High NO3 level

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I have always struggled with high nitrate levels, but thought after my recent move and setting up my tank again plus doing a 40% water change the NO3 levels would some how go down. This was not the case. The ammonia and nitrite levels are basically zero but the nitrate levels are still above 20 ppm? I have cut down on feeding, to see if not the problem, but do not see any difference. I have about 50kg of live rock, DSB + macro algae, my sand in the display is about 4-5cm. I only have two clowns, a cleaner w, 3 shrimps, sea cucumber, brittle star and 4 hermits in a +- 700l setup. I have read about the following products, does anyone know if it will sort out or help reduce the NO3 levels? Seachem purigen and Prodibio
 
Had similar problems some time back. Unfortunately I cannot pinpoint the specific actions that were most succesfull, but here are the things I did:

1) Took out all sand in my display over a two month period (lots of detritus accumulated here)
2) Improved flow closer to my DSB
3) Bought a much better skimmer (BB3000)
4) Started dosing vodka, accompanied by SpecialBlend
5) Siphoning all detritus in display and sump on a weekly basis
6) Making sure no "dead spots" in terms of water movement, especially below LR and back of display

The end result is that even my chaeto is slowly dying, I suppose as a result of the decreased nutrients, and my SPS doing well.
 
Rakabos - sorry should have mentioned, I am using two different makes (test kits) and both giving the same reading. Looks like I have to use Chris advice and start eliminating the possible culprits. A note: not using filter floss is waste perhaps settling in the DSB creating my problem?
 
No1 need say more. CrisNell has hit all the obvious points, so it should be either 1 of the above,if u go to other threads who post bout the same problems, all their solutions were sorting out 1 of the above, good luck,
 
The probiotics whether it's special blend, Prodibio or stability will help along with vodka dosing to reduce nutrients
 
Add a filter sock if u dont have one already. I started using one recently and you will be amazed at the amount of gunk you take out every few days
 
@Tony... It won't reduce nitrates.... It removes the products of the cycling process ie ammonia an nitrites, but nitrates is an end product, usually caused by overfeeding, dirty filter media an detritus buildup..... A good skimmer will sort the problem an also adding a power head in yor sump to lift detrtus settled on bottom so it can be skimmed up an regular filter media cleansing, these will avoid nitrate buildup

My 2c
 
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Tend to disagree with JsPLAYn. If you look at the cycle the final end product will be Nitrogen, which is the end product of the biological action caused by the denitrifying bacteria such as your anearobic species.

Once again boils down to having the right strains of bacteria in your pro-biotic additive ;)
 
Probiotics do work. I had nitrates of 50ppm before and they were reduced to about zero in a few months.

I also agree with the filter sock. I use the pool gobbler socks as they are cheap, strong and finely woven, so they catch a lot of gunk. I change mine twice a day and they are always dirty. I wash them with some sunlight dishwash liquid, rinse them like mad and they are ready for the next change
 
@ fransSny, shoo was worried their lol, u knw, a guy once told me high nitrates is not a train smash, in my malawi days, my tank ran 3yrs with nitrates as high as 50ppm an I had no problems cause fish gets use2 it, as long as the change is not sudden, more long term, everything slowly addapts....... I knw its prob diferent with marines, but lucky me I always run overrated skimmers so I got no trace of ammonia, nitrates or nitrite, kill them b4 they even form lol....... Another product said to work well an cheaper that most is 'Seachem SAFE',the powder treats more gallons so works out cheaper, a teaspoon a day keeps yor nitrates at bay .lol
 
@ fransSny, shoo was worried their lol, u knw, a guy once told me high nitrates is not a train smash, in my malawi days, my tank ran 3yrs with nitrates as high as 50ppm an I had no problems cause fish gets use2 it, as long as the change is not sudden, more long term, everything slowly addapts....... I knw its prob diferent with marines, but lucky me I always run overrated skimmers so I got no trace of ammonia, nitrates or nitrite, kill them b4 they even form lol....... Another product said to work well an cheaper that most is 'Seachem SAFE',the powder treats more gallons so works out cheaper, a teaspoon a day keeps yor nitrates at bay .lol

Yip, nitrites and ammonia = very bad, nitrate = less toxic. This applies to fish, not invertabrates and corals so it still has to be kept at bay
 
Yip, nitrites and ammonia = very bad

Frans, nitrites arent harmful to fish in small doses. The reason why people always thought that nitrites were toxic is that nitrites usually appear where there is ammonia which is the real killer
 
Frans, nitrites arent harmful to fish in small doses. The reason why people always thought that nitrites were toxic is that nitrites usually appear where there is ammonia which is the real killer

Yip, normally the combination that kills and as most people test for nitrites only they assume that is the killer.

Sorry Tony thats what I meant by the "and" sign...thanks for clarifying :)
 
I would say, because of the move, the subtrate would've got disturbed which promoted the detritus accumulated in the subtrate and LR to get loose into the water... a couple more water changes should do the trick...?
 
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