Using All for reef and nitrates steadily rising - what to do ?

[JeffH]

I've been dosing All for Reef on two different tanks for over a year now. I've never seen it cause nitrate issues. Try cutting back on your feeding schedule and see if nitrates lower.

 

[Idech]

I've been dosing All for Reef on two different tanks for over a year now. I've never seen it cause nitrate issues. Try cutting back on your feeding schedule and see if nitrates lower.

That’s what I’m trying to do.

I’ve done a 12% WC also and they went from 27,3 ppm to 25,3 ppm. I’ll do one per week, hopefully it helps.

 

[14 foot reef]

You may be over thinking this a bit. I don't know anyone measuring and trusting a nitrate kit down to the .1 or .5 or . anything.
Move to the Nyos Nitrate test kit, it will be way easier ( the Hanna Nitrate is a painful process )
Look for a good steady 10 ish. be happy with that. Please give this a try as I think you may be causing way more work, and way more chances of instability with all of these changes. and chasing numbers. As another post mentioned, maybe the biodiversity is just not there yet. Flake and pellets for sure are going to add nitrates and phosphates to your water. Cut back on those for sure. I would never thaw and store food in refrigerator for a week. Buy the PE Mysis in bulk rinse it clean it and make your your own cubes with these.( See below)
Cubes from the LFS are all water and expensive.

 

[Idech]

You may be over thinking this a bit. I don't know anyone measuring and trusting a nitrate kit down to the .1 or .5 or . anything.

That’s an odd comment. I bought the Hanna high nitrate checker as it seems to be well trusted. I know the sensitivity is + or - 2 ppm and I’m okay with that.

If I don’t trust what it says, what am I supposed to do ?

Move to the Nyos Nitrate test kit, it will be way easier ( the Hanna Nitrate is a painful process )

I’m not going to change for an easier way, as I paid more than 100$ CAD for the checker and reagents.

Look for a good steady 10 ish. be happy with that. Please give this a try as I think you may be causing way more work, and way more chances of instability with all of these changes. and chasing numbers.

That’s what I’m hoping for, about 10-15 ppm.

I’m not sure what all the changes are. I haven’t changed anything, except feeding a little less (of the same stuff) and doing a weekly water change, as most people do.

Buy the PE Mysis in bulk rinse it clean it and make your your own cubes with these.( See below)

We don’t have access to those in Canada. Cubes are the only thing I can get. I might eventually make my own recipe, later on.

I really don’t understand what the fuss is about defrosting and keeping in the fridge for a few days. If it’s okay for humans and other animals, why not for fish?

Or this thing about draining the cubes. So what if there is water, it’s not coming from another planet, it’s water from the food itself, thawing.

There must be something I’m missing here.

 

[14 foot reef]

That’s an odd comment. I bought the Hanna high nitrate checker as it seems to be well trusted. I know the sensitivity is + or - 2 ppm and I’m okay with that.

If I don’t trust what it says, what am I supposed to do ?


I’m not going to change for an easier way, as I paid more than 100$ CAD for the checker and reagents.


That’s what I’m hoping for, about 10-15 ppm.

I’m not sure what all the changes are. I haven’t changed anything, except feeding a little less (of the same stuff) and doing a weekly water change, as most people do.


We don’t have access to those in Canada. Cubes are the only thing I can get. I might eventually make my own recipe, later on.

I really don’t understand what the fuss is about defrosting and keeping in the fridge for a few days. If it’s okay for humans and other animals, why not for fish?

Or this thing about draining the cubes. So what if there is water, it’s not coming from another planet, it’s water from the food itself, thawing.

There must be something I’m missing here.

Fair enough, was trying to help you save a little money on the long term.

That’s an odd comment. I bought the Hanna high nitrate checker as it seems to be well trusted. I know the sensitivity is + or - 2 ppm and I’m okay with that.

ok With that choice, just Nyos is just as accurate and 20 times easier.

If I don’t trust what it says, what am I supposed to do ?

You are ok to trust it, I was looking to help you save time on testing.

I’m not going to change for an easier way, as I paid more than 100$ CAD for the checker and reagents.

Fair

That’s what I’m hoping for, about 10-15 ppm.

I’m not sure what all the changes are. I haven’t changed anything, except feeding a little less (of the same stuff) and doing a weekly water change, as most people do.

The changes I was referring to was all of the suggestions by other members. I should have been more clear on that.

We don’t have access to those in Canada. Cubes are the only thing I can get. I might eventually make my own recipe, later on.

Did not realize your location, my appologies.

I really don’t understand what the fuss is about defrosting and keeping in the fridge for a few days. If it’s okay for humans and other animals, why not for fish?

I'm not sure I would defrost fish or seafood and let it sit in my fridge for 3-4 days then eat it. ( Maybe that's just me, apologies again)

Or this thing about draining the cubes. So what if there is water, it’s not coming from another planet, it’s water from the food itself, thawing.

