Bacteria bloom/carbon dosing

[hexcolor reef]

I’ve been adding 7ml of lemon juice to my tank every day and it cleared up pretty well. Been having high ALK issues which can lead to cloudiness in water

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’ve been adding 7ml of lemon juice to my tank every day and it cleared up pretty well. Been having high ALK issues which can lead to cloudiness in water

FWIW, lemon juice (citric acid) will only temporarily reduce alk until it is metabolized by bacteria, then it all comes back. Same effect as for vinegar.

For that reason, it's not usually the best plan for reducing alk.

 

[bureau13]

So, update time. Still dosing DIY NOPOx, dosing NeoPhos....still have Nitrates off the chart and no phosphate. I get no algae, but I do get the occasional "spiderwebs" of goop floating around my tank if they overflow a filter sock, etc. I feel weird increasing the NeoPhos, but maybe I shouldn't. I'm at about 40 ml per day though, which seems high (240 gallon tank plus sump). Fish are happy, most of the coral frags I had in there are not, if they're still alive. Oddly, I have a particular palythoa (or zoanthid, who really knows) colony that is doing well and a leather toadstool that is growing. Seemingly happy cleaner shrimp has vanished, not sure if they are sensitive to nitrates/phosphates.

When I run out of NeoPhos I'm definitely going the homebrew route....Brightwell claims this stuff is strong but I am honestly questioning that. Not sure what to do other than keep going....

 

[hexcolor reef]

Dose vodka it should break down those high nitrates

 

[bureau13]

The recipe I've been dosing is basically a mix of vinegar and vodka. I think it's not been working because of a lack of phosphates. The bacteria need nitrates, carbon and phosphates.

 

[hexcolor reef]

The recipe I've been dosing is basically a mix of vinegar and vodka. I think it's not been working because of a lack of phosphates. The bacteria need nitrates, carbon and phosphates.

What are you using to keep phosphate out? What ever it is remove it or cut that it half

 

[bureau13]

My phosphates were not high so I haven't been doing anything to remove them. It looks like the carbon dosing has stripped out the phosphates I did have but can't go any further on the nitrates. That's why I've been dosing phosphates, trying to get enough back into the system to allow the bacteria to consume the excess nitrates.

 

[hexcolor reef]

Seems like you’ve done everything,
How’s the sand bed looking? Maybe something is sitting somewhere in the substrate or rock maybe even sump

 

[hexcolor reef]

When I got back I cleaned out the Dursos and part of the problem there was globs of bacterial whatever-that-is wasn't able to get through the strainer, which was heavily encrusted. Then when I cranked the return back up, it blew "cobwebs" of that stuff everywhere.

you may need to replace the pipes. I mentioned in my previous comment stinging is stuck somewhere cooking up nitrates and it really could be the pipes holding and still encrusted with what ever you were dosing.

, I had purchased what I thought was a new return pump but was full of food from another reefers tank. My nitrates were high until I returned the pump and bought another. Nitrates went down

 

[bureau13]

It's a deepish bed. Looks ok and I've got a few Nassarius snails and a Diamond goby that help with that, presumably. I don't think I'd want to stir it up though. It's been there for a while.

The small refugium section has ancient Miracle Mud in the bottom (otherwise known as "just mud" by now).

At this point, unless I find a better plan, I'll just keep dosing carbon and phosphate and testing weekly. It's gotta make a difference at some point, surely

 

[bureau13]

After carrying on fora bit as above, I thought I would try the AZ-NO3 stuff, rather than my DIY NOPOx. I'm still dosing Phosphate because it's still measuring zero. Anyway, I've started getting these dips in pH along with a spike in ORP whenever I dose this. I assume it's the AZ-NO3. Is this expected? It freaked me out a bit, so I've reduced the amount.

Nitrates are still 100ish, and phosphates 0-ish, so really I have no clue at this point.

 

[hexcolor reef]

After carrying on fora bit as above, I thought I would try the AZ-NO3 stuff, rather than my DIY NOPOx. I'm still dosing Phosphate because it's still measuring zero. Anyway, I've started getting these dips in pH along with a spike in ORP whenever I dose this. I assume it's the AZ-NO3. Is this expected? It freaked me out a bit, so I've reduced the amount.

Nitrates are still 100ish, and phosphates 0-ish, so really I have no clue at this point.

Try adding more bacteria, they have bacteria on the market that breaks down and removes Nitrates. And the I would still consider replacing the pipes with new ones. Also cleaning out the pumps

Coral are still alive???

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

After carrying on fora bit as above, I thought I would try the AZ-NO3 stuff, rather than my DIY NOPOx. I'm still dosing Phosphate because it's still measuring zero. Anyway, I've started getting these dips in pH along with a spike in ORP whenever I dose this. I assume it's the AZ-NO3. Is this expected? It freaked me out a bit, so I've reduced the amount.

Nitrates are still 100ish, and phosphates 0-ish, so really I have no clue at this point.

Last I recall, AZ NO3 did not reveal ingredients, so effects on pH and ORP can only be determined by experience, and I do not recall any ORP or pH experiences being reported.

 

[bureau13]

Last I recall, AZ NO3 did not reveal ingredients, so effects on pH and ORP can only be determined by experience, and I do not recall any ORP or pH experiences being reported.

Interesting. This wasn't happening (or at least I wasn't noticing it) at first, as I ramped up, but it's like clockwork now.

I'm also dosing phosphates at the same time, but I skipped the AZNO3 yesterday and just did the phosphates, no spike.

Should I be overly worried about it? I suppose I could dose it much more gradually.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don’t see a reason to worry about it based on pH and ORP effects, but I’m not a fan of secret recipes.

 

[bureau13]

Resurrecting this ancient thread to give an unexpected update. I went back to basically a vinegar/vodka cocktail and ramped up the dose a bit to 80-90 ml/day and no real changes. I started thinking I should just pretend I'm experimenting with a "nitrate-rich environment." I decided about two weeks ago to bump up to 100ml and the water got pretty cloudy. We had a brief power outage, and when the return pump came back on I got a ton of bacterial "snot" in the water, which is nothing new, but the water stayed cloudy for a couple days, so I backed off to 90ml, then when it cleared back up to 95ml. I tested the tank and....nitrates were at 52! Phosphate was uncomfortably close to 0 so I dosed some NeoPhos a couple times, and now it's been sitting at .02 and nitrates are down to 38 a couple weeks after the initial drop. I can't believe its finally working, so bizarre.

Anyway, just wanted to update since there was finally some movement.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks for the update!