High NO3

patrick76 · 07/26/2009, 08:49 PM

I have a 29 gallons tank that has been set up for about 7 months now. My NO3 is high around 40 and i can't figure it out. Equipment i have

29 Gallon
Fluval 205 Canister Filter
Power Head
Heater for 40 gallon tank
130 Watt current usa light
10 Pounds of live rock and 26 pounds of base rock.

I don't know why my nitrates are high i don't feed my fish but every other day. I use ro water 100%. Please help he figure this out.

ClownBoy · 07/26/2009, 08:51 PM

Have you tested your top off water?

patrick76 · 07/26/2009, 08:52 PM

Nope will try that in a few.

patrick76 · 07/26/2009, 09:53 PM

Top off water is 0.

SC Trojan · 07/26/2009, 10:19 PM

Im not familiar with the fluval 205 canister filter but with all mechanical filtration such as filter pads, filter socks and what have you, you really need to be on top such filtration. If you leave your filter pads collecting all that waste for too long it will break down and eventually release nitrates and phosphates back into your water. If your not running any type of mechanical filtration in your canister then the only thing i can think of is your tank could use a little more flow, more water changes and a protein skimmer if your not already running one. If you are running filter pads in your canister then you need to clean them out or change them out every 3-4 days. Try more flow, cleaning out filter pads more often , gac, more water changes and protein skimming and you should see a dramatic drop in your nutrient levels. Give these a try and youll be suprised.

patrick76 · 07/26/2009, 10:21 PM

K i will try this out and see if it helps i clean the canister about ever week. Should i just take the filters out or some of them? There is 2 rows of two in the canister.

sedor · 07/26/2009, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by SC Trojan
Im not familiar with the fluval 205 canister filter but with all mechanical filtration such as filter pads, filter socks and what have you, you really need to be on top such filtration. If you leave your filter pads collecting all that waste for too long it will break down and eventually release nitrates and phosphates back into your water. If your not running any type of mechanical filtration in your canister then the only thing i can think of is your tank could use a little more flow, more water changes and a protein skimmer if your not already running one. If you are running filter pads in your canister then you need to clean them out or change them out every 3-4 days. Try more flow, cleaning out filter pads more often , gac, more water changes and protein skimming and you should see a dramatic drop in your nutrient levels. Give these a try and youll be suprised.

+1
If it were me i'd remove the canister filter all together, it does more harm than good IMO. You can also use it for a couple days a month to run carbon and "polish your water."

patrick76 · 07/26/2009, 10:42 PM

I know but i can't get a skimmer till next week.

Toddrtrex · 07/26/2009, 10:47 PM

What all do you have in the tank fish wise?
How often and how large are your water changes?

patrick76 · 07/26/2009, 10:48 PM

Pair of clowns and purple firefish and 2 snails.

SC Trojan · 07/26/2009, 10:48 PM

Once a week is not too bad but every three to four days at the most would be a lot better. If you dont have the time or effort to want to be doing this then a lot of people tend to remove the pads and just use carbon or other type of filtration media in their filters. But i like running them because to me using liter pads and socks really seem to polish up my water column. Some people swear by them others seem to curse them. If you have the time to maintain them the i would run them ,and do, so its up tou you. I personally have a emperor 400 that i use just for carbon( i dont have a sump) and what i do is fill up each cartridge with gac and gfo then wrap each one with a 100 micron filter sock. every 3 days i pull out the cartridges and swap the socks for clean ones. I clean mine using a liitle bleach and water. Been doing this for a couple of years and my predominatly sps tank never has looked better. Its just how much time and effort you want to or can afford.

patrick76 · 07/26/2009, 10:50 PM

gac and gfo?

patrick76 · 07/27/2009, 09:42 PM

My green star polyps have not opened in the past two days could this have something to do with nitrates? Also my leather polyps have not extended in 2 days also. Mushrooms ,Zoanthids & ricordia are doing fine though.

sedor · 07/27/2009, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by patrick76
My green star polyps have not opened in the past two days could this have something to do with nitrates? Also my leather polyps have not extended in 2 days also. Mushrooms ,Zoanthids & ricordia are doing fine though.

Could very well be due to nitrates. You really need to start working on getting those down before you start losing things. If it were me, i'd start with a fairly large WC. Maybe around 30G if at all possible. Otherwise clean that canister filter out real good and run some carbon in it to try and help get some of that stuff out of the water column.

