No3

koesterkep

koesterkep

Member
How is everyone battling NO3 issues. I have tried several things to get my NO3 below 20ppm and can not seem to do accomplish this. I have tried nitrate media, prdibio, vodka dosing and now i am upgrading my skimmer to an ETSS to see if that will ull them out. I want to get to a ULNS but i seem to be stuck with these nitrates. PO4 is undetectable by test kits.
Let me know what you all do to keep your no3 undetectable
 
gatorwpb

gatorwpb

Active Member
110 lbs of LR in a 65g, EuroReef RS-100, 5 fish, Excellent fuge with fast growing cheato over a 3.5" deepsand bed, and a phosban reactor have resulted in 0 nitrates and phosphates. I only do monthly 10% water changes.
And I think you need to worry about getting those nitrates down before starting a ULNS program. Im thinking of starting prodibio soon myself.
 
koesterkep

koesterkep

Member
Originally Posted by Hurt
http:///forum/post/2709072
How old is your LR and if you have a sand bed how old is it?
Live rock has to be at least 3 or 4 years old, recently changed half my sand bed so half is as old as the LR and the other half is about 4 months old. I have at least 80-90 LBS of LR in the system too, I am doing the prodibio and v/s/v. It erased all my po4 but left the no3, tried removal media and chemical media with no luck. Last option is doing a massive water change of like 40 galons to half my no3 value then go from there.
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
I too did Vodka and Prodibio, but for PO4. Neither worked.
A fuge would be my first recommendation. Before I installed my fuge my nitrates would run around 10. After I put it in I never had a problem with nitrate at all. I use a moddified Octopus NW 200, with 110 lbs. LR and a DSB. The DSB is about to come out though as I know it is giving off nutrients.
It is possible your LR is saturated with nutrients and may need to be cooked. My LR is 5 years old, and I know it is saturated with P04 and nutrients, mainly from my sand bed. If you have hair algae or bryopsis on your LR and are measuring 0 for PO4, your LR is saturated with PO4 and other nutrients. The hair algae takes it up first off the LR before the nutrients have a chance to settle into the water column. Both my PO4 and NO3 read 0, but there is obviously nutrients in my system for the algae to grow. My chaeto has almost all died now though. But my bryopsis is growing very fast-a definite indication of saturated LR.
Tonight I begin the process of cooking my LR. I'm going BB in both my DT and fuge after the process of cooking all my LR if finally complete in a 2-3 months.
 
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