How do you lower Nitrates

[Ayman]

Hey everyone,


I’ve been dealing with higher-than-usual nitrates in my system lately. Even with a turf scrubber running, I’m still struggling to bring the levels down and keep them stable. What’s interesting is that my soft corals don’t seem to mind, but my SPS definitely aren’t happy.


Big thanks to @Darkxerox for holding onto some of my corals while I work on getting my nitrates down from around 95. After a large water change and cleaning my sand bed, the levels dropped by about half, but I’m still not where I want to be also to note that my phosphate level is 0.05.


What do you all use to lower and maintain nitrate levels? Any advice or personal experiences would be really helpful.


Thanks!

 

[Kensington Reefer]

Water changes and chaetomorpha refugium

 

[Ayman]

The problem with running a Chaetomorpha refugium is that I’m really limited on space in my sump. I know they make Chaeto reactors, but they’re pretty pricey.

 

[Turkeysammich]

Carbon dose. Whatever your preference is.

 

[tribbitt]

Feed less, or less messy food
Run a skimmer
Export food detritus (socks if you're willing to clean it, maybe a roller)
Water change
Supplement iron
Supplement organic carbon (if you do this, be careful and go sloooow)

Systems differ, perhaps look into these and see if any work for you

 

[Ayman]

@Turkeysammich I am trying to figure out the options. Do you Carbon dose?

 

[Baykes]

I use vodka dosing along with a modest amount of chaeto

 

[L/B Block]

Carbon dosing does work - I do it with tropic Marin’s bacto balance -just know it really does suck up nitrates pretty fast. In fact I need to dose nitrate to keep it back at 5-6

I am doing for PO4 reduction.. your phosphates will also reduce but not as much as nitrates

 

[Turkeysammich]

@Turkeysammich I am trying to figure out the options. Do you Carbon dose?

Yes. Vodka. Been doing it for years and years. It gets a bad rap cuz it grows good bacteria and bad ones. It takes a few months to get the culture growing tho.

 

[L/B Block]

How can you tell when the culture gets going though?

 

[tribbitt]

@Turkeysammich I am trying to figure out the options. Do you Carbon dose?

When I carbon dosed, I found that vodka alone seemed to preferentially encourage growth of cyanobacteria in my tank and a few others. I began using distilled white vinegar which appeared to reduce cyanobacteria growth. While it feels weird to be adding an acid, it's weak and in small enough of a quantity that pH isn't significantly altered

FWIW I no longer supplement organic carbon sources as my nutrients are now relatively stable

 

[Coral reefer]

I used vinegar

 

[Turkeysammich]

How can you tell when the culture gets going though?

When you start. There will be a white film on the front of the glass. It will appear out of nowhere. Then after a few days it will disappear. That’s when the culture is on its way. From there on you just raise or lower your dose. I never go to zero on the dose. I always dose 1ml a day at least to feed the culture.
From what I’ve read over the years. Vinegar and sugar water are the same as vodka but in less concentration. I started with vinegar a long time ago. I had to dose too much and it dropped my ph too much.

 

[Darkxerox]

When I carbon dosed, I found that vodka alone seemed to preferentially encourage growth of cyanobacteria in my tank and a few others. I began using distilled white vinegar which appeared to reduce cyanobacteria growth. While it feels weird to be adding an acid, it's weak and in small enough of a quantity that pH isn't significantly altered

FWIW I no longer supplement organic carbon sources as my nutrients are now relatively stable

That's so funny, I had the opposite experience back in the late 2000s. I was doing the vinegar super saturated kalk though vs. vodka plus kalk.

 

[L/B Block]

When you start. There will be a white film on the front of the glass. It will appear out of nowhere. Then after a few days it will disappear. That’s when the culture is on its way. From there on you just raise or lower your dose. I never go to zero on the dose. I always dose 1ml a day at least to feed the culture.
From what I’ve read over the years. Vinegar and sugar water are the same as vodka but in less concentration. I started with vinegar a long time ago. I had to dose too much and it dropped my ph too much.

Hmm -maybe I missed the white film. Dose TM bacto balance which is essentially 25% ethanol alcohol. Working but def kicks the PH in the shins. Hope to get some macro algae back in sump to get PH back up & reduce the carbon dosing a tad.

 

[Thales]

What are your current levels?

 

[Ayman]

What are your current levels?

This is today. I am cross referencing the NP to hanna and its accurate.

 

[L/B Block]

How do you manage a .1 in PO4 & 76 in NO3 -that’s impressive -

 

[SupraSaltyReefer]

Biopellet reactor

 

[CaseyP]

I'm currently on this quest as well when my nitrates hit 60 and phosphate 0.9 a couple months ago and my corals started suffering. This hit me out of nowhere because historically my tank has been low nutrients without much filtration, only skimmer. So far in the past 2 months I've added a filter roller, dose DIY nonox (vinegar + vodka), skimmer running wet, and water changes. Its only gone down to ~40 nitrate and 0.4 phosphate so still a ways to go and nothing has been the silver bullet yet. Next up I'm setting up a DIY turf scrubber to see if that helps. I want to avoid last resort which is reducing fish population or feeding less.

I might be hitting the point of Old Tank Syndrome