Nitrates are high and rising despite taking action - help?

[jkobel]

Hi all,

I have been having water quality issues and had an ICP test on 10/25 at Fauna Marin - results that I think are relevant here are:

Nitrates - 53
Phosphates - .73

I have since dropped the phosphate to .35 with Phosguard - this seems to be working as expected.

I had done three 18% water changes last weekend and the Nitrates dropped to 40.3ppm by this past Monday which seemed like it was on the right track (although I was expecting a much more drastic reduction - was expecting them to go down to closer to 30 after 3 WCs)

I have been adding Microbacter7 since Monday and carbon dosing with 5% white vinegar to see if I can naturally accelerate this and generally create a healthier bacteria population at the same time.

Since Monday, Nitrates have gone back up to 45.1ppm

what I currently add to the tank:
I dose Alk, Ca daily.
I feed 5 cubes of frozen food daily.
1 4x4 sheet of nori daily
30ml of Microbacter7 daily (started this week)
35ml of white vinegar daily (started this week)

equipment:
reefmat (averaging 7inches per day)
skimmer (skims dry)
UV

Testing equipment:
Hanna for Phosphate LR and Nitrate LR (diluted)
Tropic Marin HP hydrometer

I turn the UV and skimmer off for 4 hours after dosing per recommendations
carbon is dosed based on tables I have found on this forum (~140 gal total system volume)
MB7 dosed per label

tank is stocked with 4 tangs, 2 clowns, 1 filefish (fighting aptasia), mostly LPS for now but working to get water clean enough for SPS
all the food is eaten in less than 5 mins, in fact, there is almost never even a single piece of uneaten food on the reef mat.

thoughts but looking for advice:

• It's possible I don't understand the carbon dosing and MB7 approach - I didn't expect it to magically remove the nitrates immediately but I didn't think they would go up.
• Do I need the reefmat to advance more to get all the waste out of the water instead of sitting there breaking down as it slowly inches its way out of the water?
• Why didn't the water changes do more? (is my math off?) if my nitrates were 53 and I do an 18% WC shouldn't they drop by 18% - and then do that 3 times in a row?

What am I missing? and TIA!!!

 

[jkobel]

BTW - sorry for long post - maybe too much info?

 

[UMALUM]

I would recommend to cut your feeding to 3 Cubes, skim a little more wet and research a turf scrubber. I have 4 tangs 6+, a large lo, melanurus, 6 chromis, 6 springeri, 2 clowns and a copperband that all stay thick on 3 cubes. I started carbon dosing when I hit 45 and all it did was upset my acros so I finally sucked it up and snaged a turf scrubber. It's been by far the best investment I've made on this build. No more dosing, testing and running gfo was worth every cent. Now that it's tuned I seem to stay at 0.15 and 20 which is right in my wheelhouse.

 

[jkobel]

I would recommend to cut your feeding to 3 Cubes, skim a little more wet and research a turf scrubber. I have 4 tangs 6+, a large lo, melanurus, 6 chromis, 6 springeri, 2 clowns and a copperband that all stay thick on 3 cubes. I started carbon dosing when I hit 45 and all it did was upset my acros so I finally sucked it up and snaged a turf scrubber. It's been by far the best investment I've made on this build. No more dosing, testing and running gfo was worth every cent. Now that it's tuned I seem to stay at 0.15 and 20 which is right in my wheelhouse.

Interesting, I am at 5 because the tangs are always picking at the rocks and back glass, I can try going down to 3. If it all gets eaten, is there an issue?

Can you post a link to the turf scrubber you use? I'm not super familiar with them.

 

[UMALUM]

Picking at the rocks and glass all day is what they're in there to do. Besides providing a natural food source for your coral and to look pretty. I'm not sure of the exact ratio or if it depends on the species but generally there's alot more phosphate in waste over food.

After doing a ton of research on what I believe to be a very thin market I went with the Santa Monica surf 4x. I say the markets thin due to the fact that 80% of the scrubbers out there are overpriced junk " from what I've read ". It all depends on your setup and how much you want to spend. They have a good lineup of options and great customer service. No honey chicken if you know what I mean.

 

[jkobel]

bumping this

 

[danlechem]

Definitely cut your feeding - work down to one or two cubes per day until you get nitrates in the range you want. They won't starve.

 

[Dburr1014]

Hi all,

I have been having water quality issues and had an ICP test on 10/25 at Fauna Marin - results that I think are relevant here are:

Nitrates - 53
Phosphates - .73

I have since dropped the phosphate to .35 with Phosguard - this seems to be working as expected.

I had done three 18% water changes last weekend and the Nitrates dropped to 40.3ppm by this past Monday which seemed like it was on the right track (although I was expecting a much more drastic reduction - was expecting them to go down to closer to 30 after 3 WCs)

I have been adding Microbacter7 since Monday and carbon dosing with 5% white vinegar to see if I can naturally accelerate this and generally create a healthier bacteria population at the same time.

Since Monday, Nitrates have gone back up to 45.1ppm

what I currently add to the tank:
I dose Alk, Ca daily.
I feed 5 cubes of frozen food daily.
1 4x4 sheet of nori daily
30ml of Microbacter7 daily (started this week)
35ml of white vinegar daily (started this week)

equipment:
reefmat (averaging 7inches per day)
skimmer (skims dry)
UV

Testing equipment:
Hanna for Phosphate LR and Nitrate LR (diluted)
Tropic Marin HP hydrometer

I turn the UV and skimmer off for 4 hours after dosing per recommendations
carbon is dosed based on tables I have found on this forum (~140 gal total system volume)
MB7 dosed per label

tank is stocked with 4 tangs, 2 clowns, 1 filefish (fighting aptasia), mostly LPS for now but working to get water clean enough for SPS
all the food is eaten in less than 5 mins, in fact, there is almost never even a single piece of uneaten food on the reef mat.

thoughts but looking for advice:

• It's possible I don't understand the carbon dosing and MB7 approach - I didn't expect it to magically remove the nitrates immediately but I didn't think they would go up.
• Do I need the reefmat to advance more to get all the waste out of the water instead of sitting there breaking down as it slowly inches its way out of the water?
• Why didn't the water changes do more? (is my math off?)

Yes, I think your math is off.

• if my nitrates were 53 and I do an 18% WC shouldn't they drop by 18% - and then do that 3 times in a row?

What am I missing? and TIA!!!

53 - 18% = 43.46 - 18%= 35.6372 - 18%= 29.222
So 10, then 8, then 6.

But, you are also adding every single day. Hence why it's higher.

Better would be to do a 40% of possible. 53 - 40% =31.8 all one shot brings you close to your 3 water changes.