Carbon dosing nitrates rising

[The Water Keeper]

Hi Reefers. First ever post. Been on the side lines reading and learning. Anyhow I’m fairly new to Reefing, approximately two years. I love fish but love my sticks too. The problem is my nitrates have been on the rise the last 2 1/2 months due to no water changes. They were originally with water changes 20ppm. now 56ppm. Water changes are out for now, I understand the importance. I’m doing the moonshiners program so I stopped water changes and started carbon dosing vodka to help keep the nitrates under control. I have started carbon dosing seven weeks ago and am now dosing 9ml. to my heavily stocked 100 gallon tank. I’m not seeing any changes other than skimmer skimming better. One of my concerns is I’ve seen phosphates lowering. Phosphate is regularly between .02-.05
I tested yesterday and noticed the phosphate was .02 and thought maybe I needed to add more phosphates so that nitrates would decrease. I understand there out of wack compared to red field ratio. Anyway is this a problem? Also should I have seen anything yet after dosing 9ml’s of vodka? The dosing schedule that everyone follows changes/increases every week or seven days. Can I increase faster? And at what rate? Appreciate your help!

 

[legionofdoon]

I read somewhere on here that red sea themselves stated that sometimes when dosing nopox it turns nitrate to nitrite. If that is the case it'll throw off your nitrate tests. I dose homemade nopox into an anaerobic reactor and the bacteria completes the cycle to N2. It's my understanding that dosed directly to the tank it increases the bacteria biomass (the bacteria incorporates the nitrate for growth) which is removed by skimming which removes the nitrate in a round about way. In an anaerobic setting the carbon is used as food but the bacteria use the nitrate as an Oxygen donor for cellular respiration which turns the nitrate to N2 gas.

 

[melonheadorion]

one thing to keep in mind is that the balance of N vs P should be in a range of each other. ive found that if my P is too low for the ratio to N, N doesnt deplete as well. the redfield ratio is what it is referred to, if i recall correctly.

 

[legionofdoon]

one thing to keep in mind is that the balance of N vs P should be in a range of each other. ive found that if my P is too low for the ratio to N, N doesnt deplete as well. the redfield ratio is what it is referred to, if i recall correctly.

I don't think it matters much in my case since the anaerobic bacteria aren't using nitrate as "food" but as an oxygen supply for cellular respiration. That being said I do put a cap full of neo phos in my 5 gallon ato.

 

[melonheadorion]

well, if youre dosing neo phos, and your nitrates arent dropping, i would say that the input is exceeding or equaling the output. if your nitrate isnt dropping, its because something is creating it, whether it be leeching, overfeeding, etc.

personally, i was having somewhat of an issue with my nitrates as well. my P was .02, but my nitrates were 25 ish, and werent dropping with just carbon dosing. i do try to be conservative when i dose though. i just did a nitrate test a minute ago, and im at 13.1. 12 days ago, i was at 18, so as you can see, it doesnt drop fast, and i would suspect that with just the amount i carbon dose, it wouldnt drop that much, if at all, so i personally use a refugium to assist with it. could do that, if you havent already, or an algae scrubber.
with that being said, my 5 nitrate drop is because of those two export methods. for carbon dosing to work, youre gonna have to create more export than import. less feeding, find out if something is leeching, etc. I personally try to be careful with carbon dosing, and not to overdue it

 

[legionofdoon]

Go to the DIY stickies and read Donovan's nitrate destroyer. It's the best thing to lower nitrates once it kicks in.

 

[legionofdoon]

I have a 17 gallon refugium and it never dropped my nitrates below 30, straight carbon dosing gave me dinos. With the destroyer I've stayed between 4 and 10 since Early February and I feed, pellets multiple times a day, frozen every other day or so and reef roids twice a week.

 

[The Water Keeper]

one thing to keep in mind is that the balance of N vs P should be in a range of each other. ive found that if my P is too low for the ratio to N, N doesnt deplete as well. the redfield ratio is what it is referred to, if i recall correctly.

So wouldn’t my phosphates zero out before stalling on nitrate? Seems my system still has some phosphates. To balance out now with nitrates that high will most likely shock my corals.

 

[The Water Keeper]

Test today nitrates 64
Phosphates .07
Export in my system is chaeto reactor and a scrubber filter socks.

my feeding for my fish is 1 1/2 cubes frozen my sis and brine shrimp plus sheet nori.
Still trying to figure out
How fast can I up the dose of vodka?
do I need to add phosphate to see a reduction because my systems not balanced?
First time carbon dosing. Is there a limit of how much vodka a system can handle before a negative effect?
thanks

 

[melonheadorion]

Test today nitrates 64
Phosphates .07
Export in my system is chaeto reactor and a scrubber filter socks.

my feeding for my fish is 1 1/2 cubes frozen my sis and brine shrimp plus sheet nori.
Still trying to figure out
How fast can I up the dose of vodka?
do I need to add phosphate to see a reduction because my systems not balanced?
First time carbon dosing. Is there a limit of how much vodka a system can handle before a negative effect?
thanks

i would suspect that as long as you arent overfeeding, if you had straight P to the system, you will see more reduction in N. as far as dosing vodka, this link will give you tables on dosing. https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php

with that, you cant just go to the highest level. you want to slowly ramp up, so find where you are already on that chart, and go from there

 

[The Water Keeper]

i would suspect that as long as you arent overfeeding, if you had straight P to the system, you will see more reduction in N. as far as dosing vodka, this link will give you tables on dosing. https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php

with that, you cant just go to the highest level. you want to slowly ramp up, so find where you are already on that chart, and go from there

Ok so I need to add phosphates to reduce more nitrates. The chart I’m familiar with. Just seemed like after all the reading from reefers experience with carbon dosing my daily dose seemed high with no reduction. Most reefers have seen nitrates lower by week six. Not me . I also think I remember reading the raitio of nitrates to phosphate is actually closer to 10:1 anyway hope I’m on the right track. I do see the alkalinity on the rise though. Thanks