Nitrates Won’t Go Down!

[Jhillreef]

I can’t get my nitrates down! I’ve been dosing Nopox for over a month. They are always 50-60 tested with Hanna checker.. I do water change and can get them to about 40. Any ideas? Nopox I thought would work.

 

[FUNGI]

whats your filtration? How much you feed? Water changes weekly/monthly/yearly? Need some basic info.

 

[Jhillreef]

Water change weekly sometimes I go 10
Days. 30%

Fuge, UV, 2 filter socks, water box Frag 105

 

[Jhillreef]

Also, feed pellets daily. Frozen mysis every other day

 

[Jhillreef]

Nitrates high but Phos is good. Why ?

 

[TopShelfAquatics Verified Sponsor]

Pellets are well known to raise nutrients. Also you want to make sure when you are feeding if all the food is not gone in two minutes or less then you are probably feeding too much. I would start doing larger water changes and maybe feed every other day instead of every day. When feeding mysis we always rinse it before using it as that helps clean it up.

 

[Jhillreef]

What about the phosphates being so low but the nitrates being so high what should I do about that?

 

[TopShelfAquatics Verified Sponsor]

Are you using any phosphate remover such as GFO? If so that would be why they are so low compared to nitrates.

 

[BanZI29]

what is all your filtration? do you have a skimmer? how is your fuge doing? growing or not?
any dead fish hiding somewhere?

 

[Jhillreef]

What about the phosphates being so low but the nitrates being so high what should I do about that?

Using nopox..

 

[Jhillreef]

what is all your filtration? do you have a skimmer? how is your fuge doing? growing or not?
any dead fish hiding somewhere?

Nyos skimmer cheateo doing well.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I can’t get my nitrates down! I’ve been dosing Nopox for over a month. They are always 50-60 tested with Hanna checker.. I do water change and can get them to about 40. Any ideas? Nopox I thought would work.

How do the coral look, and what kind are they? Have a tank pic?

 

[bushdoc]

There are no miracles or mysteries, nitrate level is a function of what and how much you put in and how efficient is your mechanical and biological filtration system.
Good skimmer should remove lots of organic matter, quality live rock should complement it thanks to nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria.
It takes longer for denitrifying bacteria to get established in a reef tank and sometimes you can achieve maturity many months after establishing system.
As for dosing carbon (which nopox is), it should eventually work, you either are below optimal dose or you are not eliminating nutrients by effective skimming.

 

[Jhillreef]

How do the coral look, and what kind are they? Have a tank pic?

They are ok… Sps won’t stay alive. It’s all torches and hammers I can get one

 

[Reefer Matt]

They are ok… Sps won’t stay alive. It’s all torches and hammers I can get one

Ok. How old is the tank?

 

[Jhillreef]

There are no miracles or mysteries, nitrate level is a function of what and how much you put in and how efficient is your mechanical and biological filtration system.
Good skimmer should remove lots of organic matter, quality live rock should complement it thanks to nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria.
It takes longer for denitrifying bacteria to get established in a reef tank and sometimes you can achieve maturity many months after establishing system.
As for dosing carbon (which nopox is), it should eventually work, you either are below optimal dose or you are not eliminating nutrients by effective skimming.

Is it ok that my Phosphate is 0.01?

 

[Jhillreef]

Ok. How old is the tank?

Year

 

[Dan_P]

I can’t get my nitrates down! I’ve been dosing Nopox for over a month. They are always 50-60 tested with Hanna checker.. I do water change and can get them to about 40. Any ideas? Nopox I thought would work.

How much NOPOX are you using and how many gallons of water are in the system? @Wildreefs is also experiencing troubles with dosing.

 

[Jhillreef]

How do the coral look, and what kind are they? Have a tank pic?

 

[Jhillreef]

Video