Nitrate reducing products

[Armyreefguy]

I also have a 29g BioCube. Took the bio balls out and put chaeto in the second chamber. would take the floss out if it were me and the LRR. I took my LRR out and it helped with the nitrate prob. too much crap gettin stuck in there because of lack of flow. Water Change, Water Change, Water Change!!! We do a 20% WC every saturday. Our tank was reaching dead sea lvls until we started doing religious water changes and kept on a routine. I would put a power head in the display area facing in the opposite direction of the stock one. That helped our tank out alot!!!! helps eliminate dead spots.

 

[cmor1701d]

+1 for the added ph and added PWCs.

 

[DREUTZ]

I have a koralia nano in the front right corner facing towards the left side and although there are still some dead spots it has helped a lot. I'm going to start doing more frequent water changes, reduce feedings, and take out the LRR from the back chamber. I've also increased my fuge light from 14 hours to 20 hours to let the chaeto grow more. I'll switch it back down once the trates start getting in check.

 

[Armyreefguy]

Sounds good man! If you mix your own water it is cheaper than buying pre mixed water. Use RO water and Instant Ocean salt cant go wrong with it!

 

[DREUTZ]

So I bought s salifert test kit and tested nitrates yesterday. Even after doing a 20% WC on monday, my nitrates were 80ish!!! The API test kit was way off and is going in the garbage. I removed some rubble from the back chamber yesterday morning and it kicked up a ton of crap and sediments into the water. Would that cause a higher nitrate reading or are my nitrates really 80? I'm planning on doing a water change this weekend and i'm going to siphon as much of that crap out as possible from the back chamber. Also I noticed tonight that some zoas and rics are starting to get blackish "bands" on the stems. is this a sign of trouble due to nitrates?

 

[Wes]

definitely cut back on feeding. i only feed 1 cube a day in my 65g.

Increased water changes. A better skimmer might help. If you are still having issues w/ reduced feedings and increased maintenance you might have to take a look at your bioload and consider removing a fish or 2.

It's sad to give up a fish, I know, but using chemicals to keep nitrates down is just a temporary band-aid to a problem that will always be there.

 

[DREUTZ]

I never really wanted to add chemicals so i've gone the route of less feeding, more WC, and removing LRR. I'm going to also purchase another powerhead to hopefully eliminate any deadspots that are present.

 

[yiliyang]

First of all, you are likely overfeeding your tank. Cut to about 50% of your feeding. Your fish will be fine eating less.

Second, Take the sugar packets from Mc D and put half the pack in your tank every other day. Pay close attention to your protein skimmer and make sure it is dialed in just right. The sugar will encourage certain types of bacteria in your water to multiply, the process will consume nitrate. The protein skimmer than removes the population of bacteria therefore lowering your nitrate. I would also advice a 5 gal water change each week.

This method is from personal experience and I know it works. Once the nitrate becomes low, STOP putting sugar in the water.

 

[DREUTZ]

is that similar to vodka dosing?

 

[cowfish]

is that similar to vodka dosing?

Yes. Both provide "fuel" for bacteria that break down nitrates.

 

[Armyreefguy]

Yea moving the LRR from the back may cause a spike in the trates. The next time you do a WC siphon the water from the back chambers of the tank so u can suck out an debris that are sitting stagnant in the back... I make it a point to always siphon some from back there because stuff will just sit back there and rot if you let it. make sure to siphone off the top of the sand to because if you've been over feeding that excess food will cause the trates to be high also.

 

[DCG1286]

Sugar and Vodka dosing? That's horrible advice to give to him ... Sorry but it seems the new fad is to solve problems by dumping chemicals into the tank ... never seen it really solve anyones problems for long periods of time ...
Most of the evidence here points to overfeeding ... You will quickly learn the Flame Scallop is not worth having. It's unfortunate that it shows up at the LFS as MOST (very high percentage) of them die. I know I know ... everyone says how theirs is doing so well etc.etc. trust me on this one.

I had a 29G Biocube probably 2-3 years ago ... the flow through the back chambers stink ... the LR in the middle compartment is most likely trapping a lot of crap back there you don't want. I don't remember the EXACT size of the chambers ... but if there is a small powerhead that you could stick back there it would be GREAT (on larger systems I always run a powerhead of some sorts in the sump to prevent detritus and other stuff from building up down there). As it has been stated, you should definitely think of upgrading your skimmer (the stock one was just garbage).

Sorry for being blunt. Just being honest.

 

[DREUTZ]

I was not going to do the sugar or vodka dosing because my skimmer rarely works correctly. Also I want to give the other advice a try (removing LRR, another powerhead, less feeding, more WC) before I resort to anything extreme. I'm looking at getting a new skimmer and a powerhead for the main display as well as possibly one for the back chamber.

