Reduce Nitrate

[kyeung]

Hi Everybody,

Happy New Year!
This is my first post, I hope to get some help on reducing the NO3 level.
The NO3 level has been around 80ppm for quite some time. Since half year ago, some of the more sensitive corals start to die, and follow by button coral. I did not pay much attention to NO3 level since it was high pretty much from day 1. I perform 5% water change and clean up the filter system every week. I think my fish load is pretty high (please see my tank profile) and I want to find out a way to reduce the NO3 to a save level (<40ppm) for most coral. I heard from fish dealer that I should keep changing water (25% at a time), each change 4 days apart to reduce NO3. Is this the right way (I use RO water)?
Has anyone has any success with Nitrate Reductor (with Deniballs)?

Ken

[beach bum]

Hi K, welcome to TRT!

I have looked at your tanks specs and this is my opinion (I encourage you to get many!) Before adding chemicals to solve the problem, the first step is to figure out what the problem is.

- Wet/Dry Filter, build in 2 chambers of protein skimmer, bio-balls (80% submerse upder water).

Bio-balls are also called nitrate factories, as are sponge filters and most filter pads when not regularly (daily) cleaned. They trap detritus giving a home to nitrifying bacteria, but fall short in that they allow the resulting nitrate to flow and buildup back in the tank.

- 3 inches of sand/coral crush mix inside tank, not know if it is live sand.

Given the large particle size of CC, it can act in the same way by trapping detritus, giving a home to nitrifying bacteria and releasing nitrate to buildup in the tank.

- Corals include: anemone, carpet anemone, many types of mushrooms, open brain coral, leather coral, cup coral, sea apple,
one feather duster.
- Fishes: a pair of tomato clowns, a 4" yellow tang, a 2" sailfin tang, a 4" blue tang, a 6" Dusky Tilefish, a firefish, a pigmy angel, 2 blue devil damsels, 3 green chromis, 6 more damsels.

My only 100g tank was awhile ago and it housed only a pair of oscars, I currently have two tanks (40g and 50g) and only three fish between them, pair of skunk clowns in the 40 and an undulated triggerfish in the 50, so I am the wrong person to ask about stocking capacity!

HOWEVER, I do have a (pardon my expression) buttload of cleanup critters. Crabs, stars, snails, hermits, shrimp, and an abalone all do wonders when it comes to cleaning the tank of crap, BEFORE it becomes toxic to the system by being trapped somewhere to decompose (bioballs, LR crevices, CC substrate, sponge filters, filter pads - all are examples)

How to get rid of the nitrate once it's in there? Water changes will dilute it but you need to get rid of the source.
I would suggest:
-Remove the bio-balls (or at least give them a very thorough cleaning)
-Consider a substrate swap with a finer grained sand (ask questions about this if you decide, lots of people on this board have done it)
-Add some cleanup critters/detritivores
-Add a protein skimmer
-Introduce some macro-algae (nitrate consumers) to your system , most people prefer to do that through the use of a refugium seperate from the main tank, although I have mine in the tank for now.

Well - THAT was a mouthful, I hope this helps a little (or a lot!)

[GaryG]

I have battled Nitrate myself. The "books" debate if high Nitrate is really bad or not (or exactly how bad it is). If your corals are dying rapidly it could be something else beside nitrate. I have some hard corals that survived my Nitrate level of 150+ for many months. And (from what I have read) button coral should not die from Nitrate.

With that said, here is how I reduced mine down to 40-50 (I'm still batteling)

1) Frequent water changes with RO or DI water. (My tap water tests at 40+). I suggest testing your water source.

2) As noted by the previous response clean any filter media frequently. Got a bigger protein skimmer and clean it often.

3) Added lots of sand sifters (star fish, sea cucs, hermit crabs)

4) Installed a "Nitra-gon" filter. It is not a chemical additive. It is a separate filter tube that goes into the sump. The tube contains bacteria that convert Nitrate into Oxygen.

5) Put in two Tridacna Clams (one big one - the size of a softball). They filter and consume Nitate.

[Fishaholic]

WELCOME


All of the measures listed will have a very small chance of succeding if you have that many fish with those types of fish.

Any filter whether natural or manmade can only handle so much of a bioload. When you have a fish only tank it is not as noticable but corals are more sensitive. With Nitrates so high there is probably more happening than just nitrates.

What I ment by types of fish is you have many herbivores, because they extract so little nutrition from the types of food they eat they are prone to graze constantly and constantly producing waste. So in some cases the type of fish can raise the bioload on its own.

It is because there are so many factors to trying to calculate bioload it is very hard to day only have this amount of fish.

I would suggest reducing the amount of fish you plan on having with coral and get a very effective skimmer being your first two steps.

Good Luck and welcome.

[kyeung]

Hi Folks,

Thank you so much for all the replies! There are a lot of great suggestion and I think these are the things I will do:
1. Reduce the number of fish.
2. BioBall: If I remove all the BioBall, will that create problem with the NO2 level? Is it ok if I just keep all of the BioBall under water? If I do remove all BioBall, the middle chamber of the sump becomes empty, do I need to put in anything at all? Can I plant macroalgae there?
3. Protein Skimmer: I do have 2 build in protein skimmer inside the sump and I believe they work ok.
4. San Bed: Right now, I have many snails and a lot of tiny white stars (don't know where they come from). What other critters do I need to get to improve the sand bed load removal? What can I do to my sand bed to convert it to life sand?
5. Gary, can you talk more about the Nitro-gen filter? Is it effective in removing nitrate? What is the cost and where can I get more info?
6. The Calcium level in my tank is quite high, constantly about 600. Will this create problem to coral? I have also added trace element (once a week) and feed the coral with planton food (liquid) (once every 3 days).

Ken

[GaryG]

I think 600 is too high for calcium. It should be more like 450.

I got my Nitra-Gon filter from Pet Warehouse. Item #361024. It is listed in the current catalog on page 37 at $99.95.

They have a smaller version of it for $43.95. Depends on the size of your tank.

It has worked. It takes about 6 weeks to get the culture really going. It is discussed in Nick Dakin's book "The Marine Aquarium Problem Solver".