We cannot get the nitrates to go low

[reneeL]

We do water changes. We could do them more but the weather is hot so getting the water cool enough after mixing is not easy.
I have a redsea roller, a diy algae scrubber, cheato, protein scrubber. A decent amount of the small rocks that are under the roller. The algae is growing well.
We are having difficulty getting our nitrates down on all 4 tanks.
The 20 gallon tank gets a 10 gallon water change which is half the water. The 180 has had a 40 gallon plus change. The 40 gallon tanks were changed out each 10 /12 gallons. The salinity was checked before adding the water but the tanks are higher in salinity than we like. They seems to always get higher after we put the water in the tank.
I have been feeding only as much as they can eat in a minute. 180 has 21 fish, 2 cubes when I feed. I have stopped feeding the baby brine. Do baby brine cause the nitrate problem? I am not going to feed bb until the nitrates get under control. We also had baby jellyfish hatching in all tanks. The bb is the only thing they were all had in common.
I do not dose anything. The CA is also high. See photo sheet with results. Wet chemistry and Hanna checkers were used to test. The nitrate and CA always are high.
I have a large clean up crew. Algae does not need cleaning off the glass often, no bad algae that I know of in the tank. We do have 3 tangs and lawnmower blenny.
The corals are open. Only the purple plating sponge seems to have slowed down. My maroon gorgonian seems to be opening less. Everything else seems to be doing well.
Can you help me with getting the nitrates lower? Is the high calcium a concern? I do not dose. Salt mix is Reef Crystals.
Tank 4 is the one with macro algae. Last 2 photos show the 20 gallon tank. The other photos are the 180 mixed reef.
High nitrate but no algae on the glass or sandbed.

 

[reneeL]

Sorry about the reflections.

 

[Dan_P]

We do water changes. We could do them more but the weather is hot so getting the water cool enough after mixing is not easy.
I have a redsea roller, a diy algae scrubber, cheato, protein scrubber. A decent amount of the small rocks that are under the roller. The algae is growing well.
We are having difficulty getting our nitrates down on all 4 tanks.
The 20 gallon tank gets a 10 gallon water change which is half the water. The 180 has had a 40 gallon plus change. The 40 gallon tanks were changed out each 10 /12 gallons. The salinity was checked before adding the water but the tanks are higher in salinity than we like. They seems to always get higher after we put the water in the tank.
I have been feeding only as much as they can eat in a minute. 180 has 21 fish, 2 cubes when I feed. I have stopped feeding the baby brine. Do baby brine cause the nitrate problem? I am not going to feed bb until the nitrates get under control. We also had baby jellyfish hatching in all tanks. The bb is the only thing they were all had in common.
I do not dose anything. The CA is also high. See photo sheet with results. Wet chemistry and Hanna checkers were used to test. The nitrate and CA always are high.
I have a large clean up crew. Algae does not need cleaning off the glass often, no bad algae that I know of in the tank. We do have 3 tangs and lawnmower blenny.
The corals are open. Only the purple plating sponge seems to have slowed down. My maroon gorgonian seems to be opening less. Everything else seems to be doing well.
Can you help me with getting the nitrates lower? Is the high calcium a concern? I do not dose. Salt mix is Reef Crystals.
Tank 4 is the one with macro algae. Last 2 photos show the 20 gallon tank. The other photos are the 180 mixed reef.
High nitrate but no algae on the glass or sandbed.

Growing macro algae, and vinegar or vodka dosing seem like possible options.

Is the high nitrate issues a recent problem?

 

[VintageReefer]

Is your phosphate really 2.0 and 4.0?

And are you noticing any issues from the high nitrate and phosphate ?

 

[reneeL]

Is your phosphate really 2.0 and 4.0?

And are you noticing any issues from the high nitrate and phosphate ?

You can see from the photos that all corals are out. It is confusing. Yes the tests are run very accurately. The only reason we have a problem is because of test results otherwise we could not tell there is a problem.

 

[VintageReefer]

You can see from the photos that all corals are out. It is confusing. Yes the tests are run very accurately. The only reason we have a problem is because of test results otherwise we could not tell there is a problem.

So why do you feel you need to lower them ? Serious question

Your corals are healthy. Fish are healthy tank looks good. Why fix why isn’t broke. Many totm historically have high nitrate and phosphate

 

[reneeL]

Growing macro algae, and vinegar or vodka dosing seem like possible options.

Is the high nitrate issues a recent problem?

Water was better before feeding bb. I do not think 10 to 20 is that bad but again I have not figured out why it is so high. The sandbed is not dirty. 3 jawfish and many nassarius snails, conchs and now hundreds of baby troches snails keep things looking clean. I even hear my pistol shrimps clicking each night. Water was tested to check the filter system on water that is used to add and mix and all is good. I am growing a lot of macro in the sump area with the algae scrubber.
The test numbers are have been consistent the past few months. Always high CA and high nitrates with everything else in okay levels.
The tank has been up and running same rock for almost a year and half, small tanks up 9 months. A red sea was showing bad seams this past October. We decided to just get a new tank. That is why we have more tanks. I did add a small amount of fresh Gulf rock some in each tank back in May. Last time any animal died was back in Jan. Every so often the big turbo snails flip, I do remove them.
Thanks for the suggestions. I am going to do another water change and read about the volka.