Would a koralia nano be too much flow back there and disrupt the pods in the chaeto?

p.s. i like the honesty.. i f&#^$ up and I just need to know how to fix it no matter how much it hurts haha

 

[Armyreefguy]

hey man do you think you can post a pic of the set up you have in the back chambers.. may help the reefing guru's on here help you figure out some stuff.... trust me though when you do your water change siphon out some of the water from those back chambers so you can suck out some of the crap that sets up back there... and then siphon out some from the main display... clean off the top of the sand.... should help.... we decide to just start changing 5gals every saturday its easier to just fill a 5gal bucket up with old water and mix a 5gal bucket of new water..... fish seem happy and corals a growing! keep us posted on how ur doing!!

 

[DREUTZ]

yeah i'll try to get some pics... although i'm looking at getting a new skimmer so my setup might change in the near future.

you have your tank at your place or at work? it said "we" so just wondering?

 

[Armyreefguy]

yea its a tank that me and the guys I work with share... allthough only 2 of us care enough to take care of the tank. You gotta be careful with the smaller tanks like what you and I have. The temp moves up and down because of the closed off hood. FYI dont let any water get into the cooling fans they will short out in a heart beat. YOu gotta constantly check the salinity lvl and top off the tank every other day with RO/DI water because the water evaporates real quick in the biocube.

 

[DCG1286]

I was not going to do the sugar or vodka dosing because my skimmer rarely works correctly. Also I want to give the other advice a try (removing LRR, another powerhead, less feeding, more WC) before I resort to anything extreme. I'm looking at getting a new skimmer and a powerhead for the main display as well as possibly one for the back chamber.

Would a koralia nano be too much flow back there and disrupt the pods in the chaeto?

p.s. i like the honesty.. i f&#^$ up and I just need to know how to fix it no matter how much it hurts haha

A Koralia nano back there shouldn't be a problem at all if you ask me. I used to run two Koralia 1's.

You pretty much summed up what you need to be doing to get your tank headed in the right direction.

Some people can't handle honesty. Clearly you can, but a lot of people hear and see only what they want to. Which definitely makes for an interesting read. lol.

trust me though when you do your water change siphon out some of the water from those back chambers so you can suck out some of the crap that sets up back there

+1 to this as well.

 

[SevTT]

First off, ignore the people who're yelling about adding 'chemicals' to your tank. Both of the products you linked to are zeolitic rock similar to that used in the Zeovit system. These certainly can be used to reduce ammonia levels, and, thus, reduce nitrite and nitrate levels.

I prefer a resin-based product which can be regnerated, like Purigen, combined with a whole lot of chaeto and dosing carbon (vinegar, in my case, in my top off, which also delivers kalk.) But that's my preference. You might want to pick up some purigen or similar to actively scrub out the extant nitrates and use the zeolitic material for maintenance.

 

[SevTT]

yea its a tank that me and the guys I work with share... allthough only 2 of us care enough to take care of the tank. You gotta be careful with the smaller tanks like what you and I have. The temp moves up and down because of the closed off hood. FYI dont let any water get into the cooling fans they will short out in a heart beat. YOu gotta constantly check the salinity lvl and top off the tank every other day with RO/DI water because the water evaporates real quick in the biocube.

So long as you don't have leakage, you don't really need to check the salinity level if you're keeping it topped off with fresh. A cheap top-off system composed of an aqualifter and a cheap float switch & triac controller would remove most of the headache and salinity swing here.

 

[SevTT]

Sugar and Vodka dosing? That's horrible advice to give to him ... Sorry but it seems the new fad is to solve problems by dumping chemicals into the tank ... never seen it really solve anyones problems for long periods of time ...

There's nothing wrong with carbon dosing and you're -always- adding chemicals to your tank to solve problems -- artificial salt mix, calcium and carbonate supplementation, magnesium supplementation, and that wonderful mystery slurry of organic and inorganic compounds known as food.

So long as you understand the mechanisms behind it, or can follow directions very carefully and faithfully, there's no real problem, and the mechanisms behind the way that carbon dosing reduces your nitrates is well-understood. Most systems are deficient in dissolved carbon compounds, which limits the growth of non-photosynthetic bacteria which would otherwise consume free nitrogen compounds. Providing carbon in an easily used form, such as alcohols, sugars, or acetate, allows these bacteria to grow, using up nitrogen, phosphate, and dissolved carbon until they run out of one or the other and can't reproduce any more. Since we're -constantly- adding new nitrogen and phosphate compounds into the tank (in the form of food), we need to supplement the dissolved carbon in order to rapidly eliminate waste products.

Me, I use acetic acid to carbon dose and boost my kalk solubility. It's a nearly zero-headache system. Every time my kalk bucket runs out, out it comes, it gets filled with 5g of RODI, about 6 tsp kalk, and 2 tbsp white vinegar. This is attached to an ATO system, and runs for about five days to a week on my current system before needing to be refilled.