oppinions on nitrate reducers

[dav9175]

do they really work? does anyone use them? i have a 100 gal recovering reef and the nitrate will not go below 30 ppm. i am considering an aquaripure co2 nitrate reducer anyones oppinion welcome please!

 

[matt b]

I think water changes would be alot more healthy to do alot of big water changes. There are alot more natural ways to remove nitrates and perfent getting them.

 

[dav9175]

Originally Posted by MaTT B
http:///forum/post/2824414
I think water changes would be alot more healthy to do alot of big water changes. There are alot more natural ways to remove nitrates and perfent getting them.
i do 20 per water change twice a month good flow rdsb and 2 skimmers

 

[matt b]

Originally Posted by dav9175
http:///forum/post/2824469
i do 20 per water change twice a month good flow rdsb and 2 skimmers
How often do you feed and what do you feed? What size tank and what fish do you have? A 20% every two weeks is not going to reduce nitrates much. You need to do atleast 50% once a week a few times. What kind of skimmers do you have?

 

[natclanwy]

The best way to control nitrate is to control the source. Overfeeding is generally the number one cause, followed by too many fish. Other sources could be dirty filter pads, inadequate flow causing dietrus to build up, and dirty bioballs or wet dry filter.
A nitrate reducer probably won't be very effective for reducing your nitrate levels, and there are far more efficient ways of reducing nitrates, sounds like you have a pretty good water change schedule, so can you give some details on your setup. What do you have for filtration, are you running a refugium, how many fish, what do you have for a cleanup crew, and are you using a deep sand bed?

 

[dav9175]

yes 5 gal hot fuge w chaeto 12gal sump rdsb skimmer in fuge and in sump i have nealy 40 times turnover per hour i feed frozen brine and mysis only one cube every other day and only mysis or brine not both at the same time

 

[dav9175]

not over stocked either 90 gal tank w gold maroon,firefish,royal gramma,mnf swallowtail angels, purple tang plenty of snails and crabs

 

[matt b]

Do you run filter socks? Or any other kind of filter media like bioballs? Have you mixed up a batch of water that you use for water changes and tested the nitrates in it?

 

[dav9175]

nitrates are at 0 in wc water no bio balls i use cell pore bio media instead i use a make shift filter sock cause my sump doesnt have a place for one so i use a media bag that holds carbon and placed it over the inlet by the way thanks for trying to help me

 

[dav9175]

the only reason im considering one is the remote deep sand bed i have has reduced the nitrate to say 25ppm so the reactor could do the rest or buy a new sump and skimmer but i think that is a waste of time and hard earned money

 

[matt b]

I am thinking deterius is just getting trapped behind the rocks and in the sand in your DT. How thick of sand in your DT do you have? I have always been a believer in gravel vacking sand in the DT. People say that it kills all the bacteria in the sand but that is not competly true. Where it does disturb the bacteria it does not kill it. And all sand does in the DT does is collect and trap fish poop. Unless you have anything more then a inch sand bed I would start syphoning your sand. If it is more then a inch DONT DO IT. Cause you more then likely have hydrogen sulfide build up. And if you disturb that and give it oxygen it will creat a PH spike and kill your system. This is the exact reason I only do 1" sand and syphon every other week and do 50% water change every other week.

 

[natclanwy]

I have tried nitrate reductors in the past and they really weren't all that effective best I ever got was about 5-10ppm reduction went from 20 down to 10-15ppm. It requires a huge amount of surface area for them to be effective on a small tank, and you are looking at putting it on a 100g tank I don't know that you would see much change at all in your nitrate levels.
30ppm is pretty high considering all that you have done to reduce the level you have to have a pretty significant source of nitrates somewhere if you can identify the source, I would bet your nitrates would drop to zero or close to it with no money spent and without the addition of another piece of equipment to maintain.

 

[dav9175]

well i have no clue where to begin looking after all i redcuced my bioload and keep everything clean i just have no clue where they are coming from

 

[dav9175]

what also is stumping me about this is that since connecting the rdsb ive had no algae probs and my corraline pink and green is coming back also the fuge is producing lots of pods they wouldnt be around in bad water? right

 

[dav9175]

i have 2 maxi mods w good flow behind the lr pile and trust me no detritus back there im lost for words with this problem what do you think about a larger sump with say an octopus skimmer and real filter sock?

 

[matt b]

What kind of skimmer(s) do you have now? And a filter sock will only make nitrates worse unless you switch it out with a new clean one every other day. Like I said, I would do a 50% every week for 4 weeks and then do your normal 20% every other week. And see how things go.

 

[dav9175]

well i havwe the one that came with my pro clear 75 sump and the one that came with my aquafuge refugium both venturi driven

 

[fininthesun]

looking for help on a RDSB would like one on my tank but no room under my stand. i have a 150 with 2 corner overflows what do you think about filling the overflow box's 3/4 with fine sand would that work like a RDSB? it would be about 15" deep and it looks to be a good bit of room any ideas?

 

[spanko]

Did you say you have some type of bio media? Have you ever cleaned it? Do you change,clean the filter socks, sponges, anything else that can trap detritus? If so how often?