How do I lower nitrates

[Whurst240]

Hello
I’m running a 42 gallon tank for sbout a year now. I can’t keep any coral alive. I believe the high nitrate levels are the problem.
I added a 26 gallon trigger systems sump
With protien skimmer a filter sick and a refugium.
Levels are still high. Have only ever really did one water change the life of this tank.
But I can’t get my nitrates lower than 30ppm. Any ideas

 

[fishywishy]

30ppm nitrate isn’t going to kill corals. I’d actually rather have 30ppm nitrate than 0ppm.

Something else is killing your corals. What’s your other parameters? Is your RODI water coming out at 0 TDS? What kind of light are you using?

 

[Red_Beard]

2nd'ed. 30 isnt terribly high. Ive kept lps in 60ppm nitrates, they were puffy fluffy and colorful.

What kind of corals, how old is your tank?

If you are hung up on it, look up diy nopox mix up some vodka and vinegar and dose a few ml a day (there are a few threads with instructions, i think miamireefs is the one i would look for.) Just careful not to bottom out. 0ppm is bad juju and things will starve.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Water changes are the easiest way to lower nitrates. But I agree with others above, 30 nitrate will not hurt most corals, something else is going on in your tank if you can't grow corals.

Better to share the water parameters, tank history, details on lighting and flow and filtration, and some pictures, and folks can help you.

 

[CHSUB]

WC is best quick way to lower no3, other methods will help. Manually remove algae and detritus, clean filter sock (mechanical filters) daily, feed less if possible. If no3 persists you could use other more advanced methods: carbon dosing, sulfur deNO3. I would definitely lower no3, it is the end product of the nitrogen cycle and ideally should be closer to unreadable with hobby test kits. You could absolutely be successful with higher, but it’s not necessary. Probably coral issues are something else.

 

[1mbrews8]

what's the phosphate #?

 

[Whurst240]

30ppm nitrate isn’t going to kill corals. I’d actually rather have 30ppm nitrate than 0ppm.

Something else is killing your corals. What’s your other parameters? Is your RODI water coming out at 0 TDS? What kind of light are you using?

I don’t use Rodi water.
Never tested anything but nitrates.
I use the hydra 32 light set fairly low.

 

[Whurst240]

2nd'ed. 30 isnt terribly high. Ive kept lps in 60ppm nitrates, they were puffy fluffy and colorful.

What kind of corals, how old is your tank?

If you are hung up on it, look up diy nopox mix up some vodka and vinegar and dose a few ml a day (there are a few threads with instructions, i think miamireefs is the one i would look for.) Just careful not to bottom out. 0ppm is bad juju and things will starve.

I’ve tried Kenya trees 2x
Green star polyps 2x
Mushroom
Pulsating zena
Tank is a year old. Only ever did like 4 water changes. Test for nitrates only at the moment cause I thought that was the case when everything says coral need to be at 0-5.
Just added a sump 5 weeks ago with ATO
Skimmer
Cheato skimmer sock
Added more live rock after these pictures were takin as well

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hello
I’m running a 42 gallon tank for sbout a year now. I can’t keep any coral alive. I believe the high nitrate levels are the problem.
I added a 26 gallon trigger systems sump
With protien skimmer a filter sick and a refugium.
Levels are still high. Have only ever really did one water change the life of this tank.
But I can’t get my nitrates lower than 30ppm. Any ideas

There are many ways:

Nitrate in the Reef Aquarium - REEFEDITION

Nitrate is an ion that has long dogged aquarists. It is typically formed in aquaria through the digestion of foods, and in many aquaria it builds up and can be difficult to keep at natural levels. In the past, many aquarists performed water changes with nitrate reduction as one of the primary...

www.reefedition.com

 

[Whurst240]

Water changes are the easiest way to lower nitrates. But I agree with others above, 30 nitrate will not hurt most corals, something else is going on in your tank if you can't grow corals.

Better to share the water parameters, tank history, details on lighting and flow and filtration, and some pictures, and folks can help you.

Ph is good but think alk is probably low since I have well water and when I fill my pool in summer I always have to add alk plus

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Ph is good but think alk is probably low since I have well water and when I fill my pool in summer I always have to add alk plus

Evaporation replacement and water to make new salt water generally should not have anything in it.

 

[fishywishy]

I don’t use Rodi water.
Never tested anything but nitrates.
I use the hydra 32 light set fairly low.

If you dont use rodi water do use?

Nitrate is like the least important parameter so i would start testing other things.

 

[dedragon]

I don’t use Rodi water.

this is probably the issue

 

[Red_Beard]

I’ve tried Kenya trees 2x
Green star polyps 2x
Mushroom
Pulsating zena
Tank is a year old. Only ever did like 4 water changes. Test for nitrates only at the moment cause I thought that was the case when everything says coral need to be at 0-5.
Just added a sump 5 weeks ago with ATO
Skimmer
Cheato skimmer sock
Added more live rock after these pictures were takin as well

I can definitely recommend testing things other than nitrate. Especially if you have not been doing water changes. Especially if you want to start keeping healthy coral.

in rough order of importance, at very least, check your:

Specific Gravity/Salinity:
Alkalinity:
Calcium:
Phosphate:
Nitrate: 30ppm
pH:

The corals you list are super hardy corals. I suspect there is something else at play here than nitrates. If you are using well water for top off, and not doing water changes, there is likely a build up of minerals/metals in your tank that are culprit. For this, do a few large water changes to get everything back to base-line and start using RO for topoff.
When you use anything that is not pure water to replace what evaporates, you add everything that is in that water too, but when it evaporates, only pure water escapes, and over time those small impurities build up and compound becoming ever more saturated.