High Nitrates

zibnata

zibnata

Member
Since I had my tank setup,almost a year ago,my nitrates have always been between 20-80ppm.I do regular water changes. I have had much sucess with livestock and corals which I thought would not do too good with high nitrates.I assume the high nitrates are because I have crushed coral substrate which I am not going to change any time soon.I have a Fluval 304 filter with carbon and Bio-Chem Stars that have been in there for about 6 months now.Do these Bio-chem stars need to be cleaned ? Does the carbon need to be changed ? Is ther any other bag of stuff to put in to lower nitrates ? I have 75 lbs of LR also. Thanks
 
dreeves

dreeves

Active Member
Kent has a mixed bed resin which will aid in the lowering of nitrates, phosphates and silicates as well...
As for your rinsing question...everything non natural you use in your system for filtration purposes has to be cleaned at one point or another...or on a schedule...when items are left un-cleaned in the filtering equipment...junk will build up, decompose and create the process which creates the nitrates.
Crushed coral..simply by the nature of the beast will most likely always harbor decomposing matter...it is tedious work cleaning it and most often time slack off on it...when cleaning your filter equipment ensure you use water from the tank to clean them in...you will without a doubt disturb the bio-filtration when cleaning...so you want to keep the damage to a minimum.
The carbon needs to be replaced...it is issue which 10 different people will have 13 or so different ideas...but it does become exhausted...
Another more natural way to tackle nitrates is the addition of macro-algea. Most do this with a sump/refuge or just a refuge. There are a couple of attractive hang on the tank refuges which this can be accomplished with or what most people do is construct a sump then incorporate a refuge into it.
Hope this helps you out some. Controlling nitrates is a pain in the..well you know...at best!
 
smokinstarfish

smokinstarfish

Member
Do you use tap water to do changes? Just wondering if maybe you do and it has high nitrates.
I'm switching to a DSB eventually, but I just made a great DIY coil denitrator for about $20, which I intend on keeping even after the DSB is established.
 
zibnata

zibnata

Member
Thanks for the help. I relize the worst thing I did was CC.That was the advice of LFS.I knew nothing and didnt know these boards existed.Even the books I read didnt mention sand bed.This is what is in the tank:
2-55 watt 10,000 k, 2-55 watt actinic, 55 gallon, 70 lbs LR, Crushed Coral substrate , Fluval 304 filter,
seaclone 150 protien skimmer, 300 watt heater, aquaclear powerhead,yellow tang, hippo tang
tomato clown, 3 damsels,1 royal gramma, 2 cleaner shrimp, snails, hermits, 2 emralds,1 sally lightfoot,1 porclain crab,1 banded coral shrimp,1 serpent star,2 flame red scallops,2 feather dusters, mushroom coral, bubble coral, plate coral, anthelia, purple gorgonian, yellow gorgonian.The tank is almost a year old.
I would love to get rid of the CC,but it is under the LR and I would hate to disturb the tank.I will consider a refuigum if I can figure it out,all this is still confusing to me.In the meantime I will do regular filter maintenance.What about those Biostars in the filter ? do they get cleaned or replaced? Thank you for your time and help.
 
reefraff

reefraff

Active Member
I too was a victim of c.c. but I cheated. I cleaned it and then added sand over the top of it. Was just patient and added a little at a time and it didn't seem to bother anyone. My trates are still high but not like they were and it has been well over a month and I havent had a algae bloom since I did it.
 
col

col

Active Member
I have had CC for 15 months and my nitrates are between 5 and 10.
Regular vacuuming is the key.
 
reefraff

reefraff

Active Member

Originally posted by zibnata
How do you get the sand to go where you want it to go ?
I trained it better than I did my Beagle dogs.
Actually I used a 20 ounce plastic dixie cup to pour the sand right on the c.c. The Clownfish thought I wanted to play with it and got a face full of sand a couple of times. It took a while but but worked out well.
 
zibnata

zibnata

Member
What if I vacuum out as much as I could of the CC. Should I put NATURE'S OCEAN BIO-ACTIV ARAGONITE--LIVE SAND. Its sold at this website and seems reasonably priced. Will this solve the problem?
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member

Originally posted by zibnata
Since I had my tank setup,almost a year ago,my nitrates have always been between 20-80ppm.I do regular water changes. I have had much sucess with livestock and corals which I thought would not do too good with high nitrates.I assume the high nitrates are because I have crushed coral substrate which I am not going to change any time soon.I have a Fluval 304 filter with carbon and Bio-Chem Stars that have been in there for about 6 months now.Do these Bio-chem stars need to be cleaned ? Does the carbon need to be changed ? Is ther any other bag of stuff to put in to lower nitrates ? I have 75 lbs of LR also. Thanks
Are you absolutely sure you have nitrates? If your livestock including corals is fine, and you do not have algae problems then who cares?
I say keep doing whaterver you are doing. If you are really worried about nitrAtes then take a water sample to your LFS and have it tested. And conduct a test of the same water at the same time with your current test kit. I just had an experience where my nitrAte test kit was too sensitive. So your 20-80 ppm could actually be 2-8 ppm.
Bottom line, if your system is fine (which it seems it is) then suspect the test kit.
 
zibnata

zibnata

Member
Thats a good point.I am baffled and glad that everything is doing fine.I will do that ,but I am going to replace CC.It looks horrible anyway. Thanks
 
lesleybird

lesleybird

Active Member

Originally posted by col
I have had CC for 15 months and my nitrates are between 5 and 10.
Regular vacuuming is the key.
I agree......I have crushed coral that I vacuum every two to three weeks and my nitrates are always between 5 and 10. I think that crushed coral works fine if you vacuum it regularly and do partial water changes of at least 25 to 30 percent every two to three weeks. I use a bowl in the sink at the end of the syphen with a fish net to catch the baby brissle worms that I suck out so I can put them back in the tank. One should see all the fine mulm in the bottom of the bowel that I suck out! I guess removing this is why my nitrates stay low. Lesley
 
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