Rising Nitrates All Of A Sudden

[craigybaby37]

no sadly i dont have a tds meter i think it may be worth while me getting one to see where thr problem is.

Ive knowtised that today my pulsing xenia has lost a lot of its colour and the heads are all closed which is telling me that something is up with the water......but then sayin that my zoos, green start polyp, leather and mushrooms are all doing fine......and the same is for fish and inverts so seems a bit odd that only 1 coral is showing signs of stress.

 

[chrissaysyes]

the xenia could just be because of lighting or food?

 

[craigybaby37]

well nothing in the way of lighting has changed at all since the nitrate problem has come about....its only today thats its been how it is...ill have a check tomorow and let you know how it is.

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, Xenia usually responds poorly to imbalances in alkalinity and/or salinity, especially when alk is low or sg is high. Make sure you verify your sg reading, especially if using a swing-arm type hydrometer, as these can drift over time.

As for the phosphate remover which you asked me via PM, if you've got a filter and the remover, your best bet is to tie some up in a women's nylon and stuff it in the filter

 

[chrissaysyes]

nylons will do? Nift.

 

[craigybaby37]

well in the pack i did get a cloth bag so no need for me to be hunting around for womens nylons lol

 

[SkiFletch]

Sure, they make great filter bags. The cashiers at the drugstore look at you funny when you're a guy and buy them though

 

[craigybaby37]

My tds meter come through today and no supprises that my RO filter is at fault.

i tested some tap water and it was showing 427 ppm.......then got a sample fresh from RO filter and it shew 174ppm which i was not happy to see at all. so back to the LFS i go over the weekend and have change the filter as i dont think its right that in 2 1/2 months of use getting 20 litres a week and the filter is due for re-newing.

i know the reccomend changing the filter every 6 months which is fair play but 2 1/2 months.....i think somethings at fault if u ask me???

anyways i got some stuff yesterday which removes nitrates an all sorts from water so ime dosing the tank daily with the reccomended dosage to help me out a little. it says every dose will remove approx 13ppm......spose its better than nothing.

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, somethin ain't right there. Do you have a flush kit on the RO filter? Sometimes a flushing can clear up the problem you're having. Also, does your RO unit have a carbon pre-filter? And more importantly, do you keep the membrane wet and only run cold water through it?

 

[craigybaby37]

no i dont have a flush kit whats one of those??? yea ime pretty sure it has a carbon pre filter....the water goes through 2 other filter before it gets filter by the removable membrain.

And yes i always keep the membrain wet and its always cold water that goes through it as it only has a cold feed to it and there are no other pipes arpund it that could heat the water up at all.

 

[SkiFletch]

A flush kit applies back pressure to the RO output in an attempt to clean off the membrane. I've noticed that they're not very common in the UK, but almost standard here in the States. Usually regular flushing prolongs the life of a membrane, but if its not flushed, they can go bad faster than usual (although yours still sounds like something's fishy). Have you checked your pre-filters? I'd be curious if they're completely spent...

 

[craigybaby37]

well i dont have a flush system on mine and how will i be able to tell if the pre-filters are spent???

 

[SkiFletch]

well i dont have a flush system on mine and how will i be able to tell if the pre-filters are spent???

Measure TDS of tapwater, then disconnect the pre-filters and measure TDS out of those. If it's not dropping at all, pre-filters are prolly spent. Also, one of them should be a type of tightly packed floss... When first installed, it was white. If it's now solid rust brown, its time to replace that one

 

[craigybaby37]

rite i got ya now.......had a look on the filter last night and it has a carbon, a sedement remover ( which ime guessing will be the floss packed one) and then the main filter membrain.

The carbon and main filter membrain both say on them they have a service life of 3000 gallons and i have nooooo way had that much from the filter ive had about 80 gallons i rekon in 3 months.

Update on the tank the nitrates have dropped conciderably in the last week there now at about 60ppm and the corals are lookin a little more healthy......the heads on my xenia have opened up but the actual body of it is still not extended out.

my candy cane realy suffered through al this and died, my green star polyps havnt open fully since the whole ordeal begun ive seen a few heads open but that was only a couple.

mushrooms are looking alright but again arent opening up fully yet, and leather coral has still got its colour but isnt opening up/expanding fully but ime not sure if this is coz of nitrates or that a snail i have in my tank that come from no where decided to stick the the base of the leather coral and managed to puncture a hole in it???

 

[craigybaby37]

well ive taken some time tonight to do some tests on the ro filter to work out whats wrong with it and tds reading from tap water is 420ppm ish and i done a reading with it only gettin filtered through the first chamber (sediment remover) and it was still around the 420ppm mark so i then tested the water when going through the sediment filter and then the carbon and believe it or not it still come out at 420ppm which i couldnt believe.

so the first 2 filter stages are doing absolutly nothing grrrrr.......so for sure ill be off to my lfs to see what they have to say about it.

The main filter membrain may be ok as its bringing it down but at least 250ppm......but from tap water which is 420ppm how much ppm would u expect to be removed by the first 2 filters???