KarlBob · 07/27/2009, 09:55 PM

GAC - Granular Activated Charcoal (or Carbon) - the pores in it collect lots of floating stuff from the water.
GFO - Granular Ferric Oxide - a chemical that binds phosphate.

badwrasse · 07/27/2009, 09:58 PM

I would just do a big water change and remove pads they are traps for wast and nitrates you should be ok till you get your skimmer but when you get it do another water change

morphiii · 07/27/2009, 09:59 PM

Get rid of the canister filter, they are nitrate factory. You really need to change mechanical filter every other day the least. All that crap that accumulates will break down and turn into nitrate in your canister filter.

Changing water won't help if your filter is dirty. It will continue to create nitrate.

Get more live rock. Get a big skimmer and get rid of the canister filter.

Get a denitrator, coil or sulfur.

patrick76 · 07/27/2009, 10:04 PM

Get a denitrator, coil or sulfur.???

KarlBob · 07/27/2009, 10:05 PM

The denitrator is the only "fringe" piece of advice in morphiii's post. The rest of the suggestions are pretty much ReefCentral Conventional Wisdom.

A denitrator is a piece of equipment that's supposed to remove nitrate. Coil and sulfur are the two major types. Some people swear by denitrators, but others don't trust them. Personally, I don't know enough about them to call them good or bad.

scotbehot · 07/27/2009, 10:05 PM

Before I went with my sump, I had a lifeguard canister filter, and I could not get my nitrates below 40. I used carbon in the filter and changed the filter once a month while doing water changes bi-monthly. Like all the previous people have said a lot gets trapped in those things and causes the nitrates to build up. Now that I have my sump with a refugium and caulerpa algae, my nitrates are around 10 and it has made things much easier, much lss of a restriction on the types of things I can put in the tank. I have heard others remove the filter media and put live rock in their canister filters. This could be an option if you want to continue its use.

scotbehot · 07/27/2009, 10:08 PM

I also dabbled using the denitrification stuff in the filter instead of the activated carbon, and along with the carbon. It made no difference in my nitrate levels

morphiii · 07/28/2009, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by patrick76
Get a denitrator, coil or sulfur.???

Once you got the NO3 to a manageable levels, 10 to 15, get a denitrator. Google it.

The basic idea is to setup a different area to culture bacteria that would convert nitrate to Nitrogen gas to get the level below 10ppm.

badwrasse · 07/28/2009, 08:25 AM

IMO he needs a sump before a denitrater . just having a sump with no media pads will help. I would not say a denitrater is something he needs

07/26/2009, 08:49 PM	#1
patrick76 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Madison, MS Posts: 69	High NO3 I have a 29 gallons tank that has been set up for about 7 months now. My NO3 is high around 40 and i can't figure it out. Equipment i have 29 Gallon Fluval 205 Canister Filter Power Head Heater for 40 gallon tank 130 Watt current usa light 10 Pounds of live rock and 26 pounds of base rock. I don't know why my nitrates are high i don't feed my fish but every other day. I use ro water 100%. Please help he figure this out.

07/26/2009, 10:47 PM	#9
Toddrtrex Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Carol Stream, IL Posts: 23,162	What all do you have in the tank fish wise? How often and how large are your water changes? __________________ Click my name and then "visit toddrtrex's homepage" for tank pictures Current Tank Info: 210g reef and 65g reef

07/27/2009, 09:55 PM	#15
KarlBob Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Laveen, AZ Posts: 2,309	GAC - Granular Activated Charcoal (or Carbon) - the pores in it collect lots of floating stuff from the water. GFO - Granular Ferric Oxide - a chemical that binds phosphate. __________________ Later, KarlBob Current Tank Info: No tanks for now. Starting over in Austin sometime next year.

07/27/2009, 09:58 PM	#16
badwrasse Registered Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: St. louis Posts: 1,203	I would just do a big water change and remove pads they are traps for wast and nitrates you should be ok till you get your skimmer but when you get it do another water change __________________ GOT CRABS? Current Tank Info: 90gal RR,rock wall in progress, MRC sump, reef octopus XP2000I skimmer, marineland pro lighting 2-150w MH 4-54w T5's, hydor wavemaker with 2 #4 controllable pumps, and QuietOne 4000HH return pump.

