Bacteria to control nitrate

kdtorgy

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I'm pretty new to the hobby. I have a 140 gallon which was professionally installed two years ago and has been maintained since. I'm starting to manage myself because I really like the hobby and find it fun and challenging to manage my own tank. I've had high nitrates since tank inception, typically around 40-60 ppm. I put in a chaeto fuge about 3 weeks ago and from what I've read it's too small to significantly reduce nitrate and phosphate but it also serves as a pod breeding ground. I started dosing NoPOx but had a bacterial bloom that killed my yellow tang so I'm really leery about trying that again. I've read some reviews on Polyp Labs Genesis Rock product and am wondering if that would be safer. It has a ceramic brick which goes in the fuge and the genesis product which is a mix of bacteria formulated to control nutrients. I'm thinking this may be safer because the bacteria mostly stay in the brick and don't create a massive bloom in the tank. Any thoughts about this particular product or generally bio bricks vs. carbon dosing.
 

Lavey29

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I use PNS probio which is a natural bacteria supplement that lowers nitrates by breaking down organic waste in the tank. My filter sock stays clean over a week now. I dose twice a week half amount.
 

\m/reefsnmetal\m/

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I'm not sure about the bio brick as I've never used it before. Sounds like getting live rock would be better as it would already have the bacterial population. Regarding NoPox though, it is safe if you start with a fraction of the recommended dose and run a skimmer the whole time.
 

ReefEco

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Hey there - more biological filtration (bricks/rock) and addition of bacteria can certainly lower your nitrates. I've never used the polyp lab products, but if they are similar to most others on the market, they should help. However, I would view them as a maintenance solution to keep nitrates low, not necessarily to reduce very high nitrates (like 60ppm) in an effective time frame. You might consider a string of 25% water changes over the course of a week or two to get nitrates down to, say, 20ppm, then try a bacteria product along with media to lower it slowly/maintain it over time. Go slow - as you saw with your high nutrients, added bacteria will take advantage of it to bloom...
 
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kdtorgy

kdtorgy

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Hey there - more biological filtration (bricks/rock) and addition of bacteria can certainly lower your nitrates. I've never used the polyp lab products, but if they are similar to most others on the market, they should help. However, I would view them as a maintenance solution to keep nitrates low, not necessarily to reduce very high nitrates (like 60ppm) in an effective time frame. You might consider a string of 25% water changes over the course of a week or two to get nitrates down to, say, 20ppm, then try a bacteria product along with media to lower it slowly/maintain it over time. Go slow - as you saw with your high nutrients, added bacteria will take advantage of it to bloom...
That sounds like good advice. I’ll do the water changes to get a reasonable level. Maybe with reasonable levels the fuge will be all I need.
 
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