nitrates reduction to no avail

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pufferman

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jul 19, 2003
Messages
333
Location
San Jose California USA
hey all,
I have done four water changes in my tank, changed the reef carbon, added de-nitrate, and tuned my protein skimmer to be more efficient and my nitrates still read 20-30. I know that my test kit works because the nitrate in my R/O water is 0. I dont know where to turn. Please help.

TIA
 
Frustrating, huh? I would still try a different style of test kit. More LR will not hurt the situation either. Do you have more then the 10lbs listed in your profile? A good goal for a 30gal tank is 45-60lbs. What is your feeding schedule?
 
I think it is the chemi pure...
How so? I use chemi-pure and my NO3 are always well below 5. However, I do change out the bags once a month, not the recommended 4-6 months. I can see how that could cause problems.
 
Yeah I'm guessing Hara's point is that older chemi-pure is going to become a bio-logical filter and thus a nitrate factory.

The SeaChem Marine Basic test kit includes a very good nitrite/nitrate test kit, far more accurate and smaller increments than other nitrate kits I've used (AP and Hagen)
 
I have a FOWLR tank and my nitrates used to be around 20ppm when I only had 45lbs. base rock. Since I've added another 50lbs. of LR, over the last 2 months my nitrates have become undetectable to 5ppm. I changed nothing else in my tank.

HTH...
 
and correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a good deep sand bed also help reduce nitrates? because de-nitrafying bacteria is all anaerobic, so it happens deep in the sand or live rock...right?
 
well i did clean out the eheim, and i changed the reef carbon in there as well. i have added LR, just not enough. I added three pounds which is just a scratch. i rinsed the chemi-pure thinking that it would help. One question, when you change out the carbon, lets say my reef carbon, do you throw away the used carbon, or can you rinse it and reuse it? I have been using Aquarium Pharmecuticals and the test kit is two years old, but it says my tank has nitrates around 20-30, and the R/O has NO3 of 0. One wierd thing is that coralline has just grown crazy since i started adding calcium. How come it is spreading rapidly when the nitrates are so high? puzzling :?
 
and correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a good deep sand bed also help reduce nitrates?
This is correct. However, to get the de-nitrafying benefits of a true DSB it really needs to be 5-6 inches in depth.
i rinsed the chemi-pure thinking that it would help
Not really. Once the chemical has absorbed what it can it is done. Carbon and Chemi-pure should actually be rinsed in RO/DI water anyways. If tap is used the media will just absorb the the PO4 and NO3 from the tap water and, thus, shorten it's life dramatically.
when you change out the carbon, lets say my reef carbon, do you throw away the used carbon, or can you rinse it and reuse it?
throw it.
Not sure what the self life of that test kit is but I would get a new one. Two years is pretty old.
 
i feed once in the morning. that is it. about two or three pinches of flakes because the clowns just gulp down the flakes while the tang gets whatever sinks into the water. I asked a question about the coralline growing in such nitrate levels. Isnt this odd?
 
Cut back feedings to once every other day. Hang some Nori for the tang and start feeding some vit. enriched mysis a couple times a week. The addition of the CA explains the coraline growth. Some algaes do also tend to flurish in the presence of NO3.
 
sorry, I wasnt back sooner to answer about the chemi pure , but yes, I did mean it in regards to it being in the system too long and becoming a nitrate factory.
 
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