Help : Reducing Nitrates

Triton said:
See response aboove
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Yup, would take ou the lava rock as there is no benefit.

Clean the Macro Alg, and probably remove half of it, don't keep too much. It needs space to tumble and grow.

Just don't mix methods, if you're going to carbon dose remove the DSB, you pic what works for you.
 
trad said:
You need a 800L rated skimmer min. IMO, I'm running a 1200L skimmer on my 400L system.
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Okay if i do the following, i should see my nitrates drop right?

1 - Clean out my chaeto
2 - Remove the crushed Lava rock
3 - Get a bigger Skimmer (Whats good Reef octopus, JNS etc)
 
trad said:
Yup, would take ou the lava rock as there is no benefit.
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By removing it out, you will be removing filter capacity off the system. There will be benifiacial bacteria on this lava rock... take it out very slowly not all at once, give the system time to stabelize... have you concider using orca bio cubes?
 
trad said:
pellets are worse than frozen food for Phos
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Should i alternate, 1 day pellets and 1 day frozen food (Drained)

Also how often should i feed my corals??
I have cyclopeeze and Reef pearls..
Got Some SPS, Brains, Mushrooms, Pin coushins, Polyps So basically i have a mixed Reef :)
 
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Express Reef said:
By removing it out, you will be removing filter capacity off the system. There will be benifiacial bacteria on this lava rock... take it out very slowly not all at once, give the system time to stabelize... have you concider using orca bio cubes?
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Please explain how those work ES, not just any old plastic balls/cubes.

an appropriately size Reef octopus bubble blaster will be budget friendly and do the job. I have a TS1 for sale that you could add on but I'd rather say go for one bigger skimmer.

Feed 1/4 of pellets on the same schedule and see what happens or change entirely to frozen would be my suggestion, feed corals once a week.
 
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Express Reef said:
By removing it out, you will be removing filter capacity off the system. There will be benifiacial bacteria on this lava rock... take it out very slowly not all at once, give the system time to stabelize... have you concider using orca bio cubes?
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Okay great, i will start taking some out slowly this week.. should be done by next Wednesday.. Hope thats slow enough..

I have read about them 'Orca bio Cubes' can i mix them with my DSB?
And also where do i get?
 
Triton said:
Okay if i do the following, i should see my nitrates drop right?

1 - Clean out my chaeto
2 - Remove the crushed Lava rock
3 - Get a bigger Skimmer (Whats good Reef octopus, JNS etc)
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Don't forget the 100L water change. Then make sure you do the 60L a week for about 8 weeks and see if it improves. 10% a week...
 
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Hi,

i have read this thread and been thinking about my reply, i am not going to throw a cost at the problem, but rather explain and find out where its going wrong.

16ppm is not high at all

Your TS2 is fine for that system, they are rated for 800L, then magically the new boxes say 500L, i have both and old and new skimmer and both look identical. How old is the tank? what fishes are there?

i would remove a handfull of the lava rock every week, this will allow bacteria to repopulate and adjust. keep the filter mat very clean, change every second or third day, i use filter wool, cheap and works. is there settlement on your DSB? what is the flow like over it? how deep is the sand?

i does sound like you are over feeding and bacteria cannot keep up with the nutrients from fish and food, is your cheato growing?

lets go from there
 
So agree with @dallasg. Also doing a 100% water change is very extreme, trying to get the salinity and pH to match exactly your tank is quite a difficult job, as they are also very temperature dependant. By doing water changes (and I am going to get lamb basted, I know) say 10% per week, you are only effectively removing 10% the value of your NO3, so in your case Nick, that would be 1.6ppm (I am not saying water changes are useless, but to sort out only NO3, you are fighting a losing battle). Sort out husbandry and take it from there.
If you also have some time, read this article by Randy Holmes-Farley. Gives some great incite into PO4 in food.
Aquarium Chemistry: Phosphate And Math: Yes You Need To Understand Both Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
 
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Attention to detail when it comes to husbandry.
1. Siphon 1/2 your gravel when you do your next water change. And the other half in a months time with your next water change.
2. Do a 40% water change.
3. Use a filter sock, clean or replace every two days.
4. Continue with nopox. Your dosage seems very high for a reading of 16ppm. I think you need to check the recommended dosage.
5. Don't change your skimmer change your maintenance, clean it everyday. Do this for 2 weeks and report back.
 
Triton said:
I have attached a rough drawing of my sump setup.. (Oh i didnt add that i run CO2 with my Skimmer)

sumpSetup.jpg
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I'm sure you mean O3 and not CO2:whistling:
 
Why dont you give nitra guard bio cubes a go...
They really work & will do so for quite a long time!
They will take about 2 weeks to start working, but after that, you will have underectable nitrates for at least 6 months...
 
dallasg said:
Hi,

i have read this thread and been thinking about my reply, i am not going to throw a cost at the problem, but rather explain and find out where its going wrong.

