Nitrate problems that just won't die

[srpntmage]

I started up my Biocube 29 about 6 months ago. Media rack with purigen and chemipure elite, Tunze 9001 skimmer and lots of porous live rock in the display. I feed lightly about twice a day, a little flake, some high quality pellets and strained mysis a coupe times a week for the corals.

 

Currently I have 2 clowns, a watchman goby, a tiny tail spot blenny pistol shrimp, cleaner shrimp and various snails and hermits. For corals, I have zoas, a torch, candy cane, duncan, some acans, a toadstool, pinwheel plate and some ORA Pink Birdsnest.

 

After my tank cycled, months ago, my nitrates were off the chart. I think it was from my rocks leaching. They stayed at 180+ for several weeks and only started dropping after doing heavy water changes.

 

I change 5 gallons every week (my actual water volume is around 23-24 gallons), and am careful to suction out the back chambers, blow off rocks and I change my filter floss every 2-3 days.

 

Today my nitrates hang around 15-20ppm. My phosphates fluctuate from 0 to 0.09ppm . I started using Red Sea NoPox about 3 months ago and it has done nothing, though I have followed the directions very carefully.

 

Everything in my tank looks and behaves healthy, but I worry. I want to add some more SPS at some time, but my nitrate level seems too high.

 

Anyone have any idea what is going on? Should I be doing heavier water changes? Bio-pellets maybe? I have been considering adding a reactor, but if NoPox isn't working I assume bio-pellets won't either.

 

Here is my tank.

 

[seabass]

After my tank cycled, months ago, my nitrates were off the chart. I think it was from my rocks leaching. They stayed at 180+ for several weeks and only started dropping after doing heavy water changes.

It's possible that dead organic matter (trapped in your rock) is decaying; however, your "rocks" won't actually leach nitrate. Nitrate is a result of the organics getting broken down into ammonia, then nitrite, then nitrate.

 

Today my nitrates hang around 15-20ppm. My phosphates fluctuate from 0 to 0.09ppm .

That doesn't sound too horrible. Assuming that your source water is free of nitrate, I'd do a 50% water change to reduce it to 7.5 to 10 ppm. You might also reduce the total amount of food that you feed.

 

Also, make sure that your source water is free of nitrate. Mix up a batch of new saltwater and test it prior to doing a water change. I had this problem when I first started, as the RO water that I was buying from the grocery store ended up testing at 40 ppm of nitrate.

[srpntmage]

Thanks for the input. My source water is currently RODI from my two month old 4 stage RODI unit. It reads 0 TDS after the DI stage. I can test it for nitrates before my next water change.

 

Would doing something like 10 gallon changes for the next month be damaging to my livestock and corals in any way?

[Partially Submerged]

That seems to be a lot of feeding. I have never had SW fish, and they might be hungrier than their FW counterparts, but I have been feeding my fish no more than 3 times a week (whatever they can eat within 2-3 minutes) for a long time, and they are very healthy. In my reef tank, I spot-feed my LPS 2-3 times a week. You may want to cut down on feeding some.

 

If you have the space, you could also introduce a piece of rock planted with Halimeda or a similar macroalgae. Halimeda is pretty easy to contain (as long as you don't allow them to break into pieces) and they eat up *a lot* of nutrients. I usually don't argue for attacking the symptom instead of the root cause, but it's hard to argue with the scrubbing abilities of macroalgae.

[BRADYBUNCH7]

Thanks for the input. My source water is currently RODI from my two month old 4 stage RODI unit. It reads 0 TDS after the DI stage. I can test it for nitrates before my next water change.

 

Would doing something like 10 gallon changes for the next month be damaging to my livestock and corals in any way?

no just as long as they arent out of the water for too too long!

 

 

Was the rock live or dry?

 

 

Do you have any ammonia?

Are you sure your test kit is accurate?

[seabass]

Would doing something like 10 gallon changes for the next month be damaging to my livestock and corals in any way?

Just make sure that it's fully dissolved, it's temperature matches, and has the same specific gravity.

[srpntmage]

It was dry rock that had been pressure washed. I haven't had any ammonia for about 5.5 months now, though I don't test regularly anymore.

 

I premix the salt and bring it up to temp with a heater. Red Sea Coral Pro salt is really quick dissolving stuff. I like it much better than other brands I have tried, it has really good, stable values.

[afyounie]

What test are you using to test for Nitrate? I used to use the API test and it kept reading 15-20 ppm but there wasn't really any algae in the tank. I did everything trying to get the Nitrate to drop lower and nothing worked. Then I decided to try a different brand of Nitrate test. Got the Nutrafin test and found out my Nitrate was ~1ppm. The LFS I bought it from and frequent says they use the same test for all their water tests and they have some really nice tanks. So I trust this test a lot more than the API test. I don't see a lot of algae in your tank, so maybe buy a new test and see if it reads the same as your old test kit. If it does, then try to lower Nitrates. Otherwise you might be doing all this work and putting chemicals into your tank for nothing.

[srpntmage]

I am using a Red Sea Nitrate Test. I have also used API to double check and it reads about the same. I have pretty much zero algae, though I do have some brown on the sand in low flow areas. My phosphates are usually very low.

[cju84]

Feeding seems a little in excess. Although 10-20ppm shouldn't bother anything. My tank is never below 20ppm.

[Azedenkae]

After my tank cycled, months ago, my nitrates were off the chart. I think it was from my rocks leaching. They stayed at 180+ for several weeks and only started dropping after doing heavy water changes.

