Nitrates!

[freshoffthegrill]

Looking for a bit of advice / help.

I have been running GFO and Carbon for sometime now however, the nitrates in my tank remain at a stubborn 10ppm --API test kit.

Phosphates 0ppm -- Hanna Checker

I do bi-weekly water changes of 10%.

I have a small amount of Cyano in the tank as well as some HA which leads me to believe that all the phosphates are being consumed while the available nitrates continue to fuel their overall growth.

I have reduced feeding and the photo period, however the Cyano still comes back.

I am debating on whether to go the bio-pellets.

I would like to place more SPS in the tank but at this point until I can address the nutrient issue I am going to hold off.

Any input or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

[iTzJu]

get rid of the API kit and find your self a salifert test kit. I always hated the API kits, I can never tell the difference between the colors. lol The other kit I mentioned are a lot more accurate and easier to read.

do you have an RO/DI system?
ow old is the tank?
how often do you feed?
what is your bioload look like?

 

[freshoffthegrill]

I have an RO/DI system.

Tank is almost a year old.

I feed the tank once a day.

Bioload
2x Clown fish
1x Pseudochromis
1x Cleaner Shrimp
1x Blood Shrimp

 

[iTzJu]

I have an RO/DI system.

Tank is almost a year old.

I feed the tank once a day.

Bioload
2x Clown fish
1x Pseudochromis
1x Cleaner Shrimp
1x Blood Shrimp

how old are your RO/DI filters? are you getting 0 TDS?

 

[freshoffthegrill]

They are about 5 months old, just checked the TDS meter, it reads 0.

 

[freshoffthegrill]

I do not want to starve the fish in my system. I think three fishes is not a tremendous bioload for the tank. I run a SWC 160 and it produces a decent amount of skimmate.

 

[iTzJu]

hmm, clean up the water cyano you can and try doing a weekly water change for the next couple of weeks and see if that helps your nitrates. reduce feeing to every other day if your livestock and can handle it.

 

[downbeach]

I usually take a more holistic approach to these type of problems. There are many factors that can contribute to this problem, although one may be the overriding factor, you should address each one of them to insure that you have solved this problem. The use of "red slime removers" will work, but if you don't resolve whatever caused it in the first place, it will simply keep reoccurring. Here is a good article that will help explain the cause and some of the remedies:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/bluegralgae.htm

 

[motortrendz]

Build yourself a nitrate reactor with a regular upflow media reactor. Get some sulfur pellets and some crushed coral that is used in a calcium reactors. Sulfur on the bottom abt 3" and the crushed coral on top 8" add bacteria to reactor and flow at a small trickle. You'll see nitrates reduce in a few weeks.

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[govertical19]

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/marinepure-ceramic-biomedia-1-1-2-spheres.html

I have these in my sump, I also built a reactor with Seachem matrix in it. These will help build up bacteria to help with nitrates. I was actually thinking about ordering more and putting them in a reactor. The more the better...


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[motortrendz]

Here's a pic of mine. Its a dual reactor from next reef. So its pretty big. But I have a big system. But my nitrates were over 60ppm yes 60, after 1 month of running the reactor with adding 3 drops of zeobak and 1ml of vodka directly into reactor weekly my nitrates dropped to 2ppm. Now I do a maintenance dose of 4 drops and 1 ml monthly. My coral has never looked so good. It has also served to bring my po4 down from 0.50 to abt 0.12 which is still a little high but I get the best results around 0.08 with sps color but that's another conversation for another thread.

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[motortrendz]

Here's a pic of mine. Its a dual reactor from next reef. So its pretty big. But I have a big system. But my nitrates were over 60ppm yes 60, after 1 month of running the reactor with adding 3 drops of zeobak and 1ml of vodka directly into reactor weekly my nitrates dropped to 2ppm. Now I do a maintenance dose of 4 drops and 1 ml monthly. My coral has never looked so good. It has also served to bring my po4 down from 0.50 to abt 0.12 which is still a little high but I get the best results around 0.08 with sps color but that's another conversation for another thread.

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[govertical19]

Here's a pic of mine. Its a dual reactor from next reef. So its pretty big. But I have a big system. But my nitrates were over 60ppm yes 60, after 1 month of running the reactor with adding 3 drops of zeobak and 1ml of vodka directly into reactor weekly my nitrates dropped to 2ppm. Now I do a maintenance dose of 4 drops and 1 ml monthly. My coral has never looked so good. It has also served to bring my po4 down from 0.50 to abt 0.12 which is still a little high but I get the best results around 0.08 with sps color but that's another conversation for another thread.

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What's in the second reactor?

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[motortrendz]

What's in the second reactor?

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Carbon. They're seperate feeds off of a manifold. Different flow rates

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