing in the ocean.

 

[candide]

I've had the tank since late april/first of may. It was a friend of mine who went away to school. He had it for 6 years. I kept the substrate and the one piece of rock he had in it, moved it "wet" and set it backup with fresh water. I added the live rock in early may.

I feed once a day, alternating between light, flake only (formula 1 and 2) and mysid shrimp with a bit of formula 2? (the green one).

Nitrates stayed at 20 for the longest time, but then came up recently.

I'm thinking of increasing the flow to my fuge.

 

[Anonymous]

I bet if you could increase the size of the fuge a bit that might help.

 

[Anonymous]

Pulling the Bioballs may have done you quite a bit of good for the future. I used a biowheel for a while and it was an effecient nitrate factory. Things balanced out a while after I removed it.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry, missed that you removed the bioballs.
It sounds to me like your system is adjusting. They should drop, but I would do a waterchange just to be safe.

 

[acasden]

i still have not found out what happens when the nitrates go up, many books say it doesn't matter that much if the corals look good, are you treating a number and not a problem????

 

[nice1bruva]

unless i have missed it no-one has mentioned water flow/turnover yet?
i had problems very simular to yours about a year after i first started up.
i had a decent sized deltec skimmer,enough live rock and a fuge.
i was doing water changes daily but still could not keep nitrates any lower than 30ppm.
then a respected lfs asked how much flow/turnover the tank had.
£60 and another 3 maxijet 1200's later...
you guessed it one week 0.2 nitrates....and has kept there or there abouts ever since.
live rock cannot do it's job without good flow.
if in doubt add some more powerheads/streams or simular.
hth

 

[candide]

I have 3 maxijet 1200's in the tank, two return pumps that I honestly do not know what they are, but they keep up with the overflow box/syphon down to the sump. My sump has 2 pumps totaling 375gph into my fuge, which is drilled on top to just flow back into the sump.

And yes, I am treating the number probaly more than anything else. But I do have a bit of bubble algea that should go away with less/no nitrates, and the water isn't as "clear" as it could be. Has a touch of a yellow/green tint to it.

My 75g tank is crystal clear, with 0 nitrates. I think that is what really prompted me to work so hard on lowering the 125g's.

 

[nice1bruva]

i changed my turnover from around 8 times an hour to arount 20 times an hour....i am planning to add more turnover and will not be happy untill i can make it more like 40x an hour.
all i need to do now is afford the tunze streams on my wish list.
uk price just under £500 for two with controller.