Can't Get The Nitrates Down

[seffieuk]

I'm going to build my own Algae Turf Scrubber and see if it works aswell as everyone says!

Cool, make sure you journel your build and progress

Seffie x

 

[ColdwaterJosh]

Shall do Seffie

 

[Morri]

I disagree about 25% water changes I do roughly 10% Monthly the principal of changing 25% of water to reduce Nitrates will only work if the source of the excess Nitrates are resolved.
Nitrates and Phosphates should be dealt with in the system itself by adequate filtration sometimes, less is better than more too much LR can cause flow issues which means the LR will not do its job properly.

The purpose of water changes is to replenish used minerals heavy metals etc. I manage these with Balling Lite and trace elements, I do not agree with changing 25% of water in one go as it would be a shock to any coral for eg, in a week without balling my KH would drop from 8.5 to 5 changing 25% of the water with buffer added would force the KH back to 8.5 in less than an hour this is a massive change for corals and will cause shock to the them. With balling I dose 15 times a day so may KH stay stable with minor fluctuations.

If you where to change 25% water a week it would be better to do a smaller change daily and not shock corals.

It is true Nitrates at 20ppm are not terrible but will start to stunt growth of corals

I would skip the whole Algae scruber idea personally I would look into more basic solutions.

1. Do you have any dead spots in your flow?
2. You mention an external with LR in ? is the flow enough through this?
3. Are you using sponges anywhere in your system?
4. Are you over stocked?
5. Is your LR new or second hand from a tank break down?
6. Is your Sand new or from an old tank?
7. Has your sand been disturbed recently?
8. Have you stocked to quickly?

I am sure one of these will be the source of the problem if you need to export the nitrates look at products such as purigen but you need to fix the root cause not just the problem.
Or you will be throwing good water after bad

 

[seffieuk]

I disagree about 25% water changes

Its all according why you are doing the water change! A 25% water change weekly is beneficial on a small system and keeps everything running along in balance imho. I changed 25% every week for a year in my nano and was rewarded with very steady water conditions and an Anemone that grew to be massive and we all know how anemones like good water conditions.

If you are trying to bring nitrates/phosphates down then I agree with you - you need to find the source of the problem and fix that. I also agree that changing large amounts of water could shock the inhabitants if the tank is running high on phosphates etc.

So, if I were running a low tech nano tank again I would have no hesitation in doing the 25% weekly water changes - and sad as I am, I quite enjoyed doing them as well

Seffie x

 

[crazysilverwolf]

Got another two to add to the list,
1, there is no problem and its your test kit giving you false positives,
2, RO water is contaminated with nitrates.

Having to wait till tomorrow to get a new kit. Then i can test the tank again and test my RO supplier.

daz

 

[crazysilverwolf]

For two weeks i've been worrying about nitrate levels not reducing, spending money on RO water and salt and because my testing kit was Two months old i belived what it said.
Took my tank water to be tested and my LFS said he wished his tank had levels as low as mine. picked up a new test kit to confirm what they said and could kick myself for not doing it earlyier.

To all newbies if your levels are high in the tank have them indipendently tested, there could be nothing wrong.

The left tube reads 0 - 5ppm ( New Test Kit )
The right tube reads 80+ ppm ( Old Test Kit )

 

[Pearsondesign]

i actually had a similar issue when setting up my reef tank.

i left it maturing for 4 weeks, before adding anything at all lol
had water tested and nitrates were constantly through the roof.
i was having it tested at my LFS where a god friend works.
they got some new test strip kits in and instantly the water came back perfect

if you test your own water id deffo recommend the newer drip test strips as opposed to the bottles you drop the test liquid into

 

[seffieuk]

id deffo recommend the newer drip test strips as opposed to the bottles you drop the test liquid into

who makes these?

Seffie x