Detailed form submitted: 2una

[2una]

Detailed help request​

Are you experiencing any problems in your tank?

Yes ​

Brief Description

NO3 High 64+ PPM - discovered today my test kits been telling me lies...instead of 0.75-1.0 ppm NO3 I'm actually 64+ ppm.
Double checked high reading with lfs. ​

Tank size

RSM 250 ​

System Volume

200 ​

How long has your tank been running?

In my care 7 months - 1.5yrs from previous owner ​

What livestock do you have?

13 fish - all okay
few LPS - torch,suncoral,gono,zoas etc all ok
3 SPS - acro's - relatively new - haven't coloured - guess i just found out why, thought it was my PO4 ​

Water Parameters

Alkalinity (dkh): 7.7 hanna
Calcium: 450 salifert
Phosphate: 0.12 hanna
Magnesium: 1300 salifert
pH : 7.9
Nitrite:
Nitrate: 64+ Red sea
Ammonia:
Salinity: 1025
Temperature: 26.0-27.0 (chiller) ​

What lighting is over the tank?

- ​

Pumps and equipment

- ​

Maintenance

- ​

Other info and photo's.

Sigh - Looking for some advice on how best i should deal with this.
1st stumbling block is sometime later this week i need to go to sea for at least a couple of weeks.Wife can be about the tank but limited hands on.

Test kit i had been using i inherited when i bought the tank( the red sea dual no3/po4 test kit, I bought a Hanna po4 meter & the reading from that agreed with what the redsea kit was saying & i wrongly presumed the NO3 would also be correct.
I have been dosing 3ml/day NOPOX
I have soaking in RO 500ml Orca Titanium Bio cubes

Wednesday morning last i did 10% water change
Wednesday arfo i dosed chemiclean to deal with some cyano
Saturday arfo i did 20% water change.
Skimmer is still struggling to come right frm the chemiclean.

I'm keen to dump some water out tomorrow then there will be a few days delay in the next NO3 drop when i guess the bio cubes will start to kick in. Planning on putting the cubes in tomorrow.


I work on 250L less +/- 50kg live rock = +/- 200L true volume

Could i get some opinions on how much water do you think i can safely change out?
Was thinking to go with 30% then let the cubes do their thing??

Edit: i also have the normal bio cubes on the way, i wonder if it may not be better to use those rather than the titanium version & then maybe the PO4 will slow down the NO3 reduction to not be so drastic whilst i'm not here​

 

[jimilutz]

You could do a couple of big water changes on successive days, I would not do more than 30% 60L. Try and get salt that matched the pH and alkalinity of your tank. The orca cubes are really simple, you only need to clean the skimmer and they slowly drop the nitrate. I think either type are fine, I have not seen them affect my PO4 too much.

 

[RiaanP]

Those bio cubes takes a few weeks anyway to be 100% effective. 2 to 3 weeks if I recall correctly. Doubt you will experience an overnight shift in parameters. How long do you expect to be away?

 

[2una]

You could do a couple of big water changes on successive days, I would not do more than 30% 60L. Try and get salt that matched the pH and alkalinity of your tank. The orca cubes are really simple, you only need to clean the skimmer and they slowly drop the nitrate. I think either type are fine, I have not seen them affect my PO4 too much.

Probably the smartest i think....maybe do 25% today & in a couple of days do another 25%....Its going to raise my Alk so i need to watch it a bit there too,Salt is 12dkh,tank is 7.7dkh

Those bio cubes takes a few weeks anyway to be 100% effective. 2 to 3 weeks if I recall correctly. Doubt you will experience an overnight shift in parameters. How long do you expect to be away?

Thanks Riaan - are just a bit weary re some results i seen in Irie's thread
eg Marine Aquariums South Africa - View Single Post - Orca nitra guard bio cubes discussion

The tank is about 60 litres, so I added about 80ml into a mesh bag & added it to the outlet chamber of my Red sea prism hob skimmer.

I raised the nitrates back to 50ppm & phosphates to 1ppm.

The test tank results:
Day 7 = Nitrates: +-45ppm phosphates: 1ppm
Day 9 = Nitrates: +-41ppm phosphates: 0.9ppm
Day 11 = Nitrates: 7ppm phosphates: 0.2ppm
Day 14 = Nitrates: 0.7ppm phosphates: 0.07ppm
Day 15 = Nitrates: 0.5ppm phosphates: 0.03ppm
Day 16 = removed biocubes

Probably be gone 20 odd days....Wife can do testing so i guess i'll just roll with that & if need be i'll get her to pull them out.

 

[2una]

Couple of pics for interest sake - The test pic is done on high range 1ml tank water/15ml RO.
The brain,birdnests,sponge & acro's i pulled home from the lfs in bad states already...only really been the brain getting worse.
Tank pic today.

