Nitrate problem

B

Bwidner

New member
Ok so I am running out of ideas with my nitrate issue that started due to a bad test kit. I really feel like there is a nitrate factory somewhere in my tank that I can not find. I have been vodka dosing for almost 2 months now with next to no results other than phosphates going from .5 to undetectable now(yes I had the wonderful luck of two kits going bad)...nitrates though are not moving, I had been doing my normal weekly 3 gal w/c on the 28g NC until 3 weeks ago.

At that point I did the following changes
Week 1- 8 gallons
Week 2- 6 gallons
Week 3- 6 gallons
I am going to be doing another 8 gallon change this week as well.

Here is the problem, right before I did the w/c this week the reading was 50, which was the same that I got before week 1, following the 6 gallon change this weekend it was a lot closer to 25. Nothing has gone missing in the last 3 months, hermit crab population seems steady as does the snail population. I see all 3 of my fish daily(tadgoada goby, sunshine chromis, onyx clown)and my pistol shrimp every few days/hear it constantly at night.

I have cut feeding back heavily in an attempt to get this down, I still feed twice a day but feed maybe 1/3rd of what I used too. I have filter floss at the overflow and change it out every other day, CPR Bakpak skimmer with a brand new pump, however it isn't really skimming that much even though the collection cup is set to their reccomendations. Running Rox carbon at the reccommended dosage.

Could this just have been a thing where the reading of 50 on the Sera test kit was really closer to 100 and it is actually going down(even though the color was NO where near close to dark enough)? Or is there something I am not thinking of that could be causing the nitrates? The goby and shrimp seem to have been happy with their burrows the last 2-3 weeks and their digging hasnt been much of late either so the sand isn't massively disturbed other than a very small stirring here and there.
 
So your skimmer isnt really skimming have you changed filter media if any in there do you have decent flow over rocks blowing the crap off what about adjusting your skimmer to get a wet skim to try pulling some more crap out just an idea using ro water do u have tds meter dont know that it makes difference on nitrates tho what about testing a new batch of your water before water change
 
lunacris said:
So your skimmer isnt really skimming have you changed filter media if any in there do you have decent flow over rocks blowing the crap off what about adjusting your skimmer to get a wet skim to try pulling some more crap out just an idea using ro water do u have tds meter dont know that it makes difference on nitrates tho what about testing a new batch of your water before water change
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the skimmer is skimming but not what it seems like it should tbh(maybe 1/4 of the cup fills every 2-3 weeks), I have tried sitting the cup as low as it would go to try and really skim wet, now its about 1/4" under the water(the base of the cup) as reccommended. No filter media, just the Rox and filter floss. Yes using RODI water, no tds meter, I had been buying it from MCF, ran tests with fresh mixed read 0.
 
Do you have a sb and if so do you syphon it when you do water changes? Do you blow off your rock with a turkey baster before wc's? You mentioned that you cut back on feeding but how much much are you feeding now?

Can't think of anything else right now but more than likely you're feeding too much (or you were) and/or you're not exporting enough nutrients.

I just started dosing VC in my fowlr because the nitrates are around 40ppm. If it works I'll let you know.
 
Didn't somebody just tell me if there is no fresh air in the tank room that can boost nitrates? Or was that ph?
 
EricTheRed said:
Do you have a sb and if so do you syphon it when you do water changes? Do you blow off your rock with a turkey baster before wc's? You mentioned that you cut back on feeding but how much much are you feeding now?

Can't think of anything else right now but more than likely you're feeding too much (or you were) and/or you're not exporting enough nutrients.

I just started dosing VC in my fowlr because the nitrates are around 40ppm. If it works I'll let you know.
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I do turkey baste the rocks right before I start taking water out, I don't siphon the sand bed but I do stir the top of it right before a wc as well. Feeding now I feed very little at a time and as soon as any food goes uneaten into the over flow I stop feeding, other than the very small amount I get into the column for the goby and all the cuc. I ordered the vitamin C yesterday actually, hoping it will open my zoa's and palys back up, as they have been mostly closed since I added the shrimp and goby and even more so of late.
 
wouldnt adding chaeto help with this problem ??

i heard macro algae would act on nitrates very efficiently
 
tinman said:
wouldnt adding chaeto help with this problem ??

i heard macro algae would act on nitrates very efficiently
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Depending on how much chaeto you add, yes it should but it'll take some time. Weeks, months, depending on how often you do water changes. You should first figure out the root of the problem though. Water changes are really important in bringing nitrates down.
 
tinman said:
wouldnt adding chaeto help with this problem ??

i heard macro algae would act on nitrates very efficiently
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Macro is more of a maintenance thing. Aside from that, I don't think he would be able to add a large enough amount in the back of his 28 to reduce high levels.
 
Bwidner said:
I do turkey baste the rocks right before I start taking water out, I don't siphon the sand bed but I do stir the top of it right before a wc as well. Feeding now I feed very little at a time and as soon as any food goes uneaten into the over flow I stop feeding, other than the very small amount I get into the column for the goby and all the cuc. I ordered the vitamin C yesterday actually, hoping it will open my zoa's and palys back up, as they have been mostly closed since I added the shrimp and goby and even more so of late.
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As long as you dont have a deep sb then you can give it a good syphoning. After that the best way is to do wc's.
 
is it ok to change really high amounts of water like water change of 10 gallon on a 25 gallon tank ? would it help ?
 
Lil BamBam said:
IMO I will do 5gal only.. 20% on 25gal system.

Change water every other day.. Until levels are reached.
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I will start trying to do more frequent w/c the problem is being able to get the water to do so(I get the water from the stores, and it would be REALLY rough to get more water during the week)....guess this weekend I can buy another 5g jug so that I can change out 10 gal during the week and still have 5 gal for top off.
 
tinman said:
is it ok to change really high amounts of water like water change of 10 gallon on a 25 gallon tank ? would it help ?
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I can't speak to best practices for smaller tanks but the general rule is to never do more than a 50% wc. You will get faster reduction in nitrates doing larger changes. When doing larger changes it is important to make sure your salinity of the new water matches your tank's.
 
EricTheRed said:
I can't speak to best practices for smaller tanks but the general rule is to never do more than a 50% wc. You will get faster reduction in nitrates doing larger changes. When doing larger changes it is important to make sure your salinity of the new water matches your tank's.
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+1 and temp IMO
 
EricTheRed said:
Macro is more of a maintenance thing. Aside from that, I don't think he would be able to add a large enough amount in the back of his 28 to reduce high levels.
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Right on! Macro doesn't fix anything. It will only help. If you have a dense matt of it, it will probably be able to manage it. I use a REALLY thick matt of Chaeto in my fuge and it essentially scrubs my water before allowing it into my return chamber. It's so dense that my LED fuge light doesn't even light up the floor of the fuge. It quickly managed my nitrates with my live rock but took over a month to get a handle on my phosphates.
 
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