High, but stable nitrates even with NOPOX

[IanMauger]

My system has been up for 18 months and until recently (3 months or so) I have never had an issue with nitrates. It seems to have started to increase shortly after getting my Diamond Watchman Goby. I’m leaning towards him being responsible to releasing nutrients from the sand bed (only 2”), is my thinking correct? However, two months ago my tank was hammered with an algae outbreak (hair, turf, and yes, dreaded bryopsis). In September I’ve been dosing NOPOX at max dose for my water volume (75g) so 9ml per day using a dosing pump for 3ml at equal intervals. Since then my nitrates have dropped off to about 10ppm and have maintained there for about 2 months with no movement. Nothing else seems to bring it down, water changes, limit feeding, etc. I don’t over feed either. The algae which was once bright green is now brown and white and is disappearing.

My questing is should I maintain this dose? Try something different? While it does seem to be working, can’t the nitrates be coming from the dying algae? I don’t have an issue with NOPOX except for the snotty bacteria colonies, which I have to scrub my skimmer body etc. because it makes it totally inefficient once the build up is bad. I am drawing outside air in for better O2 saturation. Should I get some Marinepure blocks?

System Specs:
75g display w/ 20g sump
Roughly 60g total water volume
Bubble Magus Curve 5, tuned to wetter skim
RO/DI unit runs 0 TDS.
Fuge with Chaeto, needs harvested once every 2 weeks.

Bioload:
2x Clownfish
1x Blue Damsel
1x Six Line Wrasse
1x Lawn Mower Blenny
1x Diamond Watchman Goby
CUC snails, hermits, 1x Coral Banded Shrimp (don’t even know how many snails and hermits lol)

Parameters:
Alk: 10.5
Ca: 440ppm
Mg: 1350ppm
Ph: 8.0-8.3 (fluctuates)
PO4: 0.05ppm
NO3: 10ppm

Thanks!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

IMO, 10 ppm nitrate is not a big concern. I'd probably just increase the NOPOX a little bit, if anything.

There's likely a bigger problem from driving it too low than leaving it were it is, so i would not go the route of the Marinepure.

 

[BigJohnny]

My system has been up for 18 months and until recently (3 months or so) I have never had an issue with nitrates. It seems to have started to increase shortly after getting my Diamond Watchman Goby. I’m leaning towards him being responsible to releasing nutrients from the sand bed (only 2”), is my thinking correct? However, two months ago my tank was hammered with an algae outbreak (hair, turf, and yes, dreaded bryopsis). In September I’ve been dosing NOPOX at max dose for my water volume (75g) so 9ml per day using a dosing pump for 3ml at equal intervals. Since then my nitrates have dropped off to about 10ppm and have maintained there for about 2 months with no movement. Nothing else seems to bring it down, water changes, limit feeding, etc. I don’t over feed either. The algae which was once bright green is now brown and white and is disappearing.

My questing is should I maintain this dose? Try something different? While it does seem to be working, can’t the nitrates be coming from the dying algae? I don’t have an issue with NOPOX except for the snotty bacteria colonies, which I have to scrub my skimmer body etc. because it makes it totally inefficient once the build up is bad. I am drawing outside air in for better O2 saturation. Should I get some Marinepure blocks?

System Specs:
75g display w/ 20g sump
Roughly 60g total water volume
Bubble Magus Curve 5, tuned to wetter skim
RO/DI unit runs 0 TDS.
Fuge with Chaeto, needs harvested once every 2 weeks.

Bioload:
2x Clownfish
1x Blue Damsel
1x Six Line Wrasse
1x Lawn Mower Blenny
1x Diamond Watchman Goby
CUC snails, hermits, 1x Coral Banded Shrimp (don’t even know how many snails and hermits lol)

Parameters:
Alk: 10.5
Ca: 440ppm
Mg: 1350ppm
Ph: 8.0-8.3 (fluctuates)
PO4: 0.05ppm
NO3: 10ppm

Thanks!

With alk 10.5, 10ppm nitrate and .05 phosphate is just fine. In fact I'd be careful not to try driving it down to much farther.

 

[IanMauger]

IMO, 10 ppm nitrate is not a big concern. I'd probably just increase the NOPOX a little bit, if anything.

There's likely a bigger problem from driving it too low than leaving it were it is, so i would not go the route of the Marinepure.

Thanks, Randy. Everything is healthy and growing nicely. Like I said, the algae bloom was pretty bad but it’s really cleared up a lot. What I couldn’t get with the toothbrush is now brown and or white and looks to be slowly disappearing.