 

[2una]

Decided to do 20%/40L water change so as not to send the alk thru the roof too fast,will leave things be & think about doing another 20% in a couple of days.
2hrs later:
Alk 8.17 (was 7.78 prior)
Looking at the test looks like i'm maybe on the light end of 64ppm now where before it was looking hard 64+
Whilst im still around i'm going to put in 6ml NOPOX instead of the normal 3ml & back it off again before i go.
Added 500ml orca titanium cubes into my skimmer box - plenty flow & O2 in there - will see if it does ok in there or not.

 

[jimilutz]

I would recommend you chose one nitrate strategy and stick with it for at least a month to see what works for you, nothing is going to work very quickly. Certainly keep with water changes but then use either nopox or orca cubes. They might also not be compatible treatments.

 

[2una]

I would recommend you chose one nitrate strategy and stick with it for at least a month to see what works for you, nothing is going to work very quickly. Certainly keep with water changes but then use either nopox or orca cubes. They might also not be compatible treatments.

Yeah not planning to use both,going to wean off the NoPox once the cubes show they are doing what they should be.
I'm not sure if upping the dose for a few days is even going to do anything but will give it a try...at 64 ppm there sure is enough for the 2 to share Will be dropping it back to 2ml before i go away then hopefully take it offline next time back.

 

[viper357]

How long have you been using the NOPOX? It works, I use it, my nitrates were about 40 when I started using it, took about 2 or 3 weeks before it dropped and became undetectable, but definitely works, you just gotta give it time.

 

[2una]

How long have you been using the NOPOX? It works, I use it, my nitrates were about 40 when I started using it, took about 2 or 3 weeks before it dropped and became undetectable, but definitely works, you just gotta give it time.

Hi Viper,That interesting Thanks.... About 5 months but the problem has been i've been dosing at an amount for 1ppm NO3 when i've now found out its nowhere near there.
Been dosing 2ml/day & last 2 months 3ml/day when i should have been dosing 6ml/day.
It held the NO3 level(but that was wrong) but with no PO4 reduction i got fed up with it & put GFO and now GFH online.
I don't like the possibility of me not being around running the nopox @ 6ml/day when it comes time that i need to back it off so that's why i'm going to try hand over to the cubes(if they work).

 

[2una]

I read thru the bio cubes info sheet several times & i don't see any mention of this possibly happening......I get up this morning & all my fish are missing & i have THIS appeared.....
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.Now WHAT?

 

[LCornelius]

I think your tank is to small to accommodate a killer whale.

Either upgrade or call Marine World to relocate the whale.

 

[2una]

I think your tank is to small to accommodate a killer whale.

Either upgrade or call Marine World to relocate the whale.

Certainly looks that way!
Had another 2 smaller ones sprout as well

Jest aside i see movement out of the 64+ area already....hard to get a number on it but its not as low as 50ppm yet.
Dosed 2 days of 6ml nopox & then shut it off altogether as i was around to deal with any die off which didn't seem to take place anyway.
Off to work tomorrow so if i see 50ppm in the am i'll be dropping some cubes out to slow things down some.

 

[Devil Dog]

are they reef safe? Price on the two small ones?

 

[2una]

are they reef safe? Price on the two small ones?

Well my tang & clowns have now decided to bury themselves in the sand like wrasse's so i'm suspecting there might be a little bit of incompatibility issues to deal with.

 

[459b]

Dosed 2 days of 6ml nopox & then shut it off altogether

Starting nopox then stopping after a few days will be doing more harm than good. Nitrates dont drop fast so you need to pick one method and stick to it. Besides water change, no method will drop your nitrates from 64 to 50 in two days. If you are going away and cant dose nopox daily, then go the cubes route.

 

[2una]

Starting nopox then stopping after a few days will be doing more harm than good. Nitrates dont drop fast so you need to pick one method and stick to it. Besides water change, no method will drop your nitrates from 64 to 50 in two days. If you are going away and cant dose nopox daily, then go the cubes route.

Hi,Tank had been on nopox for 5 odd months already but dose was too low due to test kit telling porky's. Nopox is now off (Wed was last dose) & cubes (500ml) are in by themselves to do the job. Cubes been in there 6 days now.

 

[Devil Dog]

stopping nopox is a slow process , ive seen tanks bleach due to lack of nopox, its like a drug.

 

[2una]

Okay thanks for the heads up....I was expecting a bacteria die off but nothing bad i can see has happened - would have kicked the doser back on if that was the case....skimmer never went overboard or anything.
5 days its been off now,possible that bacteria moved to the cubes perhaps.
I'd started to get cyano outbreak & with my PO4 being bought down with GFH & i really have doubt that the nopox was doing alot anyway.(other than feeding cyano)

 

[2una]

I guess this is approaching week 3 tomorrow
This mornings tests
Red Sea high range
4ppm on the disk= 64ppm
2ppm on the disk = 32ppm
1ppm on the disk = 16ppm
0.75 on the disk = 12ppm

I guess its 16-32ppm somewhere now??

Least someones happy amongst this kaos going on