Nitrite/ nitrate issues

[Mrdbzking]

My tank is really stressing me out, which I hate because I can't seem to just enjoy it. Tank is 5 months old.

I'm having a lot of trouble with nitrite and nitrAte. Nitrates were holding steady at 40, a water change to bring them to 20, and not even a week later, back to 40.

So a few weeks ago I did a clean out of the sump and made things a bit more tidy. Hoping to maybe clean whatever was causing my high nitrates. Doing this caused a nitrite spike...

No matter what I do I'm still getting nitrite readings back. I let them 0 put, did a 50% water change to bring them down, they come right back, and ofc I can't test nitrAte because of it.

Because nitrite effects nitrate readings I have no idea what they're even at right now, all I know is they seen to be stuck around 40. Any thoughts or solutions?

KH: 8.9 calcium: 400 magnesium: 1350 Salinity: 1.025

 

[HuduVudu]

Your tanks anaerobic zones haven't kicked in and until they do you are stuck with water changes or chemical interventions.

This is where you need to LEARN patience. It has to be learned because I don't know of anyone who actually has it out of the gate.

Your nitrate it really not that important and in the future will crank down to zero. If you can get to that future with all of your hair intact is another story.

 

[Mrdbzking]

Your tanks anaerobic zones haven't kicked in and until they do you are stuck with water changes or chemical interventions.

This is where you need to LEARN patience. It has to be learned because I don't know of anyone who actually has it out of the gate.

Your nitrate it really not that important and in the future will crank down to zero. If you can get to that future with all of your hair intact is another story.

I've been in the hobby for a few years but I've never had this issue before. Didn't have to worry about nitrites, the entire time my other tank was up. Easily maintained around 5ppm. But I can't understand what's going on with the new tank

 

[mindme]

There are multiple ways to deal with nitrates. Water changes are an expensive and not great way to deal with them IMO. It can work, but...there are better ways.

The tank itself over time will take up more and more of it, but of course you have to get to that point.

If you have a skimmer, you can give carbon dosing a try. That would be the cheapest/fastest way to reduce nitrates. It's also relatively easy. I'd throw in some biodigest also so you have good bacteria for the dosing.

A refugium is also a good idea. But you need a good light, room in your sump, etc.

I use both a refugium and carbon dosing on my 180g. But i hope that some day between the tanks needs and the refugium I won't need to keep carbon dosing. However, on my 24g cube I'm building, I don't have room in my sump for a refugium, so it's going to be straight carbon dosing.

In my 29g anemone tank, I don't do anything. I just let the algae grow in the tank. I have no idea what the nutrient levels are because I don't test them and haven't done any tests outside salinity on that tank in nearly 2 years. Pulling the algae off the rocks is my nutrient removal system for that tank. Honestly, unless you are keeping high end acros and other sensitive coral like that, nitrates isn't the biggest deal IMO.

The nitrites stuff - I don't know. I never test that, but if it's turning into nitrates then you are cycling. I don't know if this a matter of you not having enough surface area for bacteria or if it's a normal part of the cycle. But I think either way, the above methods will help.

 

[Mrdbzking]

There are multiple ways to deal with nitrates. Water changes are an expensive and not great way to deal with them IMO. It can work, but...there are better ways.

The tank itself over time will take up more and more of it, but of course you have to get to that point.

If you have a skimmer, you can give carbon dosing a try. That would be the cheapest/fastest way to reduce nitrates. It's also relatively easy. I'd throw in some biodigest also so you have good bacteria for the dosing.

A refugium is also a good idea. But you need a good light, room in your sump, etc.

I use both a refugium and carbon dosing on my 180g. But i hope that some day between the tanks needs and the refugium I won't need to keep carbon dosing. However, on my 24g cube I'm building, I don't have room in my sump for a refugium, so it's going to be straight carbon dosing.

In my 29g anemone tank, I don't do anything. I just let the algae grow in the tank. I have no idea what the nutrient levels are because I don't test them and haven't done any tests outside salinity on that tank in nearly 2 years. Pulling the algae off the rocks is my nutrient removal system for that tank. Honestly, unless you are keeping high end acros and other sensitive coral like that, nitrates isn't the biggest deal IMO.

The nitrites stuff - I don't know. I never test that, but if it's turning into nitrates then you are cycling. I don't know if this a matter of you not having enough surface area for bacteria or if it's a normal part of the cycle. But I think either way, the above methods will help.

Appreciate all the info! I am currently carbon dosing, but I'm wondering if that would have a bad effect on those nitrites in the tank? I believe I am going through a mini cycle, but it's taking a long time. Like I said tank is 5 months old, but took almost 2 months to cycle. Started with dry rock from my old tank, and then live sand. It took so long for nitrites to dissappear. Although relatively harmless, it still interfered with nitrates. Now here we are again, and it has made testing and knowing what's going on with the tank, very difficult. So basically should I just keep dosing carbon and then, keep doing large volumes of water changes? I've been doing about 50% every two weeks to try an add some kind of stability

 

[Mrdbzking]

There are multiple ways to deal with nitrates. Water changes are an expensive and not great way to deal with them IMO. It can work, but...there are better ways.

The tank itself over time will take up more and more of it, but of course you have to get to that point.

If you have a skimmer, you can give carbon dosing a try. That would be the cheapest/fastest way to reduce nitrates. It's also relatively easy. I'd throw in some biodigest also so you have good bacteria for the dosing.

A refugium is also a good idea. But you need a good light, room in your sump, etc.