 

[IanMauger]

With alk 10.5, 10ppm nitrate and .05 phosphate is just fine. In fact I'd be careful not to try driving it down to much farther.

Thanks for input! Like I mentioned to Randy, the algae is really starting to disappear and what’s left is brown/white filaments left. It seems my CUC is handling it as well. My corals are doing fine, no issues with browning out or anything.

 

[roberthu526]

IMO, 10 ppm nitrate is not a big concern. I'd probably just increase the NOPOX a little bit, if anything.

There's likely a bigger problem from driving it too low than leaving it were it is, so i would not go the route of the Marinepure.

I am having trouble keeping LPS euphyllia to be specific. My nitrate used to be at 0-2 and after researching I felt my numbers are too low so now it is at 4-5 via Red Sea Pro and phosphate is 0.08-0.1 via Hanna ULR. But my frogspawn and candy cane still dies slowly. Do you think my nitrate is still too low?
I have ordered four Triton test kits hoping to find the culprit of my water but hoping you could give some advice. Thank you 8in advance!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Nitrate too low at 4-5 ppm? No.

 

[roberthu526]

Nitrate too low at 4-5 ppm? No.

Okay thank you. I need to find something else to blame then. Counting on the Triton ICP!

 

[BigJohnny]

Okay thank you. I need to find something else to blame then. Counting on the Triton ICP!

What is happening to the euphyllia as they are dying? Do they ever look happy in the tank or go south from the get go?

 

[roberthu526]

What is happening to the euphyllia as they are dying? Do they ever look happy in the tank or go south from the get go?

They were fine for about eight months. Duncan’s grew quite a bit from three heads to 10+ heads. Frogspawns and hammers didn’t really grow much but they polyp extension were awesome. Then I started using biopellets because I wanted to try acro. The euphyllia were still doing fine until I pulled the biopellets off line due to the effluent mess it produced. The euphyllias lost all polyps within a week after that. Now the only thing I have left is a few Duncan’s. The biggest one have quite poor polyp extension now. I will try to find photos to show before and after.

I should also mention that after pulling the biopellets off line I also changed my lights from black box to Kessil. I probably changed too much in a too short period of time...

 

[IanMauger]

They were fine for about eight months. Duncan’s grew quite a bit from three heads to 10+ heads. Frogspawns and hammers didn’t really grow much but they polyp extension were awesome. Then I started using biopellets because I wanted to try acro. The euphyllia were still doing fine until I pulled the biopellets off line due to the effluent mess it produced. The euphyllias lost all polyps within a week after that. Now the only thing I have left is a few Duncan’s. The biggest one have quite poor polyp extension now. I will try to find photos to show before and after.

I should also mention that after pulling the biopellets off line I also changed my lights from black box to Kessil. I probably changed too much in a too short period of time...

That will do it, in regards to the Kessil switch. I have have roasted a few SPS because of them. Personally my sweet spot is 50% intensity and 40% colors. Since Kessil logic keeps the spectrum, I prefer the bluer lights. That said, I have lost a beautiful purple torch because of a Clownfish. You don’t have clowns trying to host them do you?

 

[roberthu526]

That will do it, in regards to the Kessil switch. I have have roasted a few SPS because of them. Personally my sweet spot is 50% intensity and 40% colors. Since Kessil logic keeps the spectrum, I prefer the bluer lights. That said, I have lost a beautiful purple torch because of a Clownfish. You don’t have clowns trying to host them do you?

Dear god is that why? I hvave lost two torch frags and not sure why. I did see the clown pair swimming on top of them most of the time!

 

[Dennis Cartier]

I am having trouble keeping LPS euphyllia to be specific. My nitrate used to be at 0-2 and after researching I felt my numbers are too low so now it is at 4-5 via Red Sea Pro and phosphate is 0.08-0.1 via Hanna ULR. But my frogspawn and candy cane still dies slowly. Do you think my nitrate is still too low?
I have ordered four Triton test kits hoping to find the culprit of my water but hoping you could give some advice. Thank you 8in advance!

In the past, and just recently as well, when I have had LPS issues, I have found that dosing a bit of Iodine to be helpful. Iodine is one of those additives that many discount as not needed, but on multiple occaisions I have found that it perks up sullen LPS and anenomes. I am not sure what about my practices make it a beneficial additive, and to be honest, I usually forget that it can be what is lacking and have to "rediscover" this fact all over again. Anecdotal for sure, but this has been my experience in the last 2 tanks.