 

[reneeL]

So why do you feel you need to lower them ? Serious question

Your corals are healthy. Fish are healthy tank looks good. Why fix why isn’t broke. Many totm historically have high nitrate and phosphate

I read that they should be lower. That it causes the coral not to grow or stress the fish. If it is not that bad I won't worry about it.
We added the algae scrubber to help bring it down but it has not really come down. The only thing that seems to really not be as happy is my gorgonian that has the white polyps. All other creatures are doing well.
Checked out your tank, beautiful corals. I had a 75 gallon back in 1994, those lights back then were hot. This tank turned into a 100 gallon and moved with me 6 times while keeping most of it together. I did not test much. Harvey the hurricane took out my huge pieces. Everything died. I lost interest. Last year in March I finally saved up enough to get started again.
I think I will take your advice and not chase numbers.

 

[Euphyllia97]

Your tank looks healthy to me! I wouldn’t continue to actively try to lower those values. Stability is often more important than getting your tank in the ideal zone. (Of course it shouldn’t be completely out of whack.) I see no real bad algae so that means you have enough predators to take out the unwanted stuff (just like the ocean controls al pests). Lowering your nitrates can cause other issues like dino’s and you don’t want that to happen… Keep track of your nitrates and observe if the trend is a real problem. Rollers will for example not lower your nitrates but just decrease stuff in your tank that will eventually form nitrates. Let the chaeto do its work and if you ever feel the tank is losing its balance and being taken over by algae or fish seems to do less well, consider dosing a carbon source to lower nitrates gradually that way. For now I wouldn’t do anything and just enjoy your good looking tank

 

[twentyleagues]

If you are feeding live bbs that you hatch or buy locally it can cause higher than "normal" nitrates and phosphates if not rinsed. Lots of "nutrients" in those hatched shells. There is typically ammonia in bbs hatcheries its probably not a ton but if you are not rinsing when adding bbs you are to some extent ammonia dosing the tanks. As for your gorgonian it is most likely a non-photosynthetic gorg and they dont typically fare well in most tanks. They need specific food sizes and typically needs to be live possibly the bbs more likely rotifers. Even if you did 50% wc on the 180 that is less than 50% reduction in nitrate I dont remember the math atm. Then adding nitrate back in from feeding and you are getting back up there. So more frequent 50%+ wc or carbon dosing may help (has its own issues). If nothing is amiss I would not worry overly much on specific numbers. Phosphates at 2.0+ is a bit of a worry but if no real nuisance algae again not a huge concern maybe a little more gfo if you use it or start using it. Your rock and sand will "bind" phosphate and release into water column when the water column is less than the rock contains until you bring these numbers down to a level you are happy with for a long time. Like other have said if everything looks good dont overly worry but its probably a good idea to start thinking about and maybe making small changes in husbandry.

 

[reneeL]

Your tank looks healthy to me! I wouldn’t continue to actively try to lower those values. Stability is often more important than getting your tank in the ideal zone. (Of course it shouldn’t be completely out of whack.) I see no real bad algae so that means you have enough predators to take out the unwanted stuff (just like the ocean controls al pests). Lowering your nitrates can cause other issues like dino’s and you don’t want that to happen… Keep track of your nitrates and observe if the trend is a real problem. Rollers will for example not lower your nitrates but just decrease stuff in your tank that will eventually form nitrates. Let the chaeto do its work and if you ever feel the tank is losing its balance and being taken over by algae or fish seems to do less well, consider dosing a carbon source to lower nitrates gradually that way. For now I wouldn’t do anything and just enjoy your good looking tank

Thank you.

 

[reneeL]

If you are feeding live bbs that you hatch or buy locally it can cause higher than "normal" nitrates and phosphates if not rinsed. Lots of "nutrients" in those hatched shells. There is typically ammonia in bbs hatcheries its probably not a ton but if you are not rinsing when adding bbs you are to some extent ammonia dosing the tanks. As for your gorgonian it is most likely a non-photosynthetic gorg and they dont typically fare well in most tanks. They need specific food sizes and typically needs to be live possibly the bbs more likely rotifers. Even if you did 50% wc on the 180 that is less than 50% reduction in nitrate I dont remember the math atm. Then adding nitrate back in from feeding and you are getting back up there. So more frequent 50%+ wc or carbon dosing may help (has its own issues). If nothing is amiss I would not worry overly much on specific numbers. Phosphates at 2.0+ is a bit of a worry but if no real nuisance algae again not a huge concern maybe a little more gfo if you use it or start using it. Your rock and sand will "bind" phosphate and release into water column when the water column is less than the rock contains until you bring these numbers down to a level you are happy with for a long time. Like other have said if everything looks good dont overly worry but its probably a good idea to start thinking about and maybe making small changes in husbandry.

