high nitrates
- Thread starter mbenson
- Start date
col
Active Member
There are some nitrate absorbers that you put in the water flow which claim to lower nitrates.
Live Rock, Live Sand, Protein Skimmer, Caulerpa...... all lower nitrates if used in right proportions.
You can buy nitrate filters in here in UK, costing about £80.
What type of filter are you using and do you clean it regular?
Live Rock, Live Sand, Protein Skimmer, Caulerpa...... all lower nitrates if used in right proportions.
You can buy nitrate filters in here in UK, costing about £80.
What type of filter are you using and do you clean it regular?
reef fool
Active Member
I have tried a few things in my old tank when my trates were high. There is a bacterial nitrate reducer out there, but it didn't rid my tank of them. It wasn't until I stopped overfeeding and added a refugium that I was able to eliminate them.
My suggestion is find the cause of excess nitraes, fix it and do water changes to lower them. If you can add a fuge, do it!
My suggestion is find the cause of excess nitraes, fix it and do water changes to lower them. If you can add a fuge, do it!
reef fool
Active Member
Originally posted by mbenson
I have a Tetratec Pf150 bio filter. My tank is 4 months old. It has twin filters and I changed 1 about 2 weeks ago. Could it be that I changed it too early and removed the good bacteria?
If that was the case, your ammonia and or nitrite would have spiked
eclipseagent
Member
I am in the same field. I have neglected my tank due to medical reasons and I tested today for the first time in 3 months and my trates are VERY VERY high, 100ppm to be exact. I have not done a water change in a while (which I hope I will be able to do today). I have a 75G tall with 80lbs LS, but only 50lbs of live rock. I will be adding more rock when money persists.
What do you all think I should do for a short term solution? a 15 - 20G water change?
Thank you.
What do you all think I should do for a short term solution? a 15 - 20G water change?
Thank you.
lesleybird
Active Member
If your levels are that high I would take out about 30 gallons....and make sure to suck all the crude out of the gravel. In doing such a large change you can replace it slowly a few gallons at a time (over about an hour or two) so that the fish are not overly stressed. Clean out all your filters, and if your levels are still high in a week do the same amount of water change in a week. Your levels will get better with all this work. Don't worry about changing out too much water. I always change about 35 percent of my tank out every 2 to three weeks, and this large amount has never harmed the creatures, but kept my water quality good. I recently ordered something on line called Algon which is supposed to really reduce nitrate levels when you stick this tiny packet in your filter every two weeks. I haven't tried it yet.....just ordered it yesterday. Try a search engine like dogpile.com and type in Algon. My nitrate levels are in the safe range for fish, and the crabs and shrimp are doing fine, but I just ordered a red marble star fish and I read that they are very sensitive to nitrates.
Good luck, Lesley
Good luck, Lesley
eclipseagent
Member
Well after a LONG water change (first off ran out of salt, so I rushed to the store and got there 10 minutes before they closed, at this time the fish still had no filter). 30 minutes later I get back and I start adding the water, did about a 15 gallon change.
After the water settles I will check the nitrates again. Hopefully it will be a bit down. Also the salinity is about 1.21-1.22 so gotta see if it goes up to 1.23 where I want it.
Well, thanks for everyones help... as for the medical reason I broke my back in a snowboard accident a few months ago.. and now just having time/energy to take care of the tank. It is like starting all over again.
After the water settles I will check the nitrates again. Hopefully it will be a bit down. Also the salinity is about 1.21-1.22 so gotta see if it goes up to 1.23 where I want it.
Well, thanks for everyones help... as for the medical reason I broke my back in a snowboard accident a few months ago.. and now just having time/energy to take care of the tank. It is like starting all over again.
lesleybird
Active Member
I am lucky where I live you can purchase ready made reverse osmosis salt water at the fish store. I go to the store with my five gallon buckets with lids and buy the water for a dollar a gallon. I can't stand to mix it up myself because it is too difficult to measure out the correct amount of salt, it doesn't always desolve properly, Takes too many days to get the reverse osmosis water made, and I have to spend hours getting the specific gravity right. Do they sell water like this in your area? It really takes the hassel out of water changes. Lesley
eclipseagent
Member
No, there isnt anything like that around here. I wish there was, it would be tons easier.
eclipseagent
Member
Originally posted by dreeves
Eclipse...
Smaller, more often water changes are better then a larger one. For a 75 do about a 20% (15 gallon or so), once a day. Large, sudden changes in the water chemistry will effect the livestock and can effect your bio filtration.
That is what I decieded to do. I know I need more live rock, and also may need a new bio-foam for my tetratec PF500 filter.
I cranked up my skimmer and added a little biozyme and will test tomorrow. I tested after the water changes and it seemed to go down a bit. But I will see over time.
eclipseagent
Member
Originally posted by dreeves
Live rock performs as a bio filter...if you have adequate bio filtration already, then increasing it would be an option in my opinion.
In my 90, I only have about 5 pounds of live rock and no plans on increasing it either.
I am sure that looks just silly :lol: