So according to this chart, I should be at approximately 2.4ml for the amount of water in my entire system, and I just bumped my dose to 3ml on Friday night from 2.5ml. That said, according to you I don't have any phosphates, then this won't work. I can increase the reefroid feeding amount; I was just trying not to make my water parameters worse.
Sincerely appreciate the help.I get the frustration, been there and still there but for me I'm seeing improvement. Want phosphate then add Neophos. But @Randy Holmes-Farley will suggest something much better for the job. Hope things turn around for ya. Enjoy your evening. And happy reefing
CArbon dosing encourages bacteria growth by providing a source of carbon. It is assumed nitrogen and phosphate are present.
It sound’s like we have the same tank, Red Sea 425 ? My nitrates went through the roof recently from those thing that AB+, Anyway, I’ve been dozing vodka the past three or four days and I does 40ml a day, I can tell it’s working already by the size of my Ancantho’s
RS Reefer 450. I did see in an older post that people were dosing higher amounts of vodka. According to what others have said in this thread, w/out me having phosphates, dosing won't work. Since I have no fish, I've only been using reefroids for the corals, but I've been using less than the recommended amount. I will increase my coral feedings and see if phosphates go up.
Doing multiple nitrate tests. LFS on July 16th - 72ppm, my Hanna tester same day - 61.4ppm. Then on July 20th, my Red Sea test - 50+ppm (doesn't read higher than 50), my Salifert test - somewhere between 50 and 100ppm. All manufacturer tests say my nitrates are higher than 50ppm. When I started testing on June 22nd at LFS (API test), they said my nitrates were 199ppm; that was with nothing in the tank but 60lbs of Arag-alive and about 60lbs of live rock. With large water changes between June/July, I took it from 199 to 76 per the LFS test.
It's been setup for 1 year now. The ammonia is 0, nitrites are 0, and phosphates 0. I spoke with a rep from Dr. Tim's products at the NY Reefapalooza about it, and he said the tank should be cycled if all the parameters are at zero, except for nitrates which he contributed to the live sand and rock.
Yes, I think I need to start dosing PO4.
I did a large water change, basically 100% the day I found out my nitrates were through the roof; that was a month ago. The max I can mix and change at one time is 40gal which is about 1/3 my volume. Water changes do drop the nitrates, but recently I'm not reducing the ppm relative to the % of water changed. I feel like I've hit a wall.
Just keep up the water changes. Example ,100 ppm nitrate and a 50% WC will drop the nitrate down to 50ppm. So another 50% will drop it down maybe to (guessing here) 30ppm and another WC will drop it down to 20 and so on. Only way to rid it is a complete WC or just start changing out you 45g 2-3 times a week till your in the zone you want. This is just an example as I said above but you're only diluting 50% on your first go. After that I can't quite recall what percentage that it'll drop.
Independent of the carbon dosing - if you do a 50% water change your nitrates will be 20-30. If you do the same the next day - your nitrates will be 10-15. Then if you want - add fish. And you will have plenty of phosphate. Depending on what else is in your tank
There is a calculator on Hamza's reef - that will calculate the effect of water changes: https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/EffectOfWaterChanges.php
That is really strange - 200 ppm nitrates in a new tank without fish and you are not dosing anything (besides roids) and if your RODI is ok this mean something very wrong with the live rock or sand or something big died.
200ppm was with nothing but live sand and rock. About 20lbs came from a friend's sump, and the other 40lbs came from a local LFS. I have no idea, nor does anyone else who I've spoken to about this. The arag-alive sand came straight out of the bags; I didn't get it from someone else. It's a mystery for sure. The corals and reefroids are all new in the last 4 weeks, and by then I had already significantly dropped the nitrates by doing big water changes.
While the 50% reduction sounds right/great in theory, for me it has not worked this way. I have been diligent about changing water every 5-7 days, and I do not get a 50% reduction each time. If I did, by now I'd be probably under 5 or 10ppm but I can't seem to get below 50ppm. In fact, since my last water change, the nitrates have gone up, but that could be from me feeding the corals.
