!NITRATES!

[thedukeman]

Water changes! Water changes! and more water changes,
I can not keep up with these nitrates. I checked my RO water and 0-ziltch-nada......Not a trace and I still come up with 80+ ppm after a water change.(aaaarrrrrrwwwgg)
I do a 20% once a month in my 125 LR semi reef FO bla bla bla. I cannot get rid of them.
All suggestions are appreciated in advance.
Thanks,
Jason

 

[swissfish]

what are the other readings?
If they are ok and your fish ok, maybe its your test kid.

 

[thedukeman]

I used the same kit to test the RO water before adding it to the tank and there 0 ppm. all other parameters are normal. amo 0. ntri 0. phos is a little high 2.0 ppm. aaahhhh crud......
I'm thinking that I'm going to have to do a more elaborate water chang maybe 50 % or more.

 

[RMPD109]

I am having the same problem but my nitrate readings are topping out at 40. I am looking into a refugium w/ macro to help. I want to stabilize it now so my future reef has no problems later.

 

[Jason]

I used to have that same problem until i got some caulerpa now they never get over 10ppm

 

[lando]

Need a little more info...What size tank? What type of filtration? What are you using for substrate? Do you have LR, how much? What is currently in the tank? What is your feeding schedule, how much? You may want to buy another brand of test kit and recheck things.

 

[quarryshark]

Do you have a skimmer? If so, how much skimmage in the cup a day and what color?

 

[143gadgets]

What is caulerpa?

 

[quarryshark]

Macroalgae, usually kept in a sump or fuge. It removes excess nutrients from the water naturally.
Not without drawback though. If you don't keep it pruned is can go "sexual" and crash a system.

 

[dralarms]

Put some mangroves in your sump. They suck up nitrates.

 

[fishman]

I have a skimmer and macro...I do have a question on the macro...how do you know when to prune macro though??

 

[lando]

You can always add more LR to your tank or LR rubble in your sump (if you have one). If you are using bioballs in a sump they can also contribute to the nitrate problem.

 

[cmor1701d]

I'm having the same problem in my 125. I have a 6-8" DSB 185 pounds of LR, etc...

Seachem always tests so high they don't measure it. Salifert last week tested at 25 I did 2 - 15gallon water changes and added some macro and light to my 30 gal sump (put some LS and LR rubble in there too.

I also cut back feedings to every other day and cut lights back to a 6hr/8hr schedule form a 10/12 schedule.

I'm hopeful that will work.

 

[thedukeman]

If you are using bioballs in a sump they can also contribute to the nitrate problem.

Bio Media in my skimmer. The surface skimmer box pulls in uneatin food, but it does not make it to the collection. I just rinsed it with some RO that I had left over. We'll see
Thanks
Jason

 

[lando]

What type of biomedia in the skimmer?? Rinsing it off every couple of weeks is a good idea. It may be better in the future to rinse it in SW from your tank so you do not loose the benifical bateria that is alraedy on it. When you do a water chang just reserve some of the water to rinse your media in.

 

[thedukeman]

It may be better in the future to rinse it in SW from your tank so you do not loose the benifical bateria that is alraedy on it. When you do a water chang just reserve some of the water to rinse your media in.

This is what I did... But I canged too much water too fast and salt burnt a few things in the process I had a ton of new feather duster tube and mushrooms that I was really getting fastenated with and now they are screaming "I"M MELTING"
The only thing good was my nitrates dropped by half in one day after rinsing the OEM bac pac media.
Thanks,
Jason

 

[Phyl]

Changed water too fast? Is this possible? I changed more than 75 gallons in my 120 last week in one water change during a terrible overfeeding accident and everything made it through the transition just fine. I probably changed 200 gallons of water over the course of the week. I did make sure to age my saltwater for at least 24 with a good PH and heater to get it up to temp. Was your water aged? Warmed?

 

[thedukeman]

Was your water aged? Warmed?

NO! I mixed my water and put it in the tank after two hours! I recenty was reading a pole that someone posted and found the information on water changes and mixing time. When I bought this marine tank it was already established for three to four years. The person who owned it prior to me went to the LFS and bought water. Well I said the hell with that I can Mix water and salt and read and gravity meter! So I did, but know one ever told me that I needed to mix it for that long or heat it during the process. I did know not to just mix it and dump it, but I figured that once it had disoulved for a good two hours that it would be fine.....Guess not?
So I sold my extra PC light fixture and I'm going to buy a extra powerhead and heater for mixing water for at least 8-12 hours.

Get in a hurry and kill and learn I guess!
Thanks,
Jason

 

[sevise]

I have chate(macro algae) in my sump, and my Nitrate is <10.