HIGH NITRATES - Advice and Help please

[rndswatloski]

I've been out of the hobby for a while as in out of touch and not able to get to my reef tank for more than a year.

The nitrates are 80 PPM+.

Best way to reduce this are large water changes?

How about going forward to keep the Nitrates low? Any recommended techniques or other filtering gadgets that really work.

Tank is a stock 180 glass, with about 200 lbs of live rock, three 175W MH lights and a good skimmer with 30 gallon sump.

 

[MT79]

Best way to reduce this are large water changes?

Yes, as long as your source water has no nitrates.

How about going forward to keep the Nitrates low?

I think some more info will help everyone answer. What kind, how big, and how many fish do you have? Beside LR do you have a wet/dry or any type of mechanical filtration on the system? What is the turn-over rate of the tank (gallons per hour)? Do you have a good clean up crew? Protein skimmer working properly? Do you do regular PWC's? If so how much and w/ what water source-RO, RO/DI, or tap? Have you checked the water source lately for nitrate?
PS-Welcome to Aquarium advice

 

[Ziggy953]

WELCOME TO AA!!!!!!

Not knowing what you have in your tank as Mike said, I can offer this, stop feeding your fish for a couple of days and then only feed then every other day. That will help also. The amount of food that you put into your tank can contribute to you water issues. Mike asked some good questions. Give us some more info on your tank and setup and we will be able give you some ideas on correcting the situation!

 

[melosu58]

A lot of good suggestions . I would also emphasise the feeding every other day. Also what are you feeding?

 

[rndswatloski]

More data...

Thanks for the welcomes and advice.

Fish Purple Tang 4 inches, mimic Tang (looks like a lemon peel angel) 4 inches, 4 inch Tomato clown, three 1-1/2 " Green Chromas, a 2" Royal Gramma Basslet and that's all. About 6 or so red legged hermits, couple of blue legged left. About a dozen turbo snails. A sea cucumber. Skimmer is producing some good scum periodically.

RO Water using a top off system.

No on the PWC's I have not been around for close to a year. My maintainer said about 60 gallons were changed out about 4-6 months ago, 30 gallons each about a month apart.

I have not checked the water source for nitrates.

Food has been some pellets Kent Platinum Herbivore Reef pellets, some Omega One Veggie Flakes, frozen veggie mix and some dried seaweed fed on a clip.

 

[melosu58]

Re: More data...

No on the PWC's I have not been around for close to a year. My maintainer said about 60 gallons were changed out about 4-6 months ago, 30 gallons each about a month apart.

At least we know where the high nitrates are coming from. PWC`s reduce nitrates and replenish trace elements. To get your nitrates under control you need to do weekly PWC`s.Not trying to be ugly but PWC`s that far apart is asking for problems. I hope you get it under control.

 

[Ziggy953]

Yeah I totally agree!! Right now they need to be done weekly until the Nitrates get to a resonable level and then you should at the very least do one per month. I do mine every other week just to keep everything in my tank happy, after all this is an ivestment as well as an obsession!!!

 

[rndswatloski]

Thanks all.

About how much should do I with this 180 gal with the 30 gal sump to get it corrected as soon as possible?

Then after I get it under control how much weekly or biweekly?

 

[roka64]

Thanks all.

About how much should do I with this 180 gal with the 30 gal sump to get it corrected as soon as possible?

Then after I get it under control how much weekly or biweekly?

That's going to depend on your bioload. Can you update "my info" with your tank specs/equipment/critters so we can help further?

 

[austinsdad]

Also, what kinda substrate? I've heard crushed coral can contribute to high trates also.

 

[MT79]

About how much should do I with this 180 gal with the 30 gal sump to get it corrected as soon as possible?

I would say a couple/few PWC's between 25-50% would work. Be sure to match the parameters of the new water and the tank water to avoid shocking the animals.

Then after I get it under control how much weekly or biweekly?

Personally I do 10% weekly. I'd say 10-20% every other week would be fine since your bio-load is fairly low. HTH

 

[rndswatloski]

Thanks all. Will update my equipment later this weekend and figure out how to do that.

 

[roka64]

Just go to the home page and click on "update your profile".

 

[jwburleson97]

I've been reading up on the nitrates in tap water and have a question on R/O filters. I've tested my tap water and it's 10ppm (back in Nov they were 0 ppm). So, now I'm looking at getting an R/O, but don't know what kind. My space is limited so I can't have anything hard plumbed. Do I need a bare bones, 3 or 4 stage? What kind of membrane? All other chemicals check out ok, phospates 0, ammonia 0.

 

[MT79]

I would recommend a 3 or 4 stage RO w/ a DI unit as well. The DI will remove whats left after the water passes through the RO membrane. That will get the TDS level of the product water down to 0. TFC and Hi-S membranes work well. A few members of this site have bought their RO/DI units off e-bay and have been satisfied and got pretty good prices. I use, and really like buckeyefieldsupply.com for my RO/DI needs. You can buy hose/faucet adapters for RO units so you don't have to hard plumb it. HTH

 

[roka64]

I bought the 5 stage RO/DI System http://cgi.ebay.com/New-6-stage-100...8QQihZ002QQcategoryZ20684QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem, it really doesn't take up too much space, except for the storage tank. I could have sworn someone posted that link a week ago and it was cheaper....

 

[jwburleson97]

In some of the research I've done I've seen where you can get these at Home Depot..any thoughts on that?
Also, I've read that I need a deep sand bed (at least 3 inches) to help eliminate nitrates...is that accurate? When I went to the LFS to buy that much aragonite for a 55 gal they looked at me like I was nuts. He showed me all of his reef tanks (which are gorgeous!) and none of them had DSB. He sold me 40# of aragonite, which is a just about 1 inch..is that going to be ok or should I add more?

 

[rndswatloski]

Just updated my profile. Let me know if you have questions or think I should add additional information.