Point I was making was about buying bulk and making your own. if you thawed out all your cubes and drained the water off, you would be shocked on how little food is in each cube. ( Was just trying to save you money)

There must be something I’m missing here.

Hopefully that helps, as that is all I was trying to do. Good luck and I will leave this thread in the trust of the other members as this is a great forum of knowledge and help.

 

[Idech]

Hopefully that helps, as that is all I was trying to do. Good luck and I will leave this thread in the trust of the other members as this is a great forum of knowledge and help

Thanks for your explanation.

You’re right about seafood, we usually don’t leave it in the fridge so long. I’ll adjust the quantity I defrost so it only last 2 days instead of 4-5.

And thanks for trying to help !

 

[JNalley]

First and foremost, I have a mainly LPS and Softie tank, I keep my Nitrates around 20. Sometimes, because I am a heavy feeder, it gets up to 25. 27.3 isn't terrible, but I understand wanting to bring them down. I manage my nitrates via Dosing No3Po4X (Known as NOPOX here on the forums), it's simply a carbon source for your bacteria, and should not be looked at as chemicals, it contains Ethanol (Vodka), Methanol (Denatured Alcohol), and Vinegar, the bonus is that during the process of eating the carbon, populating more bacteria, and consuming your nitrates, it creates coral food that auto-disperses into your tank (yay).

You could also try something like ChemiPure Elite (A pouch of carbon and ferric oxide) as part of your filtration which will mostly reduce your phosphates, but some have said it reduces some nitrates as well.

Another choice is a Refugium. The most natural way to remove nitrates and phosphates by far, plus it gives you a place to grow copepods :-D

Lastly, you can try Nitrate reducing Sulphur Reactors, but these are a bit more trouble than they're worth IMO.

Feeding less, larger water changes, etc can help, but when you're lugging 5 gallon buckets up a flight of stairs, and feeding less feels impossible, you start looking for localized ways to help

I hope something in there pique's your interest or helps you solve your problem.

 

[Idech]

keep my Nitrates around 20. Sometimes, because I am a heavy feeder, it gets up to 25. 27.3 isn't terrible

I would be happy with 20 too. What worries me is the constant raise. Every time I have tested in the past 6 weeks, the nitrate levels were higher than the week before. So when will it end ?

I hope something in there pique's your interest or helps you solve your problem.

It sure has ! I’m letting the tank mature, and then if this hasn’t resolved, I’ll come back to this thread to find solutions.

Thank you

 

[homer1475]

Pretty sure @14 foot reef is referencing the Hanna low range nitrate kit. Yes it's a huge PITA to use. But the high range kit is just like the phosphate kit that uses just a single reagent pack. Some people aren't aware they came out with the high range kit, and are referencing the troubles with the low range kit.

If it were me, I would just cut back on the flake, it's loaded with nitrates.

I would also be looking into carbon dosing. But at 3 months old, your tank is still maturing, and just giving it more time, you may find nutrients bottoming out.

 

[Lyss]

That’s an odd comment. I bought the Hanna high nitrate checker as it seems to be well trusted. I know the sensitivity is + or - 2 ppm and I’m okay with that.

If I don’t trust what it says, what am I supposed to do ?


I’m not going to change for an easier way, as I paid more than 100$ CAD for the checker and reagents.


That’s what I’m hoping for, about 10-15 ppm.

I’m not sure what all the changes are. I haven’t changed anything, except feeding a little less (of the same stuff) and doing a weekly water change, as most people do.


We don’t have access to those in Canada. Cubes are the only thing I can get. I might eventually make my own recipe, later on.

I really don’t understand what the fuss is about defrosting and keeping in the fridge for a few days. If it’s okay for humans and other animals, why not for fish?

Or this thing about draining the cubes. So what if there is water, it’s not coming from another planet, it’s water from the food itself, thawing.

There must be something I’m missing here.

I thought there were a lot of helpful points in that reply. I wrote about sunk costs in another thread and that applies here too, to your hanna checker. It’s a sunk cost, so if another test would help you more it’s unwise to stay w/hanna b/c of the money you paid for it. That said, hanna hr is just fine and very easy as compared to the lr one I assume is being referenced as a pita. I don’t think there’s a need to change. I would also keep in mind that these are all hobby grade kits to help manage your own expectations.

I also think the points about not leaving the food thawed for so long in the fridge, and making your own frozen food were good. Pointing out that it’s a lot of water is not that water is bad, it’s that there’s less actual food. I have on occasion thawed food overnight in the fridge to use next day but I wouldn’t let it sit in there longer.

Some ways I’ve lowered nitrates in my young tank as it matures aside from water changes are adding macroalgae, and carbon dosing. Both have worked well for me.

 

[homer1475]

FWIW....

You get way more actual mysis, and less water in a flat packs then the bubble packs.