Nitrate help

EyeReef · Sep 28, 2009

Last week my tank measured in at 50 for nitrate..which I know is toxic in a reef. Problem was that I used some of the water from the established fowlr tank I bought. So I quickly did a 30% water change hoping that would lower it, but today when I measured it, it was still in the 30-50 range. All I have in there is a blue spotted goby and a clown fish and misc corals.

Should I continue to do a big water change?
I have a 5 gallon water change ready to go.

Im also in the process of searching for a tank to setup as a fuge also.
Please advise. Thanks

Kbra · Sep 28, 2009

Keep doing those water changes. Its the best way to get it down. Id do more than 5gal change too for a 59 gal reef. Your not gonna hurt anything just make sure to preheat the water to tank temp

Letsgotothezoo · Sep 28, 2009

Nitrate sponge would help as well. The best is to put refugium in your system with dsb & mangroves.

EyeReef · Sep 28, 2009

water changes are getting expensive for me. I am waiting to go home for thanksgiving to bring my ro/di unit over here. Ive been buying ro/di at 1 dollar per gallon over here and its breaking the bank.

Ill try to add a fuge asap...
and continue to do water changes and see where it takes me

Kenfuzed · Sep 28, 2009

Get another RO/DI, even a cheap one. Unless you have tested the water you are buying it may be contaminated. Also ask someone for some Chaeto, a little ball floating in a basket in your sump will do wonders. Just put a Home Depot daylight bulb over it and nitrates will start to decline. Keep up those water changes.

EyeReef · Sep 28, 2009

Thanks, I actually grabbed a ball of cheato from my roomate and its floating in my overflow as we speak. Thanks for the idea

Reefer08 · Sep 29, 2009

Mikeee do you have a skimmer on this tank? Vodka works very very good at cleaning a tank. Follow the dosing guide chart and your nitrates will drop within weeks to 0. Water changes can get very expensive fast if your buying from an LFS, I would stay away from big waterchanges.

Rortreefer · Sep 29, 2009

the unfortunate things is that it is pretty pointless to use "used" water from an old established tank. The beneficial bacteria that we want in our tank is on surface area of our rocks, substrate, and tank (i.e. very porous LR is best because of more surface area). The bacteria we want in our tank doesn't really travel in the water column....

Using a skimmer, maybe more water movement in the tank, and definitely setting up a refugium will help!

jamescobb22 · Sep 29, 2009

I had a nitrate problem a couple weweks ago but I found that my skimmer was leaking and wasnt skimming. Might want to take a closer look at that, just an idea im new to this.

EyeReef · Sep 29, 2009

Reefer08 said:

I have heard about Vodka dosing, but do not no the full details. How does vodka work?

Rortreefer said:

The reason why I took so much of his water was because I did not want to go buy 60 gallons of ro/di water from the lfs. What i have done was to skim wetter, and flow wise i have 2x tunzes 6045 and 2x 6025. Hoping to setup a fuge in the near future

Nitrate help

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