nitrates keep rising..

[rseleri]

Hi, tank is 1 year old mostly softies but with some torches and hammers. since starting ive always struggled to maintain nitrate:phosphate ratio and that kept bringing unwanted stuff to my tank while hurting growth. i used nopox from the beginning but nitrates was constant on ~30. phosphsates most of the time bottomed and i needed to dose it in order to keep cyano and others out of my tank (after a tough war).

anyway, moving forward to about 2 months ago where i was adviced to maybe try NP Bacto balance. well i switched to it but nitrates keep rising. im already on 48.9 .

po4 is 0.18 (i am also battling myself how much should i raise it to maintain ratio.. like.. po4 on 0.48 just for the ratio? wouldnt it cause more harm?)
alk at 8.5, cal at 440, mag at 1380.

any advice on what to do would help. already tried to clean the sump, pumps, etc.

btw i know some of you would ask why would i want to lower it and thats because i lost several "easy" sps when trying to introduce it to my tank and also some lps and i believe (but maybe im wrong) that high nitrates/po4 is the problem

 

[Timfish]

You didn't mention if you are doing water changes but I wuld increase water changes and experiment with feeding to get your nitrates down to acceptable levels.

Here's a recent video y Charles Deelbeek:

 

[mpatterson42]

Can you tell me more about your tank? What size is it? What kind of filtration in the sump? Do you have filter socks, protein skimmer or refugium? Any other filtration?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Water changes would help lower your nitrates. I would start doing those if you aren't already

 

[BonnieB]

Hi, tank is 1 year old mostly softies but with some torches and hammers. since starting ive always struggled to maintain nitrate:phosphate ratio and that kept bringing unwanted stuff to my tank while hurting growth. i used nopox from the beginning but nitrates was constant on ~30. phosphsates most of the time bottomed and i needed to dose it in order to keep cyano and others out of my tank (after a tough war).

anyway, moving forward to about 2 months ago where i was adviced to maybe try NP Bacto balance. well i switched to it but nitrates keep rising. im already on 48.9 .

po4 is 0.18 (i am also battling myself how much should i raise it to maintain ratio.. like.. po4 on 0.48 just for the ratio? wouldnt it cause more harm?)
alk at 8.5, cal at 440, mag at 1380.

any advice on what to do would help. already tried to clean the sump, pumps, etc.

btw i know some of you would ask why would i want to lower it and thats because i lost several "easy" sps when trying to introduce it to my tank and also some lps and i believe (but maybe im wrong) that high nitrates/po4 is the problem

Yes, with SPS you need lower, but not bottomed out, nutrients. See @Gumbies R Us above.

 

[rseleri]

thx for the responses. so currently im trying to stick to 10% wc weekly but to be honset, i do miss from time to time due to life :)
but in general, yeah, 10% water changes weekly.

some more details on my tank as asked:
1. 425L (~100G)
2. sump is full of media of different kind and LR
3. skimmer is bubble magus extreme 7
4. im using filter floss inside 2 filter media "holders", changing them every 3-4 days

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

thx for the responses. so currently im trying to stick to 10% wc weekly but to be honset, i do miss from time to time due to life :)
but in general, yeah, 10% water changes weekly.

some more details on my tank as asked:
1. 425L (~100G)
2. sump is full of media of different kind and LR
3. skimmer is bubble magus extreme 7
4. im using filter floss inside 2 filter media "holders", changing them every 3-4 days

Im stumped- you're doing what is needed to export nutrients. Is your skimmer pulling out a lot of skim?

 

[rseleri]

Im stumped- you're doing what is needed to export nutrients. Is your skimmer pulling out a lot of skim?

define "a lot". actually when i used nopox (not sure if related) i was pulling ~half a cup of skim every week. when i switched 2 months ago to some other carbon source (again not sure if this is the cause), i noticed that i suddently needed to dial the skimmer almost close to MIN (where i was about 3-4 before hand). it is like the skimmer needs more (or less?) air to take something out and if on MIN i doenst produce much..

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

define "a lot". actually when i used nopox (not sure if related) i was pulling ~half a cup of skim every week. when i switched 2 months ago to some other carbon source (again not sure if this is the cause), i noticed that i suddently needed to dial the skimmer almost close to MIN (where i was about 3-4 before hand). it is like the skimmer needs more (or less?) air to take something out and if on MIN i doenst produce much..

Half a cup a week is a good amount based on my experience with skimmers.

 

[RoanokeReef]

Hi, tank is 1 year old mostly softies but with some torches and hammers. since starting ive always struggled to maintain nitrate:phosphate ratio and that kept bringing unwanted stuff to my tank while hurting growth. i used nopox from the beginning but nitrates was constant on ~30. phosphsates most of the time bottomed and i needed to dose it in order to keep cyano and others out of my tank (after a tough war).

anyway, moving forward to about 2 months ago where i was adviced to maybe try NP Bacto balance. well i switched to it but nitrates keep rising. im already on 48.9 .

po4 is 0.18 (i am also battling myself how much should i raise it to maintain ratio.. like.. po4 on 0.48 just for the ratio? wouldnt it cause more harm?)
alk at 8.5, cal at 440, mag at 1380.

any advice on what to do would help. already tried to clean the sump, pumps, etc.

btw i know some of you would ask why would i want to lower it and thats because i lost several "easy" sps when trying to introduce it to my tank and also some lps and i believe (but maybe im wrong) that high nitrates/po4 is the problem

PO4 and NO3 there is no such thing as a ratio. Treat them separately.

 

[fushi]

I don't think you lost those "easy" sps because of elevated nutrients, so you may want to think about everything else you're doing.
There are plenty of people around running nitrates way higher than you with happy sps.

Remember Stability is key not having a certain ratio or number.

Consistent water changes will help.

If it's in the budget a filter roller is helpful at keeping nutrients lower because food particles and other bits don't get to build up. They also make maintenance a lot easier.

Post some pictures of your tank and sump set up. It will help everyone get a better idea of whats going on.

Hope this helps.

 

[Biokabe]

What is your CUC like? Your baseline nutrient export doesn't look wrong - water changes and skimmer, filter floss being changed out regularly - but if nitrates are still rising there's an excess of waste that isn't getting processed.

Did you start with live rock or dry rock?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

thx for the responses. so currently im trying to stick to 10% wc weekly but to be honset, i do miss from time to time due to life :)
but in general, yeah, 10% water changes weekly.

some more details on my tank as asked:
1. 425L (~100G)
2. sump is full of media of different kind and LR
3. skimmer is bubble magus extreme 7
4. im using filter floss inside 2 filter media "holders", changing them every 3-4 days

A sump full of media might have become a detritus trap.

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

How long is your light schedule? Maybe give the corals more time to consume nutrients. Run your skimmer wet. Mostly you’re going to want to do water changes. Clean your filter socks everyday. I’ve never had this issue I always had the opposite issue. I’m assuming live rock was leaching some dying stuff.

 

[rseleri]

hi thx for all the replies. light schedule is 1-8-1. im attaching sump picture as Mr. Mojo Rising response raised some self doubt..
if that is the case, should i take some media out? take the LR out (as maybe the LR in the display tank is NOW enough for the bioload?)? or just clean? if so, can i take them out to wash them or ill kill anything in there?

also to answer more of your questions, as CUC i have 10 snails of several types including turbo and i started with dry rocks