Nitrates are constantly rising and I can’t control them

[Reagan2646]

I have been having nitrate issues with my tank and I don’t know what to do. I have tried everything from carbon dosing, MB7, cheato, and skimming. Currently I regularly skim 24/7 and run my cheato in reverse to my light schedule. I also dose phosphate constantly and it stays around .06 to .03. As of now my nitrates are at 43 but that’s after doing two 15 gallon water changes in a span of 3 days. From experiences before hand the nitrates will creep back up and sit around 50. My bio load is a foxface, sailfin tang, blue tang, two clownfish, and a cardinal fish

 

[KrisReef]

Stop feeding the fishes so much food.

 

[Reagan2646]

Stop feeding the fishes so much food.

Sorry, I should have stated this in the pervious comment I feed 2 to 3 times a week and I feed mysis I also feed nori Dailey for my tangs and foxface

 

[Miami Reef]

Many people don’t go high enough and prematurely quit carbon dosing. Then they assume the carbon dosing failed.

Which carbon source did you use, what’s the tank size in gallons or liters, and how much did you dose per day?

The methods work (cheato, carbon dosing etc), but you need to continuously use them.

Here are some methods for reducing nitrates:

1) water change

2) feed less

3) carbon dose (vodka or vinegar)

4) cheato/refugium/algae scrubber

5) sulfur denitrator

6) protein skimmer

7) deep sand beds

 

[Reagan2646]

I used vodka I don’t remover the dosage but I also tried nopox and I dosed 4ml daily

I have a Red Sea reefer 350 which is a 91 gallon system

 

[jackson6745]

Which skimmer?

Assuming your export is sufficient, I would do a water change large enough to drop the nitrates to 20ppm or so. Then resume carbon dosing to keep them from climbing.
Make sure your fresh saltwater mix is 0 nitrate.

Curious, are you seeing cyano?

 

[Miami Reef]

I used vodka I don’t remover the dosage but I also tried nopox and I dosed 4ml daily

I have a Red Sea reefer 350 which is a 91 gallon system

11mL daily is the max dose for your tank size. At that dose, you’ll surely knock your NO3 down. Work your way up to the 11mL target. If there are no problems (cloudy water, bacteria blooms) you can increase the dose.

Break it into 4 steps.

Week 1: 3mL-6mL per day

If everything looks good

Week 2: 9mL per day

If nitrates aren’t starting to drop by week 2, then raise it to 11mL per day.

Nitrates can be fine at 40ppm for most corals. Don’t fret. Better to be too high than too low for NO3.

 

[Reagan2646]

Which skimmer?

Assuming your export is sufficient, I would do a water change large enough to drop the nitrates to 20ppm or so. Then resume carbon dosing to keep them from climbing.
Make sure your fresh saltwater mix is 0 nitrate.

Curious, are you seeing cyano?

No I haven’t but I have seen Dino start to bloom in higher light areas

 

[Reagan2646]

11mL daily is the max dose for your tank size. At that dose, you’ll surely knock your NO3 down. Work your way up to the 11mL target. If there are no problems (cloudy water, bacteria blooms) you can increase the dose.

Break it into 4 steps.

Week 1: 3mL-6mL per day

If everything looks good

Week 2: 9mL per day

If nitrates aren’t starting to drop by week 2, then raise it to 11mL per day.

Nitrates can be fine at 40ppm for most corals. Don’t fret. Better to be too high than too low for NO3.

Okay I will try this thank you

 

[Spare time]

Sorry, I should have stated this in the pervious comment I feed 2 to 3 times a week and I feed mysis I also feed nori Dailey for my tangs and foxface

Personally I would feed at least daily but small amount each time.

 

[Tired]

Personally I would feed at least daily but small amount each time.

Agreed. The majority of reef fish should eat a minimum of once a day. Ideally more often, though some of that can be supplied by algae and various small critters in the tank.

You never want to try to control nutrients by feeding fish infrequently, or less than they need, same as how you wouldn't underfeed your dog in order to have less poop to clean up. Feed them small meals at least once a day, and adjust filtration and other measures as needed to control the nutrients from that.

 

[Garf]

Okay I will try this thank you

How is the cheato lit? Does it grow well? A pic of the tank would be nice.

 

[ronsonb]

I have the same tank and had the same problem. Nitrates 40-50 range no matter what I did. This thing solved my issues. I love it. I now feed my fish a ton as a means to keep the corals healthy and nitrates stay between 5-10 depending how much vodka I feed it.

Poor Man's Nutrients Control - Donovan's Nitrate Destroyer

Hello fellow reefers!. I have been in the hobby for more than 3 years, the first 2 years was tough. Cyno, diatom, nuisance algae, high NO3 (120ppm at one time) and ich/velvet. I have tried several nutrient control method (poor man, so most of it were DIY project). GFO, water fall scrubber...

www.reef2reef.com

If you decide to go that route and have questions you can shoot me a DM. All in all prob cost me $70-80