High nitrates...can't get them down at all.

[birdy]

THis is the info from Kent Marine's DEIONIZER, it does 200gpd with no waste water:
The DEION200R is a 3 stage 200 gallon per day deionization unit with clear canisters. These filters will provide the purest water possible. This unit will remove over 99.9% of tap water contaminants, providing 18 megohm-cm lab grade water.. The DEION200R includes 1 CFCE solid block carbon pre filter, and regenerable anion and cation deionization resins that color indicates as the resin exhausts. This unit also includes a 3/4 inch garden hose adapter and 6 feet of yellow, blue and orange tubing.
This unit can be run on ANY water system.

 

[bonebrake]

You could even take a cube of your food and melt it in a glass of freshly mixed saltwater using RO or DI water and then do a nitrate test on this water. I have heard there are some seriously crappy frozen food suppliers and it really trashes your tank because the water is so polluted that the food is frozen in. It is supposedly much better to use a blender and buy a bag of assorted seafood from an Asian market or sushi restaurant for a couple of bucks and make your own frozen cubes.

 

[bonebrake]

Originally Posted by Birdy
I don't like blanket statements saying Walmart water is fine, when it depends on the machine and how often the filters are replaced, buy a $20 TDS meter and know for yourself.
I totally agree. I should have mentioned that. On these machines there is a chart on the inside of the machine on the left wall for the maintenance personel to fill out when he changes the filter and the TDS reading. Like Birdy said, get your own meter to verify. If you see no one has signed the maintenance chart for six months, keep your distance. Most of the units I have seen are checked every other month.

 

[dme]

I'm sorry for what I said about DME. But I have a 75 gallon tank and he told me to change out 60 of those gallons each week. Has anyone ever done that before??????
jester805, Listen, this complete idiot never said each week, I am the idiot right, not you

In other words mr nasty, you do for not more then two weeks of my suggestions and then you from there go to a 25-30 gal a week only waters change, Yes, I have to be a ******* idiot taking even this time to see if I can get it across you and Yes, it was done, you not any corals and it be best to get the anemone out of the tank during this period.
Im out of here, any questions as I said within morays, you people know where to find me.
The rest of you good luck

 

[ruaround]

If culligan is on the side of the machine it is the culligan mans job to service the machine on a regular basis... fortunatley I have my own RO filtration system and dont have to rely on thier service chart being current...
well I guess since the water I use isn't Di water I may as well be using tap with a britta filter...

 

[jester805]

I was under the impression that the "DI" part of RO/DI water stood for "Distilled." Am I wrong to assume that? If so, what does DI stand for? This is why I've been using jugs of distilled Walmart water all along. I've read posts saying that distilled is the best (aside from your own unit at home).
I am going to cut back on the feeding for sure. That definitely seems to be the common ground with most everyone I've talked to.

 

[ruaround]

Di stands for Deioniztion...

 

[bonebrake]

Jester, the DI water from Wal-Mart is good stuff. If it is the same brand as what I used to buy from Wal-Mart. It was in one gallon jugs with purple caps and labels and cost like 62 cents a gallon. It is actually RO and DI water. If you read the label it says it is micron filtered, distilled, and ozonated. It is 0 TDS. It was made and bottled in Kutztown, PA.
:joy:

 

[trainfever]

First of all, you are feeding way toomuch for that amount of fish. Cut it back to one cube. Also, are you thawing out the cube in a brine shrimp net or juts tossing it inot the tank. It's best to thaw out cubes in a brine shrimp net first and then feed to fish. Also, you need to do a bigger water change, 12 gallons just isn't enough change for your 75 gallon tank. Especially when your nitrates are so high. Maybe when you get the nitrates under control you can go back to doing 12. Also, its a good idea to have 2 different test kits in case on is wrong. I have 4 different kits.

 

[jester805]

Originally Posted by Bonebrake
Jester, the DI water from Wal-Mart is good stuff. If it is the same brand as what I used to buy from Wal-Mart. It was in one gallon jugs with purple caps and labels and cost like 62 cents a gallon. It is actually RO and DI water. If you read the label it says it is micron filtered, distilled, and ozonated. It is 0 TDS. It was made and bottled in Kutztown, PA.
:joy:

Yep, that's the one. Purple caps & labels. Thanks for letting me know. What do you think about feeding flake food?? You can see that the 7th post from the top rlmabry suggested flake food.
I guess I didn't think that 2 cubes each night was too much. The fish always go nuts for it and eat it all. I don't thaw the cubes either...just toss them in.

 

[rockies]

The problem I think you are now realizing is that the 2 cubes are completely eaten, then they are expelled as waste (the portion that isn't kept for growth or expended as energy). Think of everything added to the tank as a raw chemical that will be part of the Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate process regardless of whether it is eaten or left to rot.
Rockies

 

[doodle1800]

Originally Posted by milomlo
.
What are you saying is wrong with them? I was under the impression that the biowheels is what holds the bacteria. Am I wrong?

From what I've read they hold bacteria, but after a period of time they dump nitrates into the tank. Maybe keeping them clean from time to time will be ok...

