High nitrate help

[Ezeric123]

Hey guys,

I was hoping anyone could help me out with some advice for my high nitrate issues.

A little background info - I'm running a Red Sea Reefer 350 with a 20 gal sump. I've got two Kessil 360we's running at about 30% power (all blue), couple of powerheads, skimmer, GFO reactor, filter sock, diy algae scrubber (recent add), 4" marine pure block in sump, Aquaneat bio balls (not plastic), Pink fiji sand (varies between 1-2 inches, maybe 3 inches in some areas), ~80-100 lbs live rock, 4 stage RODI (usually 1 or 2 TDS), ATO, and I use Red Sea salt (not pro). I was running chaeto in the sump but removed it when I added the algae scrubber (it wasn't helping the nitrates or phosphates much anyways)

I have 6 fish in there currently (recently lost several due to ich and possibly the high nitrates), softies, some lps, and a few encrusting sps. I have a decent cuc with snails, crabs, and shrimp.

I dose ~6mL of vodka daily (maybe I should do more?). I also soaked my marine pure block and bio balls in Brightwell's Microbacter start XLM before placing in sump.

I try to do weekly or bi-weekly ~10-15% water changes (maybe I should do a couple 50% changes or up the weekly changes to 20-25%?). And I try to get any detritus out of the sump when doing these changes.

I usually do not disturb the sand bed too much when doing water changes, but maybe I should start syphoning more (1/4 of the sand bed at a time?)

Current parameter
pH - 7.8
Ammonia - 0.25 (usually lower)
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 80 (usually higher)
Phosphate - 0.1
Salinity - 1.023
Alk - 9
Calcium - 420
Iron - 0
Iodine - 0.6

I've ran the nitrate tests on API (I know its garbage, haha) as well as Red Sea's test and both are usually off scale.

I've been cutting back on feeding, but it doesn't seem to have helped any yet. Fish - mix of frozen, flake, pellet. Coral - Red Sea A and B, reef roids. I do not dose anything other than vodka, and occasionally iodine.

My tank looks fairly healthy for the most part, but coral growth is pretty much non existent and I've lost more than I think I would have if my nitrates were lower. Also, I don't want nitrates that high stressing my fish out all the time.

I just ordered some more powerheads, to maybe help decrease any dead spots in the tank and a new return pump (my current return is pretty slow and I do not get a lot of movement in the sump)

These nitrates are not a new issue, they have always been on the high side for me.

Again, any advice is welcome and if there is something I missed above, please ask. Thanks!!!

 

[Reef.]

You have a lot going on, I would make sure you do your water changes regularly, and I would also start to vacuum your sand bed, small areas at first.
I would do a good tank clean, do a couple of big water changes to get back to a good level.

You also feed a lot of high nutrient foods, try frozen and cut way back on the coral foods.

I would consider your sump may be also not helping, sounds there maybe a lot of detritus down there, keeping it clean and also do you need all the media down there? As it can be making the issue worse if it’s just another area for detritus to collect.

No one fix, probably a few small changes in different places will get you there.

 

[Ezeric123]

You have a lot going on, I would make sure,you do,your water changes regularly, and I would, also start to vacuum your sand bed, small areas at first.
I would do a good tank clean, do a couple of big water changes to back back to a good level.

You also feed a lot of high nutrient foods, try frozen and cut way back on the coral foods.

I would consider your sump may be also not helping, sounds there maybe a lot of detritus down there, keeping in clean and also do you need all the media down there? As it can be making the issue worse if it’s just another area for detritus to,collect.

No one fix, probably a few small changes in different places will get you there.

Yeah, I have a lot going on for sure, haha!

The sump stays pretty clean of detritus. I keep the media in one chamber and I shake the media around with the pumps off to free any detritus and then suck it all out when I do water changes.

I'll definitely start cleaning some areas of the sand and perform more frequent and larger water changes.

I'll stop the coral feedings (I've been cutting back to once a week or once every other week)
And I'll cut back on the fish feedings as well.

Thanks so much for your input!

 

[Reef.]

Yeah, I have a lot going on for sure, haha!

The sump stays pretty clean of detritus. I keep the media in one chamber and I shake the media around with the pumps off to free any detritus and then suck it all out when I do water changes.

I'll definitely start cleaning some areas of the sand and perform more frequent and larger water changes.

I'll stop the coral feedings (I've been cutting back to once a week or once every other week)
And I'll cut back on the fish feedings as well.

Thanks so much for your input!

Sounds good.

Early days, but I have just removed my biological media, in one day my nitrates dropped more than half from 12 to 5, I’m not saying this move is right for you and I understand a drop from 12 to 5 is probably not going to see a 80 level drop to 30 in one day but it’s worth a think if the media is preforming the role you think it is.

As said early days, my nitrate could be 20 tomorrow but thought it worth mentioning.