I use both a refugium and carbon dosing on my 180g. But i hope that some day between the tanks needs and the refugium I won't need to keep carbon dosing. However, on my 24g cube I'm building, I don't have room in my sump for a refugium, so it's going to be straight carbon dosing.

In my 29g anemone tank, I don't do anything. I just let the algae grow in the tank. I have no idea what the nutrient levels are because I don't test them and haven't done any tests outside salinity on that tank in nearly 2 years. Pulling the algae off the rocks is my nutrient removal system for that tank. Honestly, unless you are keeping high end acros and other sensitive coral like that, nitrates isn't the biggest deal IMO.

The nitrites stuff - I don't know. I never test that, but if it's turning into nitrates then you are cycling. I don't know if this a matter of you not having enough surface area for bacteria or if it's a normal part of the cycle. But I think either way, the above methods will help

There are multiple ways to deal with nitrates. Water changes are an expensive and not great way to deal with them IMO. It can work, but...there are better ways.

The tank itself over time will take up more and more of it, but of course you have to get to that point.

If you have a skimmer, you can give carbon dosing a try. That would be the cheapest/fastest way to reduce nitrates. It's also relatively easy. I'd throw in some biodigest also so you have good bacteria for the dosing.

A refugium is also a good idea. But you need a good light, room in your sump, etc.

I use both a refugium and carbon dosing on my 180g. But i hope that some day between the tanks needs and the refugium I won't need to keep carbon dosing. However, on my 24g cube I'm building, I don't have room in my sump for a refugium, so it's going to be straight carbon dosing.

In my 29g anemone tank, I don't do anything. I just let the algae grow in the tank. I have no idea what the nutrient levels are because I don't test them and haven't done any tests outside salinity on that tank in nearly 2 years. Pulling the algae off the rocks is my nutrient removal system for that tank. Honestly, unless you are keeping high end acros and other sensitive coral like that, nitrates isn't the biggest deal IMO.

The nitrites stuff - I don't know. I never test that, but if it's turning into nitrates then you are cycling. I don't know if this a matter of you not having enough surface area for bacteria or if it's a normal part of the cycle. But I think either way, the above methods will help.

I run a UV in the tank, could that be effecting the carbon dosing negatively?

 

[mindme]

I run a UV in the tank, could that be effecting the carbon dosing negatively?

UV light will kill bacteria, but I use a UV light also. Most of the bacteria die off anyway, that is why you need the skimmer, it removes the dead bacteria. The only time I turn off my UV is after I dose bacteria, then it's just for about 3-4 hours.

I have no idea on nitrites. I honestly haven't done a test on nitrites in 12 years. I did them on my first ever tank, never again. If nitrates are present, and the source isn't your own water supply, then the tank is cycled for me.

Carbon dosing will increase the population of any bacteria that is in the tank as a general rule, not just the ones that will reduce nitrates and phosphates. Over time they should change in ratio based on the "food sources" in the tank, but it takes weeks or longer to happen, and that's when people start to see drops in nitrates/phosphates from carbon dosing.

You can help that by dosing bacteria. I use biodigest, but I'm guessing there are plenty that work. I like biodigest because a box lasts me all year, and the doses come in a little glass vials that you break the ends off, so always the correct amount and there is no chance of contamination since they stay sealed until used. The bottle stuff I always wonder if it's still good after 6 months or so...if it lasts that long. Which is the other thing I like about biodigest, the doses are really small. A box is just about 4x4 inches in size and holds 30 doses(1 vial every 2 weeks).

I am in no way paid by biodigest, just a fan. I'm sure the others work just fine. Dr tim's and microbacter are 2 popular ones off the top of my head. With time, you can probably get by without any of them.

btw, what are your phosphates at? That is probably more important than the nitrates.

 

[JCM]

Do you have corals, fish,or inverts? How are they looking?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

you mention nitrite. Have you measured it?

 

[Mrdbzking]

Do you have corals, fish,or inverts? How are they looking?

Everything is well, corals are growing. But I had a new shipment slightly bleach on me, I do notice improvement though

 

[Mrdbzking]

you mention nitrite. Have you measured it?

It slowly goes down. was at 1.0, right now its almost indetectable, but I also just changed like 75% of the water.

 

[Mrdbzking]

you mention nitrite. Have you measured it?

But the thing is they always come back lol. My concern is that id like to purchase more coral for the new tank, but I cant really see what my nitrate levels are. And if Nitrite is going up, and then down, and back up again i can only imagine what the nitrates are doing lol.

 

[Mrdbzking]

Id like to mention Im using salifert test kits

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Your nitrate it really not that important

Did you mean nitrITE?

 

[HuduVudu]

Did you mean nitrITE?

Nope I meant Nitrate (NO3)

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Nope I meant Nitrate (NO3)

Why would you suggest that getting it "down to zero" is a good thing?

 

[Lavey29]

Nitrite is irrelevant if your tank is cycling properly. There are a variety of methods to reduce nitrates. I suggest dosing PNS probio which is a natural bacteria supplement that breaks down organics in the tank before it ends up as nitrates.

 

[HuduVudu]

Why would you suggest that getting it "down to zero" is a good thing?

Because when you have solid anaerobic zones then that is where your tank will go naturally.

It isn't a good or a bad thing. It is just a thing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My concern here with nitrite is the false positive it creates in nitrate. A little nitrite can read as a lot of nitrate with many kits. The Tropic Marin kit will read 0.5 ppm nitrite as 50 ppm nitrate.