That doesn't sound like a proper cycle, if your nitrates are that high. >.o

 

Cycling is a process to establish your filtration system, and at the end of it, you need to be able to add fish safely. 180 is way too much, and it shows a potential problem that carried over into when you added live stock.

 

I change 5 gallons every week (my actual water volume is around 23-24 gallons), and am careful to suction out the back chambers, blow off rocks and I change my filter floss every 2-3 days.

 

Today my nitrates hang around 15-20ppm. My phosphates fluctuate from 0 to 0.09ppm . I started using Red Sea NoPox about 3 months ago and it has done nothing, though I have followed the directions very carefully.

 

No3Po4x will only work if you can grow the bacteria necessary to break down nitrates.

 

In my opinion, you may have grown plenty of ammonia- and nitrite-reducing bacteria, but due to the nature of your rock, for whatever reason there just may not be much nitrate-reducing bacteria.

 

Everything in my tank looks and behaves healthy, but I worry. I want to add some more SPS at some time, but my nitrate level seems too high.

 

Anyone have any idea what is going on? Should I be doing heavier water changes? Bio-pellets maybe? I have been considering adding a reactor, but if NoPox isn't working I assume bio-pellets won't either.

I can't really suggest anything though, in this case. Just thought I'd offer some possibilities.

 

Also wow, that is so much stuff as part of your filtration system.

 

What does Purigen and Chemipure do again?

[markalot]

Nitrates are fine IMO, go by the look of the corals. Do not feed less, especially if you wanht to try sps. Stable KH and low phosphates are thge important params for acros.

[srpntmage]

That doesn't sound like a proper cycle, if your nitrates are that high. >.o

 

Cycling is a process to establish your filtration system, and at the end of it, you need to be able to add fish safely. 180 is way too much, and it shows a potential problem that carried over into when you added live stock.

 

 

No3Po4x will only work if you can grow the bacteria necessary to break down nitrates.

 

In my opinion, you may have grown plenty of ammonia- and nitrite-reducing bacteria, but due to the nature of your rock, for whatever reason there just may not be much nitrate-reducing bacteria.

 

I can't really suggest anything though, in this case. Just thought I'd offer some possibilities.

 

Also wow, that is so much stuff as part of your filtration system.

 

What does Purigen and Chemipure do again?

My Nitrates haven't been 180+ for about 5 months now. That is what they were directly after the cycle. They are now 15-20ppm.

 

Purigen is for removing impurities and clarifying water, it acts like carbon kind of. Chemipure elite is carbon, resin and GFO mixed. Used for reducing Phosphates and scrubbing water. I would guess 75% of the people here have that filtration combo in their biocubes. What are you using?

[Azedenkae]

I meant like still measuring 15-20ppm even now, which is rather odd. It is not the end of the world definitely, but yeah, it is better to not have much.

 

I only have Marine Pure and sand in my aquarium for filtration. I.e. just biological filtration. Oh and I do water changes 2-3 times a week.

[cju84]

I meant like still measuring 15-20ppm even now, which is rather odd. It is not the end of the world definitely, but yeah, it is better to not have much.

 

I only have Marine Pure and sand in my aquarium for filtration. I.e. just biological filtration. Oh and I do water changes 2-3 times a week.

 

15-20ppm is fine. If you're using API kit, it is most likely overstated anyway.

[Azedenkae]

 

15-20ppm is fine. If you're using API kit, it is most likely overstated anyway.

Are you sure? I've never had issues with API Nitrate test kits not stating the correct measurement.

[cju84]

Are you sure? I've never had issues with API Nitrate test kits not stating the correct measurement.

 

Am I sure it's 100% the issue in your case? No. But API kits are notorious for having incorrect Nitrate readings.

 

I'd try another brand if you're concerned, but 15-20ppm isn't anything to worry about for the most part.

[Azedenkae]

 

Am I sure it's 100% the issue in your case? No. But API kits are notorious for having incorrect Nitrate readings.

That's what they truly are notorious for, but honestly it is odd. Because really, I have never seen any hard evidence for them being off. It was mostly chalked up to that, but it was never definite.

[brandon429]

For sure the measure of 10-15 is nbd, my tank has ran that way since 06 w lps, sps and no algae. simply disregard the test and move on reefing. you could easily go so far as to throw the test kit out and never test for it again, simply exporting so well on your tank's waste stores no testing is needed to see how far we can stand not exporting them.

 

 

the only reason to test nitrate and phosphate in nano reefing is to make up for not doing export work. if you'll do excellence each week, and go off the algae loading in your tank as visuals, you can be free of most test kits for good. I sure am. since 2001 my reef drawer has a swingarm hydrometer so old the readings are rubbed off and a scratch indicates .023, and a temp stick on the end of some speaker wire so I can position it into wc containers

 

since all i do is export excellence, been free of reef testing for 15 yrs

[Nano sapiens]

^^ this.

 

WCs have limited use for nitrate reduction in a reef tank. Nitrate will rise back up if other measures aren't taken.

 

The issue of increasing nitrate lies in the inability of the nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria in the system to completely deal with the organic matter, both from a physical perspective (detritus physically blocking the flow to the bateria) as well as from a biological one. Clog up the sand bed and live rock with detritus and the nitrogen cycle is compromised and nitrate will build up.

 

Do you regularly remove detritus from the system?

 

 

 

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