07/27/2009, 10:05 PM	#19
KarlBob Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Laveen, AZ Posts: 2,309	The denitrator is the only "fringe" piece of advice in morphiii's post. The rest of the suggestions are pretty much ReefCentral Conventional Wisdom. A denitrator is a piece of equipment that's supposed to remove nitrate. Coil and sulfur are the two major types. Some people swear by denitrators, but others don't trust them. Personally, I don't know enough about them to call them good or bad. __________________ Later, KarlBob Current Tank Info: No tanks for now. Starting over in Austin sometime next year.

07/26/2009, 08:51 PM	#2
ClownBoy Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: St. Augustine, Florida Posts: 62	Have you tested your top off water?

07/26/2009, 08:52 PM	#3
patrick76 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Madison, MS Posts: 69	Nope will try that in a few.

07/26/2009, 09:53 PM	#4
patrick76 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Madison, MS Posts: 69	Top off water is 0.

07/26/2009, 10:19 PM	#5
SC Trojan Registered Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: perris, cali Posts: 137	Im not familiar with the fluval 205 canister filter but with all mechanical filtration such as filter pads, filter socks and what have you, you really need to be on top such filtration. If you leave your filter pads collecting all that waste for too long it will break down and eventually release nitrates and phosphates back into your water. If your not running any type of mechanical filtration in your canister then the only thing i can think of is your tank could use a little more flow, more water changes and a protein skimmer if your not already running one. If you are running filter pads in your canister then you need to clean them out or change them out every 3-4 days. Try more flow, cleaning out filter pads more often , gac, more water changes and protein skimming and you should see a dramatic drop in your nutrient levels. Give these a try and youll be suprised.

07/26/2009, 10:21 PM	#6
patrick76 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Madison, MS Posts: 69	K i will try this out and see if it helps i clean the canister about ever week. Should i just take the filters out or some of them? There is 2 rows of two in the canister.

07/26/2009, 10:42 PM	#8
patrick76 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Madison, MS Posts: 69	I know but i can't get a skimmer till next week.

07/26/2009, 10:48 PM	#10
patrick76 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Madison, MS Posts: 69	Pair of clowns and purple firefish and 2 snails.

07/26/2009, 10:50 PM	#12
patrick76 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Madison, MS Posts: 69	gac and gfo?

07/27/2009, 09:42 PM	#13
patrick76 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Madison, MS Posts: 69	My green star polyps have not opened in the past two days could this have something to do with nitrates? Also my leather polyps have not extended in 2 days also. Mushrooms ,Zoanthids & ricordia are doing fine though.

07/27/2009, 09:59 PM	#17
morphiii Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: New York Posts: 134	Get rid of the canister filter, they are nitrate factory. You really need to change mechanical filter every other day the least. All that crap that accumulates will break down and turn into nitrate in your canister filter. Changing water won't help if your filter is dirty. It will continue to create nitrate. Get more live rock. Get a big skimmer and get rid of the canister filter. Get a denitrator, coil or sulfur.

07/27/2009, 10:04 PM	#18
patrick76 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Madison, MS Posts: 69	Get a denitrator, coil or sulfur.???

07/27/2009, 10:05 PM	#20
scotbehot Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 147	Before I went with my sump, I had a lifeguard canister filter, and I could not get my nitrates below 40. I used carbon in the filter and changed the filter once a month while doing water changes bi-monthly. Like all the previous people have said a lot gets trapped in those things and causes the nitrates to build up. Now that I have my sump with a refugium and caulerpa algae, my nitrates are around 10 and it has made things much easier, much lss of a restriction on the types of things I can put in the tank. I have heard others remove the filter media and put live rock in their canister filters. This could be an option if you want to continue its use.

07/27/2009, 10:08 PM	#21
scotbehot Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 147	I also dabbled using the denitrification stuff in the filter instead of the activated carbon, and along with the carbon. It made no difference in my nitrate levels

07/28/2009, 08:25 AM	#23
badwrasse Registered Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: St. louis Posts: 1,203	IMO he needs a sump before a denitrater . just having a sump with no media pads will help. I would not say a denitrater is something he needs __________________ GOT CRABS? Current Tank Info: 90gal RR,rock wall in progress, MRC sump, reef octopus XP2000I skimmer, marineland pro lighting 2-150w MH 4-54w T5's, hydor wavemaker with 2 #4 controllable pumps, and QuietOne 4000HH return pump.