I have been fighting with nitrates for a while now. I will admit that there was a point for about a month that my water changes were not as much as they should have been. This was about two months ago. The nitrates went to about 30 - 40. I did get back on top of things and knocked them back down for the last month or so. I did larger water changes a few times over two weeks and then the normal 20% every two weeks after that. However the last week or two they have climbed back up to around 40. I cannot seem to keep them down for some reason and I cannot figure it out. I have kept up on water changes but a few days after the change the nitrates rocket back up. My corals (soft and LPS) are starting to brown a little bit and not be as vibrant. I need to get this figured out before I loose anything. Any tweaks or suggestions or ideas please let me know. Here is my plan.
I got some nopox tonight but haven't started adding it yet. I am thinking that I will do a large water change. I was thinking of doing about 10 gallons (maybe more around 7 or 8 in reality) on a 30 gallon system. I don't think that is to large but really don't know? After that change I will let it circulate a bit and test nitrate levels. Following that I will dose a small amount of the nopox (probably 0.5 - 1 ml) and keep dosing that amount everyday for about 4 days. I will test every other day unless there is a reason to test everyday? I will plot these and start tracking what is happening. I will use that data to adjust the dosing appropriately and keep tracking until it seems that the dosing will keep nitrates around 5. I do not want to bring it all the way to zero (hence the small dose to start).
I will stay with 20% water changes every other week while dosing and see how things go. May continue dosing for a while to see how it goes. May stop to see what happens and decide on next action. I will probably start to dose the red sea energy A & B a few days in to keep some nutrients in the water, I think this is what is recommended? My questions (along with the ones above) are I assume on water change days I should dose after the change? Is there going to be any effect on PH as I am already sitting on the low side? I would like to start using kalk to get it up but just don't need the alk or cal supplement. That is beside the point for now haha, will deal with that later. I do not run a skimmer, is that going to create a problem or should water changes be good enough? That is all I can think of right now, i'm sure i'll have more later. Thanks!!! I am using an API test for nitrates right now. It is the one I had from my cycle cause I did not plan on testing that much. I will probably get a salifert test to see if that is different this week. My parameters are as follows just for information.
Temp: 80
Salinity: 1.026
PH: 7.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 40
Phosphate: 0.05
Calcium: 450
Alk: 9.2
Mag: 1350
Two clownfish, three acans, one hammer, one ricordia, two favia, a mixed zoa garden (small) and a chalice. Probably 7 hermit crabs (red), 2 emerald crabs, 5 nassarius snails.
I got some nopox tonight but haven't started adding it yet. I am thinking that I will do a large water change. I was thinking of doing about 10 gallons (maybe more around 7 or 8 in reality) on a 30 gallon system. I don't think that is to large but really don't know? After that change I will let it circulate a bit and test nitrate levels. Following that I will dose a small amount of the nopox (probably 0.5 - 1 ml) and keep dosing that amount everyday for about 4 days. I will test every other day unless there is a reason to test everyday? I will plot these and start tracking what is happening. I will use that data to adjust the dosing appropriately and keep tracking until it seems that the dosing will keep nitrates around 5. I do not want to bring it all the way to zero (hence the small dose to start).
I will stay with 20% water changes every other week while dosing and see how things go. May continue dosing for a while to see how it goes. May stop to see what happens and decide on next action. I will probably start to dose the red sea energy A & B a few days in to keep some nutrients in the water, I think this is what is recommended? My questions (along with the ones above) are I assume on water change days I should dose after the change? Is there going to be any effect on PH as I am already sitting on the low side? I would like to start using kalk to get it up but just don't need the alk or cal supplement. That is beside the point for now haha, will deal with that later. I do not run a skimmer, is that going to create a problem or should water changes be good enough? That is all I can think of right now, i'm sure i'll have more later. Thanks!!! I am using an API test for nitrates right now. It is the one I had from my cycle cause I did not plan on testing that much. I will probably get a salifert test to see if that is different this week. My parameters are as follows just for information.
Temp: 80
Salinity: 1.026
PH: 7.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 40
Phosphate: 0.05
Calcium: 450
Alk: 9.2
Mag: 1350
Two clownfish, three acans, one hammer, one ricordia, two favia, a mixed zoa garden (small) and a chalice. Probably 7 hermit crabs (red), 2 emerald crabs, 5 nassarius snails.