Nitrate removal

jmann124 · May 8, 2013

Wondering what everyone does for nitrate removal. My ammonia, trites, and phosphates stay at 0. My cal, alk, and mag stay in desirable ranges. My nitrates typically stay between 20-30ppm. I tried vodka dosing and got them down, but my LPS started going downhill once the trates hit 10ppm. I don't really have room over the sump for a scrubber. I might could force one in. I am considering a reactor with some media. I just need something that doesn't require phos as well as nitrate to work. Suggestions?

bknapp · May 8, 2013

What is your water change schedule? Best way to lower nitrates without use of a scrubber or carbon dosing (solid or liquid) would be to up your water change amount or frequency.

mike007 · May 8, 2013

First you need to figure out the source of your high nitrates. Wheter it be from overfeeding,phosphates, etc. Carbon dosing does work well for me at 0 nitrates and corals are doing great. I do not use vodka though. To be honest with you i have found that most nitrate problems are caused by overfeeding of fish or corals. Water changes are great but if you don't find the cause it is only a temporary fix.

pickupman66 · May 8, 2013

Joey, Many moons ago, I made a coil De-Nitrator. it worked wonderfully on my 75 gallon tank. I am running it now on my 180, but it is just not large enough to do the job I need at this time so I am running Ecobak/BRS mixture in a reactor.

Reefing Madness · May 8, 2013

Vodka Dosing.....(again)

thegrilledcheesus · May 8, 2013

The solution to pollution is dilution.

jmann124 · May 8, 2013

bknapp said:
What is your water change schedule? Best way to lower nitrates without use of a scrubber or carbon dosing (solid or liquid) would be to up your water change amount or frequency.

Honestly I don't do a lot of water changes. Maybe 10 gallons every week or two. I dry skim so I don't lose much water which keeps my salinity in check with my top off. I dose cal and mag so that stays in check.

mike007 said:
First you need to figure out the source of your high nitrates. Wheter it be from overfeeding,phosphates, etc. Carbon dosing does work well for me at 0 nitrates and corals are doing great. I do not use vodka though. To be honest with you i have found that most nitrate problems are caused by overfeeding of fish or corals. Water changes are great but if you don't find the cause it is only a temporary fix.

It be over feeding, but for fish I only feed pellets or frozen every two or three days. I hang seaweed in the in between days and there are some days of no feeding. I spot feed corals every three to four days.

pickupman66 said:
Joey, Many moons ago, I made a coil De-Nitrator. it worked wonderfully on my 75 gallon tank. I am running it now on my 180, but it is just not large enough to do the job I need at this time so I am running Ecobak/BRS mixture in a reactor.

I'd be interested in heading about that.

Reefing Madness said:
Vodka Dosing.....(again)

I've thought about that but I hated the bacteria bloom and am scared of killing corals.

I am possibly a little overstocked on fish. 2 O Clowns, yellow watchman goby, six line, foxface lo, PJ Cardinal, and small green chromis. The chromis is going ti gmoney friday and the cardinal is going in my sons tank once it finish the cycle. Also have a pistol shrimp, coral banded shrimp, and cleaner shrimp. I know they don't add much load but they are in there. I have a pretty good CUC and am adding more to it Friday. I also have chaeto shaving brush and halameda(sp) in sump.

thegrilledcheesus · May 8, 2013

I would step it up with water changes, maybe do a little more once a week?

bknapp · May 8, 2013

Water changes (in my opinion) are less about calcium, alkalinity and, magnesium as you can correct those with dosing. For me water changes are about the trace elements and keeping nitrates in check, you may want to consider doing more water changes.

mike007 · May 8, 2013

Believe it or not it does not take much to overfeed. You should feed your fish everyday. May sure the food is eaten before it hits the bottom. Liquid coral foods are easily overdosed so be carefull. You didn't say what size tank so i don't know if you are overstocked or not. Carbon dosing has been proven and does work. Water changes work but they are only temporary fixes ,you have to get nitrates in check.

jmann124 · May 8, 2013

mike007 said:
Believe it or not it does not take much to overfeed. You should feed your fish everyday. May sure the food is eaten before it hits the bottom. Liquid coral foods are easily overdosed so be carefull. You didn't say what size tank so i don't know if you are overstocked or not. Carbon dosing has been proven and does work. Water changes work but they are only temporary fixes ,you have to get nitrates in check.

It's a 75 gallon.

mike007 · May 8, 2013

AS far as fish i think you are okay. Try feeding less and continue your water changes. Keep things simple. You don't need all that other crap.

iiluisii · May 9, 2013

I don't believe in a lot of water changes. It's good to do a water change every now and then. But one thing I notice with my tank is that the more I leave it alone the better it gets. I had a hudge algae problem and I did many and many water changes and it was getting worst. But the minute I left the pellets and the scrubber so it's thing the algae started to dye and now gone. I didn't do a water change In 3 month and now the tank looks better than ever. But it's always good to do a water change every now and then to get T elements back in the system specially people that use 2 part. And on the carbon dosing bio pellets will work faster than anything out there. Go with Ecobak or np pearls from dr Tim.

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jmann124 · May 9, 2013

iiluisii said:
I don't believe in a lot of water changes. It's good to do a water change every now and then. But one thing I notice with my tank is that the more I leave it alone the better it gets. I had a hudge algae problem and I did many and many water changes and it was getting worst. But the minute I left the pellets and the scrubber so it's thing the algae started to dye and now gone. I didn't do a water change In 3 month and now the tank looks better than ever. But it's always good to do a water change every now and then to get T elements back in the system specially people that use 2 part. And on the carbon dosing bio pellets will work faster than anything out there. Go with Ecobak or np pearls from dr Tim.

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I feel the same way about WCs. I only do small ones for the T elements. Doesn't ecobak need phosphate as well as nitrate to work?

iiluisii · May 9, 2013

jmann124 said:
I feel the same way about WCs. I only do small ones for the T elements. Doesn't ecobak need phosphate as well as nitrate to work?

I don't think so because I'm running bio pellets and and algae scrubber and I have no issues. I think pellets take 10 nitrates for 1 phosphate or some like that. But the key with bio pellets is that you have to feed your tank. I think if you have no phosphates is better because you won't have to use any GFO or anything like that you can just run bio pellets alone.

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