16ppm is not high at all

Your TS2 is fine for that system, they are rated for 800L, then magically the new boxes say 500L, i have both and old and new skimmer and both look identical. How old is the tank? what fishes are there?

-- My Tank is about a Year old now, but i have had my Skimmer for 3 years now..
-- I have about 7 Fish, 2 damsels and 5 Tangs

i would remove a handfull of the lava rock every week, this will allow bacteria to repopulate and adjust. keep the filter mat very clean, change every second or third day, i use filter wool, cheap and works. is there settlement on your DSB? what is the flow like over it? how deep is the sand?

-- okay i will remove some every week until i have none left right?
-- I do clean the matt every week, i will every 3 days now..
-- Yip there is some settlement on my DSB and this green algae, i cleaned out on saturday when i did a 80L water change..
-- Yip there is flow over the DSB not very high though and DSB sand is about 15 cm deep

i does sound like you are over feeding and bacteria cannot keep up with the nutrients from fish and food, is your cheato growing?

-- I have calupera and Chaeto growing slowly though..

lets go from there
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See above
 
Visser said:
Why dont you give nitra guard bio cubes a go...
They really work & will do so for quite a long time!
They will take about 2 weeks to start working, but after that, you will have underectable nitrates for at least 6 months...
Click to expand...

I accept. Orca Nitra-guard bio cubes work the best.
 
a lot of times a DSB is called out to be ineffective or a nutrient trap.
But a few changes in the setup is all that is needed.

I found that most DSB the water flow across is too slow. The old rule of 3 to 5 times your system volume per hour via the sump, does not really work. Cannot apply that rule to 2 sumps of different widths.

To be effective, you do not want settlement on the sand. Food particles released in the water column at entry point should flow as far away as possible. If it settles on the sand before it even reach half way, then you do need to upgrade that return pump.

Even placing an extra pump (say 1000l/h) in return chamber that flows back directly to the first chamber as a test run, before investing in a upgraded pump is a good idea. At least you can run it like that for a month and see if you get improvements.

The ideal I found and what I aim for is to have between 6 and 10mm head height in my sump. That means the difference between the last divider and the actual water surface as it goes over should be between 6 and 10mm. Below 5, and you will have settlement. Above 10 and you end up with sand storms on your DSB entry side mostly. I also like the water level difference between first and second chamber to be between 5 and 10mm different when running the return pumps. That will also lessen the sand storms.

Give the cheato a shake, once a week.

Can add a few small hermits to run around your DSB to help with the cleanup of the current detritus settlement. How many hermits? Depending on the sump size and hermits size.

When last did you reseed your DSB? Remember that it is a closed environment. Organisms in there battle each day for space and supremacy. After a couple of months you do end up with less bio-diversity as some organisms are pushed to extinction. Need to add other types of bacteria etc to upset the balance reached and to keep the bio-diversity as high as possible.

Just a cupful of sand from another reefers sump. But from a disease free system. And do remember to acclimatize the sand. No point is shocking to death the new bacteria you want. Doh
 
Agree with most of the advice given above. The Nitra Guard Bio Cubes, or even better, the titanium cubes, will facilitate reduction of the nitrates and most likely make your NO3 test kit obsolete.
It does however seem that a whole lot of methodologies are being thrown at a "problem," where perhaps one will do.

However, please do not see them as a cure all and impliment unless you are going to look at the cause of your nitrates first. What troubles me is that you have a dsb, which should remove NO3, IF set up correctly. And by correctly I mean substrate composition, size, depth, flow, etc.
It could be a case of your dsb being inadequate to manage your nutrient input, simply due to its size being too small..... In which case, the cubes will pick up the slack. In that event, I would rather run only cubes for denitrfication and have the dsb function as a refugium for food production with the added benefit of a bit of denitrfication if the cubes miss something or start reaching the end of their lifespan.... But as mentioned, I would not recommend you mix too many methodologies......
It could be a case of your DSB having reached the end of its lifespan and become a nutrient sink which is now.... hmmmm.... FULL? In which case its time to do a lot more than just reseed.... Rip it out and replace... Dangerous excersize.... What lies beneath was an interesting movie, yes? In this case I would first get the cubes to start working, then chuck out the DSB whilst the sump is off line....

BTW, your dsb is not too shallow if using oolite aragonite.

It could be a case of other nitrate sources, like the lava rock in a high O2 environment adding nitrates.... at least more than the DSB can effectively process..... As mentioned, take the lava out little by little and measure NO3.
Understanding and adressing the nutrient input vs export balance is paramount. Lets not just throw all the export mechanisms into the mix and hpe for the best.....
 
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