Lowering Nitrates!

[AydenLincoln]

I love my starfish I really do and I want what’s best for the little guy. I’ve been considering taking him back to the fish store as I spoke with them and they’d give me store credit if I do. But I think it may stress the little guy out more. My nitrates are so high right now around 30. Boohoo! He’s eating and behaving normally but his little spikes are eroding. I’ve also thought about quarantining the little guy until I can get my nitrates down and I actually got a false reading the one time on them so I did think they were coming down a lot but only came down 0.02 points. Recommendations? I love the little guy so much and I just want what’s best. I’ve been carbon dosing, I run a skimmer, and do weekly water changes. I also have been thinking about making my own RODI water I just need to buy a unit and salt. Is there a way to get them down quickly?

 

[Illstatereefer]

When in doubt, do a water change. How long have you had it?

 

[AydenLincoln]

When in doubt, do a water change. How long have you had it?

1 Month! I’m about to and clean the back chambers etc. I need to test the new water too.

 

[rennjidk]

1 Month! I’m about to and clean the back chambers etc. I need to test the new water too.

I'm guessing you have an AIO? Grab an Innovative marine Chaetomax light and some Chaeto. You'll be coming back here in a month asking how to get nitrates above 0.0

 

[AydenLincoln]

I'm guessing you have an AIO? Grab an Innovative marine Chaetomax light and some Chaeto. You'll be coming back here in a month asking how to get nitrates above 0.0

Yes! I wanted to do this originally. But was warned against it.

 

[GARRIGA]

Carbon dosing has been most effective for me to quickly reduce nitrates without stressing parameters plus it releases trapped alkalinity that would be removed via a WC. Have a test tank I allow to get above 160 ppm then apply NoPox in varying amounts each time to see how quickly I can drop nitrates without causing oxygen depletion. This is done with Microbacter7 added weekly and carbon dosing done daily as instructed although I often overdose for the purpose of testing the affect so I know my boundaries.

 

[Klyle]

NOPOX is great but it can take a while to start working... and if you use too much and get your no3 to zero you'll be wishing they were 30! You need to lower your no3 as much as you can with water changes and use carbon dosing to maintain those levels

 

[AydenLincoln]

NOPOX is great but it can take a while to start working... and if you use too much and get your no3 to zero you'll be wishing they were 30! You need to lower your no3 as much as you can with water changes and use carbon dosing to maintain those levels

So increase water changes to multiple times a week. Thanks!

 

[Yates273]

30 ppm are not that bad. What has been said before just do some water changes to bring down would be the quickest. Carbon dosing will also work but that does take some time. I had my nitrates up to 75+ and have been slowly getting down with water changes and carbon dosing. I’m at about 35 now and I see a huge difference in everything. I also have a starfish (orange Linkia) in tank and he seems to be doing great.

 

[AydenLincoln]

30 ppm are not that bad. What has been said before just do some water changes to bring down would be the quickest. Carbon dosing will also work but that does take some time. I had my nitrates up to 75+ and have been slowly getting down with water changes and carbon dosing. I’m at about 35 now and I see a huge difference in everything. I also have a starfish (orange Linkia) in tank and he seems to be doing great.

This is reassuring!! How long has he been in the tank?

 

[Klyle]

If you really think 30 ppm nitrates is for some reason causing issues with your starfish, yes. Do a few 30% wc's back to back and that will get your levels down. Then u can start dosing nopox to maintain those levels... but it may take some time to start working. Different people have different results. I didn't see any reduction in nutrients for well over a month after I started using it. But then some people say a week. But it's a really good idea to lower nutrients through wc's before you start using it. Hopefully you don't have a 150g tank!

 

[Klyle]

30 ppm are not that bad. What has been said before just do some water changes to bring down would be the quickest. Carbon dosing will also work but that does take some time. I had my nitrates up to 75+ and have been slowly getting down with water changes and carbon dosing. I’m at about 35 now and I see a huge difference in everything. I also have a starfish (orange Linkia) in tank and he seems to be doing great.

I agree 30ppm isn't bad at all...u definitely don't want to maintain those levels but you have time to work on it

 

[AydenLincoln]

If you really think 30 ppm nitrates is for some reason causing issues with your starfish, yes. Do a few 30% wc's back to back and that will get your levels down. Then u can start dosing nopox to maintain those levels... but it may take some time to start working. Different people have different results. I didn't see any reduction in nutrients for well over a month after I started using it. But then some people say a week. But it's a really good idea to lower nutrients through wc's before you start using it. Hopefully you don't have a 150g tank!

No I don’t lol! It’s a 20 gallon.

 

[Klyle]

No I don’t lol! It’s a 20 gallon.

Then wc's are easy peasy!

 

[Spare time]

No I don’t lol! It’s a 20 gallon.

That is pretty small so really a bucket or two of water can make a huge difference.

 

[Spare time]

PS I also agree 30 nitrate may not be an issue. No one in this hobby seems to really know or understand what levels of nitrate actually cause issues (in terms of just nitrate, not its relationship to phosphate of which there may be some evidence of issues). However, I find it easier to keep nitrate lower as the higher it gets, the more difficult it is to lower and the more likely some issues might occur.

 

[Klyle]

You really could just maintain levels with wc's on a 20g system but if you decide to start carbon dosing, do research. And go slow and don't even use recommended amount. Bad things happen when you over-do it

 

[PeterEde]

I love my starfish I really do and I want what’s best for the little guy I’ve been considering taking him back to the fish store as I spoke with them and getting another one or something else in the future but I think it might h stress the little guy more. My nitrates are so high right now around 30. Bohoo! He’s eating and behaving normally but his little spikes are eroding. I’ve also thought about quarantining the little guy until I can get my nitrates down and I actually got a false reading the one time on them so I did think they were coming down a lot but only came down 0.02 points. Recommendations? I love the little guy so much and I just want what’s best. I’ve been carbon dosing, I run a skimmer, and do weekly water changes. I also have been thinking about making my own RODI water I just need to buy a unit and salt. Is there a way to get them down quickly?

I've had a longspine urchin in my tank from the first day I put live rock in. I've had nitrates off the scale and now only getting down to 40ppm. My longspine is still going.
Last week I found a asterina starfish. Assume it came on my last LR a few months back. It has since vanished again but it had obviously grown

 

[PeterEde]

Carbon dosing has been most effective for me to quickly reduce nitrates without stressing parameters plus it releases trapped alkalinity that would be removed via a WC. Have a test tank I allow to get above 160 ppm then apply NoPox in varying amounts each time to see how quickly I can drop nitrates without causing oxygen depletion. This is done with Microbacter7 added weekly and carbon dosing done daily as instructed although I often overdose for the purpose of testing the affect so I know my boundaries.

NOPOX is doing SFA for my tank.

 

[Yates273]

This is reassuring!! How long has he been in the tank?

I have had the starfish in the tank for about 4.5 months