nitrates driving me crazy

100lbs in a 55 is a lot of rock. Not saying that is bad, but do you have sufficient flow through it? Sounds like a lot of rock to trap stuff if you do not have enough flow to keep it clean. Take a pump or power head and blow out every nook and cranny and see how much stuff you stir up.

cheato will take up nitrates.... but that does not solve your high nitrate production. Ideally you would have everything working properly to produce low nitrates and use macro algae to suck up the rest.

 

Thanks. I have 2 powerheads to move water around. Both heads swivel and i can see the corals moving in the flow. Maybe i will take some rock out and put it my other tank as it needs some. Or I can move it to the wet dry in the bottom where the bio balls used to be. Oh decisions decisions.

 

Hello TBELT

I've had the same problem when I first started out my 40 breeder. My Nitrates were around 60 PPM. The lowest I got the tank down to was 40 PPM with frequent water changes, about 20% every 3 days. After consulting 4 LFS, with no quick solution, I went searching the web. I stumbled on AZ-NO3 Nitrate Eliminator; I would say this thing is amazing. In 2 weeks, my nitrates were around 20 PPM and a week after nitrates were a thing of the past. This chemical help nitrates bond compounds so your protein skimmer can help remove nitrates safely. The main component for this chemical to work properly is a highly efficient protein skimmer that can pull wet skim-mate. Best suggestion is to set the skimmer to wet skim and frequently empty the cup. Read the reviews on Marine Depot for this product.

AZ-NO3 Nitrate Eliminator 240mL Details

- well best wishes to you and your issue

 

Thanks for the idea. Better living through chemistry. Got to love that. I might try this first then get into building a fugium. tis way i have the time to build the refugium right. Thanks again

 

I guess my point was to use a power head to blow off the rocks and anything else you can get to, then do a water change.

Nitrate only come form the food you put in. They do not magically appear. They either pass through a fish first, or food gets uneaten and rots in your tank. Detrius and uneaten food all break down to nitrates. So if you have a build up of stuff, and now it is being consumed by bacteria, then you have a higher concentration than you should. So blow off the rocks and change some water.

And I hope you did not think I am against macro. I have a fuge and macro algae is good stuff. Just sort of get a handle on what your problem is now, then drive them to zero with algae. Lots of live rock is good too. It will eventually be colonized with nitrate eating bacteria. I had zero nitrates and no algae before I put the fuge in. I was just thinking you might have a lot of dead spots collecting stuff.

 

I am going to blow the rock off in about an hour to see what happens. I will post the results then to see what happens. Thanks for the idea.

 

Using AZ-NO3 sounds great and all, but thats just a temp. and never ending usage of that product. It took me a long time to figure out what was creating my No3 issue. I strongly suggest that you find the source and make the necessary adjustment/s.


luna

 

Well I used a power head to blow off the rock and well let's just say I think I found the problem. I removed some of the rock about 30 pounds. moved the pwerheads to improve the flow through and around the rock. I put about 15 pounds in the wet dry where the bio balls were and put the rest in my other tank. Hopefully by putting the rock in the wet dry i will not loose too much of the good bacteria my tank needs.

Moving rock around with corals stuck to them was not fun but it seems to have come out OK. Some of the corals had grown over 2 rocks so i had to "split" them but so far they look good. Time will tell. Now a few more water changes and some testing to see if this worked out.

Thanks for the help.

 

You are right masking the problem is a temp fix to a permanant problem. I think I found the source. Poor flow in the rocks because I had so much. All kinds of crap came out when i used the powerhead to blow off the rock. Time will tell.

I still plan on building a refugium but now i can take my time. I think.

Thanks for the help.

 

I used to blow my rocks off with a power head everytime before a water change. I redid my rock and actually have really good flow through them. When I do it now pretty much nothing comes out. All my return flow goes behind my rock down the back wall. I have a powerhead pointing to the back wall, and I have a large base rock that keeps the majority of my rock off the sand. So even when I feed, food comes shooting out of the rock. I turn that power head off at night to give the fish a break. But everything stays spic and span. And yes, the fuge will be a great addition. Progress rocks!