I use Vibrance and only dose 1 a week, which is far less than the recomendation on the bottle, but it seems to be appreciated by all my LPS. In my case, my duncans are the indicator coral that alerts me that a bit of iodine is in order. Polyp extension gets noticeably better after I dose it and I take that as a good sign that it helps. After the initial improvement, dosing more (like suggested on the bottle) does not seem to have the same effect, so I expect that once a baseline is reached, excess is not beneficial.

Dennis

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

In the past, and just recently as well, when I have had LPS issues, I have found that dosing a bit of Iodine to be helpful. Iodine is one of those additives that many discount as not needed, but on multiple occaisions I have found that it perks up sullen LPS and anenomes. I am not sure what about my practices make it a beneficial additive, and to be honest, I usually forget that it can be what is lacking and have to "rediscover" this fact all over again. Anecdotal for sure, but this has been my experience in the last 2 tanks.

I use Vibrance and only dose 1 a week, which is far less than the recomendation on the bottle, but it seems to be appreciated by all my LPS. In my case, my duncans are the indicator coral that alerts me that a bit of iodine is in order. Polyp extension gets noticeably better after I dose it and I take that as a good sign that it helps. After the initial improvement, dosing more (like suggested on the bottle) does not seem to have the same effect, so I expect that once a baseline is reached, excess is not beneficial.

Dennis

Thanks.

Some iodine additives contain more than iodine. What did you add on these occasions?

 

[Dennis Cartier]

Thanks.

Some iodine additives contain more than iodine. What did you add on these occasions?

On the occaisions that I noticed these effects, I was using Aquavitro Vibrance which is Potassium Iodide. I have found my tank low on potassium in the past as well. When that was the case I dose Brightwell Potassion.

Now you have me wondering ... I am away on vacation right now, but when I get home I will test K and see if it has drifted out if range.

Dennis

 

[Ubergroover]

Dear god is that why? I hvave lost two torch frags and not sure why. I did see the clown pair swimming on top of them most of the time!

wow, I recently saw my frogspawn go from 6" round to retracted and hiding. I had recently put in a couple clowns. After I added two BT anemone the frogspawn started to revive. It was a mystery. I bet that was it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

On the occaisions that I noticed these effects, I was using Aquavitro Vibrance which is Potassium Iodide. I have found my tank low on potassium in the past as well. When that was the case I dose Brightwell Potassion.

Now you have me wondering ... I am away on vacation right now, but when I get home I will test K and see if it has drifted out if range.

Dennis

Apparently, it also contains organics:

http://www.aquavitro.com/downloads/MSDS/FN-Vibrance.doc.pdf

"Proprietary aqueous solution of potassium iodide and natural polymer."


Happy Reefing.

 

[roberthu526]

In the past, and just recently as well, when I have had LPS issues, I have found that dosing a bit of Iodine to be helpful. Iodine is one of those additives that many discount as not needed, but on multiple occaisions I have found that it perks up sullen LPS and anenomes. I am not sure what about my practices make it a beneficial additive, and to be honest, I usually forget that it can be what is lacking and have to "rediscover" this fact all over again. Anecdotal for sure, but this has been my experience in the last 2 tanks.

I use Vibrance and only dose 1 a week, which is far less than the recomendation on the bottle, but it seems to be appreciated by all my LPS. In my case, my duncans are the indicator coral that alerts me that a bit of iodine is in order. Polyp extension gets noticeably better after I dose it and I take that as a good sign that it helps. After the initial improvement, dosing more (like suggested on the bottle) does not seem to have the same effect, so I expect that once a baseline is reached, excess is not beneficial.

Dennis

I really appreciate the input! However I am hesitant to add more things at this point because I had made so many changes too quickly in the past. I will wait for my Triton ICP rest results before I dose anything. But I will definitely pay close attention to iodine!

Thank you again for sharing!

 

[IanMauger]

wow, I recently saw my frogspawn go from 6" round to retracted and hiding. I had recently put in a couple clowns. After I added two BT anemone the frogspawn started to revive. It was a mystery. I bet that was it.

Yup. Here was the torch prior to my wife getting her black clownfish. He killed it in about 2 weeks. Receded and bleached. I didn't even want to take a picture because its sad

 

[Dennis Cartier]

Apparently, it also contains organics:

http://www.aquavitro.com/downloads/MSDS/FN-Vibrance.doc.pdf

"Proprietary aqueous solution of potassium iodide and natural polymer."


Happy Reefing.

I tested K now that I am back from vacation. 310. Doh. I use AF, but have the 1st and 3rd component disabled at the moment due to my KH getting out of balance with my Ca/Mg. I attribute this is (as you have mentioned) due to a sulfur reactor that I have in the system. I will move it back into line manually.

Dennis