Will Carbon Help My Nitrates?

Discussion in 'Water Chemistry' started by Hurley1536, Mar 10, 2010.

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  1. Hurley1536

    Hurley1536 Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

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    My nitrates seem to be down after the water change last night. Looks to have dropped from 160 to 120 or 80 (those ranges are hard to tell apart on my API test) I am going to do another 30 percent water change tommorow morning before I go on vacation. Someone suggested I use carbon to absorb nitrates. Will this work?
     
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  3. NASAGeek

    NASAGeek Eyelash Blennie

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    I am not an expert, but I don't think Carbon will help nitrates much. The water changes certainly will.

    M
     
  4. Night-Rida

    Night-Rida Finback Whale

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    carbon will remove some impurities, and make your water clearer..

    just keep doing 25%+ water changes, and add some macro algae either in your dt or sump. if you have bioballs slowly get rid of them and replace with live rock rumble pieces.. remove 25% each week.
     
    Last edited: Mar 10, 2010
  5. Hurley1536

    Hurley1536 Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

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    thanks guys. N-Rida will it be ok to do a 30 percent tommorow morning and then another when i get back 3 days from now?
     
  6. Hurley1536

    Hurley1536 Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

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    ive got a softball sized cheato in my fuge should i add something different?
     
  7. NASAGeek

    NASAGeek Eyelash Blennie

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    Chateo is good.... reverse light cycle??

    I would think those 30% changes would be fine.

    M
     
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  9. amcarrig

    amcarrig Super Moderator

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    Carbon will remove impurities from the water which may, in fact, help to reduce nitrates. Most folks run it all the time, not just when they're having problems. You may want to do the same.
     
  10. Night-Rida

    Night-Rida Finback Whale

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    make sure you got a good light down there.. CFL equivlent to 75+ watts and you can add a couple mangroves or other types of macro algae available..
     
  11. unclejed

    unclejed Whip-Lash Squid

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    First and foremost you have to figure out what is going on. You have given no pertinent information and instructing you in any direction would be reckless. Provide this info;
    How old is the tank? Are you sure the test results are accurate? Have you backed up your findings with a LFS? What is in the tank?
    The answers to those questions will help in resolving the Nitrate if it is indeed that high (which I doubt). If the Nitrate is truly that high, doing small changes will hardly accomplish what you want. In a true emergency, such as Nitrate being truly that high, you should do a 50% water change and 2 days later do another 50% change. As you can see, this is an emergency situation to save the tank. I would do nothing that drastic until I knew for sure the Nitrate results are accurate.
     
  12. Toronto_Guy

    Toronto_Guy Fire Shrimp

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    When you can't tell which color is the best match on the result card, it sometimes helps to hold the test tube on top of the color bars on the card. If you look through the glass and solution at the card, you'll notice that the edges of some of the color bars look well defined through the test tube. When you get to the closest match, the edge of the color bar will almost (or entirely) vanish because there is the least amount of contrast between it and the solution color.

    I hope that made sense! I'm a bit sleep deprived.

    That all being said, your results seem really high, so it may be an expired/faulty test kit.