 

[drea]

i guess everyone has there own methods... imo 40% changes a week is too much, 20 a week is plenty.. they will come down!!!! it may take a few weeks!!!! and adding a nitrate remover will not harm a thing..
the idea that "if its not in the ocean then don't add it" is incorrect!!! we add tons to our tanks! and we do not have an ocean!!!!!!! thats why we add buffers, calcium, elements, pods, this that.... they dont add flakes in the ocean either...
i do agree the less stuff added the better, but some things don't hurt and actually beneifit the tank, mine has been doing amazing :happyfish

 

[jester805]

Originally Posted by drea
i guess everyone has there own methods... imo 40% changes a week is too much, 20 a week is plenty.. they will come down!!!! it may take a few weeks!!!! and adding a nitrate remover will not harm a thing..
the idea that "if its not in the ocean then don't add it" is incorrect!!! we add tons to our tanks! and we do not have an ocean!!!!!!! thats why we add buffers, calcium, elements, pods, this that.... they dont add flakes in the ocean either...
i do agree the less stuff added the better, but some things don't hurt and actually beneifit the tank, mine has been doing amazing :happyfish

I agree with you quite a bit. I think about people saying not to add anything to the tank. I'm sure they have very valid points. But the ocean isn't the purest thing in the world. What about debris from ships??
My tank is incredibly clear right now. It looks the best that it ever has. I re-tested the nitrates with my Saltwater Master test kit and it shows them up around 200 also. One of my LFS guys told me to take a turkey baster and blow everything around like hurricane Katrina. I did that the other day and still high nitrates.

 

[mrdc]

I have been having the trouble of getting my nitrates down and I finally added seachem de*nitrate to my filter (my level has been stuck on 20 since I started...40 one time after cycling and I did a water change and they fell back to 20). The next day after starting with this product my trates were down to 10. The bottle I used was for 100 gallons and my tank is 120. Not sure if I add more if it will make the level drop even more.

 

[drea]

sometimes (like what i experienced) is that you are doing everything right and still have a lil nitrates..... this will go away after time that the bacteria builds up.....
I was even feeding my fish every other day!!!!!! now i feed them twice a day and have more fish in the tank......
i have a blue tang 3 inches, a sailfin 4 inches, 2 percs about 2.5 inches, and a mandarin 3 inches.... all get along great and i have barely any nitrates!!!!! just add fish slowly and be patient, unless they are off the chart, then there might be something to worry about.
all in a 70 gallon tall
i will end up getting a huge tank within a couple of yrs 150+ (thats huge to me).. i'll either add these guys if they get big or don't get along, otherwise they will stay and i'll start fresh!

 

[froznfinn]

water quality topic was well discussed. there is nothing wrong with your filters the 400
listed for tanks up to 80 gal and you have the other filter i believe good for tanks 30-50
gal..sometimes the reason for nitrates may have to do with cleaning the filters..and
replacing filter pads.. i think the 400 also has 2 spaces for extra filter media..using
diamond mixture(delux) might also help.. the cyclone is a marginal product and you
might want to upgrade as suggested by others..
your water flow looks fine..but is there anyother spot in your tank that may build up
material which might build up nitrates...?
cut back on your feedings..as you mentioned ...some people say they feed every other
day or just once a day......good luck

 

[jester805]

Originally Posted by froznfinn
water quality topic was well discussed. there is nothing wrong with your filters the 400
listed for tanks up to 80 gal and you have the other filter i believe good for tanks 30-50
gal..sometimes the reason for nitrates may have to do with cleaning the filters..and
replacing filter pads.. i think the 400 also has 2 spaces for extra filter media..using
diamond mixture(delux) might also help.. the cyclone is a marginal product and you
might want to upgrade as suggested by others.
Yeah, the 400 has 2 filters and the 280 has one. I replace the filters each week when I'm doing the water change. How do these Emperor HOB filters compare against, say, the Fluval 404 (or any other canister filter)??? Would I benefit by adding MORE filtration??

 

[jonnywater]

I dont get some of this stuff at all. Also I am the last person to say that anyone is wrong being so new to the hobby. I can understand the efficiency of RO/DI water though because I have used it. The thing was that it became to $$$$$ for me. So I simply went to RO water. That 1% doesnt seem to effect that much in my tank. However having a smaller tank, i need to do a greater amount of water changes. Here are just a few things that I do not understand though.
If you are changing out your filter cartridges in your Emperor once a week when you do water changes (or washing them off) how can it be bad for your tank? Biologically something like that makes no sense to me. This stuff that I never see floating around in the water turns my filter pads nearly brown by the end of the week. So obviously this all matter to small for scavengers to find. If you dont have something trapping it in your tank (IE The filter cartridges) is it not just going through your filter and back into your tank? You would think that this would produce a higher nitrate level then having something that DOES catch it. Real oceans have natural ways of expelling this matter from the water. Enclosed tanks however do not have this luxury. So all that stuff that gets trapped in your filter media in your emperor, would anyone want it to just flow back into your tank?
Also with the bio wheels. I can understand bio balls because they have a much larger surface area. That food particles can easily be trapped within them and eventually begin to produce higher nitrate levels because of rotting. This is the reason that even if I get a 250 gallon aquarium, I will still shy away from wet/drys. However bio-wheels have little if no surface area not to mention the fact that they are constantly rotating. They have enough area where microscopic organisms can form on them to get rid of nitrite and ammonia, however I dont see how it is possible that they could ever maintain holding onto an actual granual of food? None the less mine have never been any other color then gray. Showing that no massive amounts of waste are accumulating on them. Just biologically the whole things makes little if no sense to me. Then again like I said I am new to the hobby and only know what I have seen.
Long story short I would rather have my emperor cartridges (seeing the amount of accumulation on them) capture these particles rather then have them free flow back in to my aquarium only to break down even slower on the sand bed or LR.

 

[milomlo]

JOhnny - i agree with you about the filter cartridges. That is why I keep mine. I change them about every 2 weeks and wash them off in between. As far as the biowheel - my understanding of the biowheel was that is was where beneficial bacteria would grow. That was why I purchased this set up. I have never heard (like the other poster said) about them being the cause of High Nitrates.
I know you aren't suppose to clean them, but yesterday I did clean mine off and put them back in. Hopefully I already have enough beneficial bacteria on my rocks so that this doesn't affect anything. who knows????