sudden nitrate spike....

Discussion in 'Water Chemistry' started by Swisswiss, Oct 2, 2016.

to remove this notice and enjoy 3reef content with less ads. 3reef membership is free.

  1. Swisswiss

    Swisswiss Caribbean Reef Squid

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2011
    Messages:
    2,879
    Location:
    Geneva Switzerland
    yesterday I switched out my matrix carbon, I did rinse it in RO/DI water but perhaps not enough?...today I tested my water (Hanna) and it seems my No3 spiked from 1.9 - 6.6 im assuming this is directly correlated with the new carbon, I seem to be able to see fine black particles in the testing vial.... can anyone confirm this? im guessing its these dark black particles are obstructing the light reading, causing a miss-reading? I dont have any algae outbreaks and PE is excellent....

    its also worth saying that the carbon is in a biopellet reactor (http://www.grotech-aquarientechnik.de/product_info.php/info/p497_BioPelletReactor-BPR-80-intern.html I hope this was not a colossal mistake) with the pump turned down to 50%..... the carbon pearls on the top are "simmering" while the ones at the base are in a sort of typhoon. is the reactor disintegrating the carbon?
     
  2. Click Here!

  3. Swisswiss

    Swisswiss Caribbean Reef Squid

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2011
    Messages:
    2,879
    Location:
    Geneva Switzerland
    forgot to mention the spike happened over a period of 4 days (on the 28th of sep. no3 was at 1.9, yesterday I changed the carbon, and today I tested and got the 6.6 result)
     
  4. Swisswiss

    Swisswiss Caribbean Reef Squid

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2011
    Messages:
    2,879
    Location:
    Geneva Switzerland
    so I turned off all the sources of flow in the dt (return pump + mp40s), let the water settle for about 5 min and re-tested.....the result is now 4.5... for the first reading I did test the water 30 min after foundation A (calcium) was dosed, could that have caused the initial high reading?
     
  5. Vinnyboombatz

    Vinnyboombatz Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2010
    Messages:
    6,344
    Location:
    Dunnellon, Florida
    Do not tumble carbon Swiss.It will indeed break up .I would turn the flow way down.It is much better to run the water through carbon slowly. Particulates in the water can definitely alter the results of your Hanna tester.
     
    DSC reef and Swisswiss like this.
  6. Swisswiss

    Swisswiss Caribbean Reef Squid

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2011
    Messages:
    2,879
    Location:
    Geneva Switzerland
    turned it down, ill retest tomorrow morning
     
    DSC reef and Vinnyboombatz like this.
  7. Swisswiss

    Swisswiss Caribbean Reef Squid

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2011
    Messages:
    2,879
    Location:
    Geneva Switzerland
    before feeding, pumps off for a few mins and before my dosing pump kicked in to dose anything....results: 2.8 (that I can live with, as it will most likely drop further) strange though....
     
    DSC reef and Vinnyboombatz like this.
  8. Click Here!

  9. oldfishkeeper

    oldfishkeeper Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Aug 13, 2012
    Messages:
    7,660
    Location:
    Cincinnati
    I agree, the carbon should not be in such a strong flow - I'm not sure on how that would affect test results but sounds like it's back to being fine.
     
    Swisswiss and DSC reef like this.