High nitrate question....help!

[Greenmaster]

yes that is so that all the O2 gets used up it the top and then the rest is anaerobic thus the de*nitrification in your sump you are not trying to make all the water low in O2 so you will be fine with high flow...

 

[bavass]

Well 15lbs of rubble rock was added last night. So we will see if the added bacteria helps or not

 

[Greenmaster]

Got my fingers crossed for ya.

 

[johnmaloney]

make sure to clean the rubble out frequently otherwise it acts as a trap for detritus and adds more nitrates then it removes. kind of like bio-balls

have you considered, and I am sorry if you have, the thread is really long...have you considered vodka/carbon/zeovit/brightwell...etc... dosing? I think time will solve it, but who knows...Any chemicals used on the tank that would hinder bacteria?

 

[bavass]

I think now that I have added 15lbs of rubble rock to my sump I am going to take out a few pieces of live rock at a time and cook it!

 

[cmor1701d]

Cook it as in the slow process of moving into containers of sw and kept in the dark? Or cokking as in pre-heat oven to 350?

I've been using NP-Biopellets for a few weeks. My NO3 is down from around 50 to 2 - 3.

 

[bavass]

I was thinking of 375 for about 30 min, chop it up use the rock as croutons, macro and micro algea's as lettuce and chop up the fish and corals and make a Sushi Salkad, LOL!

No I am going to take a few rocks out at a time and scrub them with a toothbrush and see what happens to the water might cause a cycle in my container and if so I will let it cycle! Want to let soak till no Phosphates and no nitrates or nitrites

 

[bavass]

Cook it as in the slow process of moving into containers of sw and kept in the dark? Or cokking as in pre-heat oven to 350?

I've been using NP-Biopellets for a few weeks. My NO3 is down from around 50 to 2 - 3.

Let me know how that works! Sounds like its doing a great job.

 

[bavass]

I have always been one to blow off my rock with a turkey baster. This Weekend I decided to brush the rock with a new toothbrush and wow got a lot more stuff off than when I used a turkey baster

 

[Greenmaster]

There is your problem... all the plaque from your teeth is causing your nitrates to spike.

 

[bavass]

Hope the root canal I had wed will help then, LOL

 

[bavass]

for the last 2 weeks I have been taking a turkey baster and a tooth brush to rocks and cleaning them off a little at a time. I have also added a filter for about 2 hours when I blow the rock off and behind the rock. Looks like I am finally getting where I wanna be, Nitrates are coming down getting closer to zero. Algae has not come back other than the little but that forms on the glass.

 

[Greenmaster]

Glad to hear that you are finally getting somewhere with it.

 

[cmor1701d]

Wow, I didn't think this thread would ever come to an end. Looks like you finally have it under control.
CONGRATUALTIONS!

The NP-Biopellets have kept the NO3 under 2 (nearly undetecable). PO4 has come down a little, but I haven't been able to test it for a couple of weeks. New reagent just came in so this weekend I'll either add GFO and Carbon, or not!

 

[bavass]

still blowing rocks with turkey baster, nitrates are steady at 2ppm, doing 5g water changes twice a week still, keeping Alk at 11, calcium at 480, mag 1440, ph 8.3 seems like there is no end to getting rid of detritus under control. I know if I can get that to an end i would have 0! I wonder if I should add some hermits was trying to go with just snails but they just dont seem to clean the rock of detritus I blow it off every night.

 

[bavass]

here is my latestes update...MY NITRATES ARE ZERO! I ended up using the Vodka and MB7 dosing and my nitrates are finally at 0. YAY!

 

[cmor1701d]

Congrats! It was a long road! Did you ever try the bio-pellets. There are newer ones on the market that are even smaller, giving them a larger surface area. Less of the portential sticking problem.

My nitrates are consistently under 2 and look just like your photo above. I call that as a 1 - 2 range instead of 0 as looking from the side I can see a tinge of pink.

My phosphates (PO4) have been consistently under 2 also, usually in the .06 - .08 range.

Good luck keeping them down. Stay vigilant. And again CONGRATULATIONS on sticking with this till you got there.

 

[Greenmaster]

Grats man

 

[abdhalim2]

wow....its so long....good for me as a newbie here....congratulation bavass....

 

[bavass]

Congrats! It was a long road! Did you ever try the bio-pellets. There are newer ones on the market that are even smaller, giving them a larger surface area. Less of the portential sticking problem.

My nitrates are consistently under 2 and look just like your photo above. I call that as a 1 - 2 range instead of 0 as looking from the side I can see a tinge of pink.

My phosphates (PO4) have been consistently under 2 also, usually in the .06 - .08 range.

Good luck keeping them down. Stay vigilant. And again CONGRATULATIONS on sticking with this till you got there.

I did not try the bio-pellets. I used Seachem De*Nitrate in a phosban reactor, vodka dosing, and Brightwells MB7.

From, the side its just as clear as it is from the top. I have been unable to detect phosphates. I did lose my Diamond Goby while at the beach I will get another one.