Nitrates

[kenand]

High nitrates in the reef and fish only tanks. Changing water and no change. Just wasting salt and water it seems like. Cleaned filters, rodi and di resin. No change.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

What test kit are you using? and what's the main reason why you're trying to lower nitrates?

 

[kenand]

Salifert. I thought you wanted 0 nitrates.

 

[kenand]

Salifert kit. I thought 0 is what is needed.

 

[Cell]

Not in a reef. Corals need some nitrate and phosphate.

 

[twentyleagues]

How much water are you changing? If you are doing 10% it will do basically nothing with food added. Its far better to manage nitrate in other ways refugium or ats or depending a nitrate reactor/carbon dosing. No you do not want 0 nitrate.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

You need some nitrate levels. Some tanks thrive on higher nitrates while others lower.

 

[kenand]

Not in a reef. Corals need some nitrate and phosphate.

Good to know. Thanks. Now the fish only tank.180 gallon. Same thing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Good to know. Thanks. Now the fish only tank.180 gallon. Same thing.

I think you need to post a number that you get from testing. I recommend 2-10 ppm nitrate, and higher than that is better than lower than that unless you ensure that there is N available from other sources (such as ammonia, organics, etc.).

Some fabulous tanks have 50+ ppm of nitrate.

 

[Jjmg]

How high are your readings? How big have your water changes been and how often?

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

High nitrates in the reef and fish only tanks. Changing water and no change. Just wasting salt and water it seems like. Cleaned filters, rodi and di resin. No change.

have you ever tried bio pellets?

I used to run them on a 90g fish only tank for a few years with good results. it takes a while to start working, I also ran GFO for a while with it to help lower phosphates and nitrates start to come down.

theres good information out there on removing nitrates, water changes can definitely be the most expensive and time consuming.

 

[MnFish1]

High nitrates in the reef and fish only tanks. Changing water and no change. Just wasting salt and water it seems like. Cleaned filters, rodi and di resin. No change.

Assuming your nitrate is really what your test says it is, there are a couple possibilities - 1. You're not changing enough water. 2. Your replacement water has nitrate (are you using RODI? Have you checked the source water for nitrate?) 3. Your bioload is too high for your filtration/water change regimen

 

[kenand]

I use a rodi along with a separate di resin canister. So I should check the house water before the rodi system?

 

[kenand]

have you ever tried bio pellets?

I used to run them on a 90g fish only tank for a few years with good results. it takes a while to start working, I also ran GFO for a while with it to help lower phosphates and nitrates start to come down.

theres good information out there on removing nitrates, water changes can definitely be the most expensive and time consuming.

I will try bio pellets. Thank you.

 

[MnFish1]

I use a rodi along with a separate di resin canister. So I should check the house water before the rodi system?

More important would be after mixing the salt

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

what is the "high" nitrate level to begin with

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I use a rodi along with a separate di resin canister. So I should check the house water before the rodi system?

If using 0-1 ppm tds water from an ro/di, that is not a source of nitrate.

Nitrate comes from foods. No need to look further.

 

[kenand]

If using 0-1 ppm tds water from an ro/di, that is not a source of nitrate.

Nitrate comes from foods. No need to look further.

Ok. Thank you.

 

[Dburr1014]

What's the Nitrate reading... Im on the edge of my seat.

Or is this a mystery novel?

 

[JayM]

I’m not sure I’d be terribly concerned with nitrates unless they were closer to 100 than they were to zero.