High Nitrates, Calcium and KH; low PH

[Cephas27]

Hi Guys,

I have been battling High nitrates which went even higher after my BTA came in the powerhead (Currently at 80-100ppm).. I did many water changes to bring the ammonia to zero, however the Nitrates are still high.. I am currently dosing NOPox and plan of staring dosing Prodibio Biodigest as well to increase the bacteria population.. please advise if any one has seen success with this combination..

The second part of the problem is the other parameters, CA at 500ppm, KH at 12dkh and PH at 7.8ppm. I don't have a magnesium test kit for now but hope to get one soon. I am not sure if these two issues are connected?

Any help on these will be greatly appreciated!!

Tank Info:

225 Ltr cube tank (including back sump); 50kg live rock; 10kg live sand,

3 fishes

Corals:
2 Zoas
meat brain
Pineapple brain coral
open brain coral
galaxy coral
daisy coral
toadstool leather coral

[CuzzA]

First I would verify your test results are correct. It seems lately a lot of people are posting numbers and once rechecked by a second source they weren't as bad as initially thought.

Also ph can't be just one number. You have to test in the am when lights come on and again toward the end of the day. However, low ph is usually the result of excessive co2 in your home. As long as the low end of the ph cycle stays above 7.8 I wouldn't worry about it. If not you need to figure out how to get the co2 out of your home and fresh oxygen in. A bathroom exhaust fan can usually accomplish this because most homes are not air tight or just crack a window.

Finally, what salt mix are you using? Many mix up at high levels, especially alk. If you find your elevated levels are persistent perhaps find a salt mix that mixes up at lower levels. You don't have any corals right now that would take up a lot of ca and alk and they're probably still settling in and haven't started growing yet.

As far as nitrates go, again if those numbers are true the nopox and large water changes will help but I would look into adding another form of exportation. Either by assimilating nutrients through a algae turf scrubber or large refugium or exporting them through denitrification like a remote deep sand bed. I'm also assuming your not going crazy with feeding the 3 fish.

It sounds like this is a new tank. So it's also possible you're system still isn't mature enough for denitrification through rock alone.

[Cephas27]

Thanks CuzzA for the detailed reply.. Yes I will try another test kit to check the pareters again or get it tested at my LFS.. The house is well ventilated so I don't think it should be the co2 problem but aa you suggested will check the ph in the morning once.. I was initially using reef crystals but I am shifting to seachem reef salt now.. Which has low alkalinity.. So I guess I should see a drop in the near future.. Will also try putting a refugium in the tank as u suggested.. Yeah I was feeding the fish twice a day and there were relatively new and I wanted them to be fat and happy.. I feed twice a day half a cube of Mysis shrimp and some ocean nutrition flakes..

The system is quite old.. It was running for a year at my frinds place.. I got it from him with 50% old water and adding the rest..thanks again for taking the time out..!!!

[JammyBirch]

I'm a bit confused... Your calcium and alk are a bit jacked but that's not a problem. You said you had ammonia levels that were high along with high nitrate levels.

How many fish do you have? Although a water change will get rid of anything in the water column you need to figure out why you had high levels of ammonia in the tank to begin with... Seems like it's not cycled or it is starting a cycle.

Nitrates are managable via water changes, you may be over feeding. Do you run bio-balls, socks or sponges in your sump?

Those are notorious for trapping stuff, letting it rot and spiking levels in the tank. I hope you get this undercontrol especially with livestock in there.

[tmz]

I would not add the prodibio ,personally. The ethanol and acetic acid in the NOPOX will generate enough heterotrophic bacteria. When dosing organic carbon it can take months for initial high nitrate levels to go down.

PH is driven by CO2 levels in the tank. The bacterial activity from degradtion of excess food or the dying anemone could add significant CO2. More likely the room air is high in CO2 which is equilibrating with the water. More fresh air often helps raise pH.

Magnesium helps maintain higher alk and calcium levels ;doesn't seem to be part of your issues.

Ca at 500ppm is ok, 12dkh is a bit high but ok. What are you dosing? What salt mix are you using/ what levels of alk and calcium does it have at the sg level of your tank? What is the sg/salinity?How much NOPOx are you dosing daily?