Looking back the nitrates were only 20. I believe that it was the bb. Added a photo of my gorgonian, when it is happy. Just the past few weeks it has not been happy. It is a year old in my tank.

If you are feeding live bbs that you hatch or buy locally it can cause higher than "normal" nitrates and phosphates if not rinsed. Lots of "nutrients" in those hatched shells. There is typically ammonia in bbs hatcheries its probably not a ton but if you are not rinsing when adding bbs you are to some extent ammonia dosing the tanks. As for your gorgonian it is most likely a non-photosynthetic gorg and they dont typically fare well in most tanks. They need specific food sizes and typically needs to be live possibly the bbs more likely rotifers. Even if you did 50% wc on the 180 that is less than 50% reduction in nitrate I dont remember the math atm. Then adding nitrate back in from feeding and you are getting back up there. So more frequent 50%+ wc or carbon dosing may help (has its own issues). If nothing is amiss I would not worry overly much on specific numbers. Phosphates at 2.0+ is a bit of a worry but if no real nuisance algae again not a huge concern maybe a little more gfo if you use it or start using it. Your rock and sand will "bind" phosphate and release into water column when the water column is less than the rock contains until you bring these numbers down to a level you are happy with for a long time. Like other have said if everything looks good dont overly worry but its probably a good idea to start thinking about and maybe making small changes in husbandry.

 

[twentyleagues]

Oh and you are positive those numbers are correct for phosphates? You didnt misplace the decimal point? Like I said above it could be from the rock used if it had been in a tank with high phosphates. I dont like to harp but 4.0 is very high. Even with 600g of non- reefsafe fish tied into my system years ago which included 2 bamboo sharks my system never got above 2.0 with pretty standard filtration lots of live rock, large fuge and large skimmer.

 

[VintageReefer]

Everyone’s situation is unique and based on numerous variables and choices and what works for some doesn’t work for everyone. I wouldnt care about the numbers unless I was having an issue and suspected them to be related.

 

[twentyleagues]

Looking back the nitrates were only 20. I believe that it was the bb. Added a photo of my gorgonian, when it is happy. Just the past few weeks it has not been happy. It is a year old in my tank.

100% non-photosynthetic. A year is good most dont last 6 months. Rotifers are a good food source probably needs to be live, the polyps "fire" on movement not "taste". BBS may also be acceptable just rinse them in saltwater before adding making sure not to add shells.

 

[reneeL]

Oh and you are positive those numbers are correct for phosphates? You didnt misplace the decimal point? Like I said above it could be from the rock used if it had been in a tank with high phosphates. I dont like to harp but 4.0 is very high. Even with 600g of non- reefsafe fish tied into my system years ago which included 2 bamboo sharks my system never got above 2.0 with pretty standard filtration lots of live rock, large fuge and large skimmer.

We have 4 tanks. the 4. is on a 20 gallon that was changed out half of its water, this tank is confusing. It has all corals open even the christmas tree rock. I did feed bb to this tank also. Going to do another water change. I will not be feeding the bb until the levels come down. Plus we will need to try to rinse them even though it is the DI water that is used.
I will post again in a few weeks.

 

[reneeL]

100% non-photosynthetic. A year is good most dont last 6 months. Rotifers are a good food source probably needs to be live, the polyps "fire" on movement not "taste". BBS may also be acceptable just rinse them in saltwater before adding making sure not to add shells.

This is probably the problem. Thank you for the reminder.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My target range for nitrate is 5 to 50 ppm. Some nice tanks have 100 ppm. It does not appear there’s a reason to worry about the nitrate levels in this situation, IMO.

 

[Aquadude1]

I agree with others. One thing i would ensure is they are not rising month to month. If they are not, your export strategy is sufficient

 

[twentyleagues]

We have 4 tanks. the 4. is on a 20 gallon that was changed out half of its water, this tank is confusing. It has all corals open even the christmas tree rock. I did feed bb to this tank also. Going to do another water change. I will not be feeding the bb until the levels come down. Plus we will need to try to rinse them even though it is the DI water that is used.
I will post again in a few weeks.

Like others have stated the actual numbers (while alarming) dont really tell the whole story. How does everything look and grow is the main concern. If it looks good and corals grow well with no algae issues then its probably fine. I know I have read that phosphates bind to coral skeletons during growth possibly making them brittle or cause other growth issues. My previous reef ran well over 1.0 phos for a few years stuff grew fine didnt seem to be anymore brittle than anyother coral I have seen. Is 1.0-2.0 fine but anything in the 2.0-3.0 terrible and cause horrible things to happen? IDK and I dont think anyone can answer that either. If its growing and looks healthy and you dont have a bunch of unwanted algaes its probably fine.