thefishfreak03
Member
My nitrate was at like 50 and i did a 30% water change using distelled water and the nitrate went to 40! How do i lower it!
Nitrate Sucks!
- Thread starter thefishfreak03
- Start date
jerseysaltwater
Member
water changes are the easiest - keep doing 5 gallon swaps, checking the ammonia and nitrite levels as well. if u set up a fuge with macro algae it will consume nitrates.
Y
yae4volcom
Guest
Yup. Try water changes and you could maybe get a deeper sand bed.
ajroc31
Member
I think I am getting over my problem( spit,spit,spit). I had nitrates at around 40 ppm. Today I took out 12.5% (15GAL.) and I got home and my nitrates are down to 20ppm. On saturday, I got some Seachem de-nitrate product. I am not sure what caused the reduction, but something is working, maybe it is a combo of two. Try it.
beaslbob
Well-Known Member
Originally posted by thefishfreak03
My nitrate was at like 50 and i did a 30% water change using distelled water and the nitrate went to 40! How do i lower it!
Do a 30% water change and that should happen. If you system is producing more than 10ppm nitrate per week then next week they will be above 50 again.
plant life (macro algae or marine plants) will consume nitrates and phosphates, filter out heavy ions, buffer ph, and control the ugly algaes. If you don't already have some get some. If you already have some, do everything you can to get it to grow or add more.
reefnut
Active Member
Nitrates do suck... Personally, I run a skimmer, a fuge, do water changes, feed once a day and still my nitrates range around 5-10ppm. My point is, there is no one method that seems to work but the combination of methods do. The only thing I'm lacking is a DSB and I believe if I had one my nitrates would be between 0-5ppm.
lesleybird
Active Member
I know everyone on here talks about deep sand beds and not bothering them, but I use an agronite that is just big enough that I can suck a lot of the crap....literally out to the sand bed with the syphen. I use a fish net set into a bowl in the sink to catch the baby brissle worms that I suck out. It keeps them in the water in the net in the bowel until I am done cleaning, then I put them back into the tank with the net. All of the sludge form the agronite goes through the net, but not most of the worms. I think that this is the best way to remove nitrates, but I could be wrong. I don't know how long a deep sand bed takes to become anearobic after disturbing it, but mine is only a couple of inches....I could not stand it if I had sand that was to fine to vaccuum out the crud. It really bothers me to just leave the fish waste there to rot away. I like to remove the cause of the nitrate directly. In my mind I can't see how just removing water and not the debris at the bottom could help much. That is just my thought on the matter. I really don't know the real answer, but it works for me. Lesley
beaslbob
Well-Known Member
Originally posted by thefishfreak03
My nitrate was at like 50 and i did a 30% water change using distelled water and the nitrate went to 40! How do i lower it!
plant life. macros, corraline, and /or marine plants. they consume nitrate and therefore complete the nitrogen cycle. And in the process provide food for livestock, crowd out ugly algaes, filter out heavy metals, and make for a balanced and stable system.
gregvabch
Active Member
my nitrates don't even read with my test kit. i had horrible nitrate problems when i first started my tank. i think with my tank it's a combination of using RO/DI water, a productive protein skimmer, enough live rock, a sand bed, and lighting. some people may disagree but before i invested in a VHO setup, the only coraline algae in the tank was what came in on the live rock that i purchased. now it sprouts everywhere, which really helps.