High Nitrates

G

gman

I am hoping someone can provide me with some good suggestions on an issue I have regardingf high nitrates.

Setup: 150GAL tank, 100pound live rock, 5 inch deep live sand bed, 50Gal refugium.

Livestock: Most of the fish in the tank are between 5' - 6', and all agressive. (Niger Triger, Dogface puffer, snowflake eal, 2x flounders, 2x bueaty damsel, Rabit foxface, Yellow wrasse.

I have a 150Gal skimmer on the system with bioballs, live sand and clurpa for filtration. I also perform about 20% water change every 2 weeks on average.

I have cut down on the feeding from once per day to every second day, however my nitrates are about 180PPM.

I recently bought some reef carbon and a product called De-Nitrate along with another product called Renew. I am testing the product Renew out on my 75 Gal tank as it is meant to be a carbon replacement with less impact to the system, before using it on my 150Gal tank.

Anyone have any experience in using the products I mentions above or any other suggestions.

Thanks for the help,
 
I'd slowly remove the bioballs, and monitor the ammonia / nitrite. Sounds like you've got a deep enough sand bed for denitrification, and you have a fuge to export nitrates.

How often / how much do you prune the refugium?
 
Thanks for the suggestion. I was under the impressions that the bioballs help break down the ammonia which is more dangerous than nitrates?

I have been having some issues with the clurpa in my refugium of late it seems to be dying. It takes about 3 - 4 weeks to die down, before I replace it with new clurpa. My local fish store told me that the clurpa could be dying because my nitrates are so high.

Any thoughts?
 
That's why I mentioned removing the bioballs slowly. They're actually 'too good' at processing ammonia intro nitrate.

You could add more live rock, for more natural nitrate reduction, too.

As far as caulerpa is concerned, it _loves_ nitrates, and usually goes like gangbusters with high nitrates. Maybe try some chaetomorpha instead? What kind of lighting do you have over your fuge?
 
Ok, I see. So what would your recomendation be on using carbon to get rid of the nitrate?

I am not familiar with chaetomorpha; where could I buy some?

I am using a daylight bulb in my fuge.
 
Never heard of carbon removing nitrates. Maybe try some large water changes in the interim? Re chaeto, I've been meaning to trim mine, you're welcome to have some.
 
@Ashlar wrote:
Never heard of carbon removing nitrates. Maybe try some large water changes in the interim? Re chaeto said:
He may be referring to carbon source? That would be vodka... people use it to reduce nitrates and PO4. Otherwise its a mistake to think carbon itself (Black) reduces nitrates.
Click to expand...
 
I posted this in another thread but it's worth repeating. It really does look like it has worked for many people.

The "Remote Deep Sand Bed" sounds intriguing to me for processing nitrates.

Here's a thread about it. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=595109

Essentially you fill a bucket or other container nearly to the top with sand. You flow water over the top (3 or so inches) to keep detritus from settling into the sand. The anaerobic bacteria form in the deep sand and work to remove the nitrate. It's a simple system that requires no maintenance. It's a bucket with a lid, sand, a tube in, a tube out, and a pump or some other way to flow the water through the system.

It's cheap, easy, and seems to be effective at dropping the nitrate count (even on large aquariums).
 
Thanks for the offer of chaeto, but I am in Keller, bit of drive for chaeto. I was thinking about trying some mangroves.

That thread about the "Remote Deep Sand Bed" is interesting. How many people do you know of that have had success with it? I have cut the feeding down to every second day now. And will perform 2x 30 GAL water changes over the next week.

Thanks for the suggestions.
 
Mangroves don't remove nitrates as fast as their put in- they're slow growing. Nice to look at, and can make a cool habitat display, but not efficient nitrate export.
 
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