nitrate control

[FernanQ]

How can one keep nitrates low on an aquarium? besides water changes, what are ways of controlling nitrates? Has anyone had success with anything?

[alexb518]

nitrate sponge, reduced bioload AND water change

[Reefugee]

Refugium with macro algae and some people are doing the remote deep sandbed.

[sufunk]

In addition to Alex's suggestions, Feed less or add a skimmer. Better flow might help also, keeps the poop and food from settling and forming nitrates.

[jnb]

denitrator e.g. is midwest aquatics

[fuzzyt]

Don't forget the obvious. Live rock. Its pretty much the basis of filtration these days. Helps with the entire ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, nitrogen process. Usually recommended as 1-2 lbs / gal.

Best of luck!

[OffshoreNdeep]

if you have bio-balls get rid of them

[ThomasinKind]

remote deep sand bed/deep sand bed (do a search in the advanced forum)

[scubajsm]

What type of filteration are you using?

[sabbath]

Yes we need more info on your setup. Pics!! tank and filters....

[demonsp]

Refugium with macro algea is the best way.

[bertoni]

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...t2003/chem.htm

That article covers nitrate in detail. I agree that growing and harvesting a macroalga is a good approach in many cases.

[mcrist]

Originally posted by jnb
denitrator e.g. is midwest aquatics

Are you referring to a sulfur denitrator?

[jnb]

yes

Originally posted by mcrist
Are you referring to a sulfur denitrator?

[mcrist]

Originally posted by jnb
yes

How long have you been using it and are you happy with the results?

[jnb]

I still believe I made a mistake when I first ordered it - I thought my nitrates were around 15 but later I believe them to be undetectible which made sense as well because of my maintenance, etc - but I installed it anyway thinking what the heck - preventive maintenance... I was a tiny bit disappointed as to a certain buildup in the flow inside the chamber making me have to open it up every three months to clear and adjusting the low flow required a little too much attention for me when I thought it was suppose to be set and forget. these issues are commonplace using these I later found out amongst all the brands I think (I have not kept up lately) - having said all that, If my nitrates were above 10 consistently, and I could not otherwise get them down, I would put it back into service without hesitation - and btw - its for sale with a fresh batch of the right kind of sulfur which I understand is 90% of the clotting problem. They had given me a different sulfur at first which was the wrong size or something.

Originally posted by mcrist
How long have you been using it and are you happy with the results?

[papagimp]

Think everyone here already covered your options, either go with a natural apporach, such as a deep sand bed setup, macro algae/refugium setup, water changes, skimming, enough live rock to support sufficient anerobic bacterial growth, ect. ect. ; or go with the artificial apporaches, such as nitrate removers, and other artificial products. In my own opinion, your better off establishing a natural nitrate reduction process in your setup.
fwiw, removing sponges, bioballs, and similar media is a natural process, this removes the excess aerobic bacteria and allows for the sandbed/rock/and other bacteria colonized objects to grow more bacteria and hopefully allow more anerobic bacteria to grow.

FWIW, my original thougths were to keep nitrates as close to 0 as possible, as of lately and after much more research, a bit of nitrates in a system isn't neccessarily a bad thing, I wouldn't want my levels sitting at 100ppm or anything, but 5-10 isn't really that bad, dependant on the livestock in question (sps mainly)

[kevin95695]

Water changes. Feed less - When you do feed: Rinse things like thawed frozen mysis. Remove 'nitrate factories' such as bio-balls etc. Add nitrate consumers/exporters such as deep sand bed (some controversy), macro-algae, and clams.

[mcrist]

Originally posted by kevin95695
Water changes. Feed less - When you do feed: Rinse things like thawed frozen mysis. Remove 'nitrate factories' such as bio-balls etc. Add nitrate consumers/exporters such as deep sand bed (some controversy), macro-algae, and clams.

Clams??? I never heard anything about clams.

[bertoni]

Clams with photosynthetic symbionts like Tridacnids will feed on nitrate in the water to some extent. I wouldn't recommend them for nitrate reduction, though, since they have their own significant care requirements.

[tbar]

clean micron sock about every other day if you use one.