High Nitrate

[karoboy]

Hi all your help is need, I have been having issues of high Nitrate is my salt water tank,I have been using Bio pellets on a reactor and the same dosing Nopox by Red Sea but still high between 25 and 50 ppm,what else should i do?


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[garygonzales]

water changes help a bit also....how long have you been dosing nopox...it does take awhile with any kind of carbon dosing....to bring down nitrates...so be patient...btw my nitrates are about the same as your with no problems.....just saying...

[karoboy]

Thanks for your reply and am having hope,
My Corals and fish are not doing bad anyway but i need to bring the level down i been dosing the Nopox for the past 3 months.


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[dubmaneh]

Get some siporax. I had the same problem with my N03 between 50-100ppm. Got siporax and and started dosing N0:P0x. Now I need to dose N03 to keep detectable levels. As others have said it does take time. Took about 3 months to start seeing results and 6 months to get to this point. Also did weekly 20% water changes for the first few months.


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[karoboy]

The Siporax do they look like Ceramic ring?


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[dubmaneh]

Originally Posted by karoboy

The Siporax do they look like Ceramic ring?


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Yup. That's the stuff.

I've also heard good things about some of the other media blocks but haven't used those.




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[bertoni]

Siporax is a reasonable idea. It's basically artificial live rock, for our purposes. Adding more live rock to the tank might help, and there are some other artificial live rock products like those from Seachem and others.

Have you checked nitrite recently? Nitrite will confuse nitrate test kits. Very few tanks run with nitrite at a measurable level, though.

[karoboy]

My Nitrite is 0


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[bertoni]

Okay, I'd probably consider adding filtration media of some sort. Checking the feeding level might be appropriate, too.

[rum3002576]

anyone ever use the product call denitrate? i have had good luck with that

[bertoni]

SeaChem De*Nitrate works, although apparently it takes a lot of media to help much. The Marine Pure media have gotten good reviews, on average.

[cwschoon]

Reviving this thread.....MP crumbled in my tank, as did the Brightwell Bricks. Am considering SeaChem Denitrate for my overstocked and overfed 120.
I am considering adding it to my sump in a low flow area and am wondering if it would be better in a media reactor? Tho it may take longer, I would rather place it in the sump.

[dubmaneh]

I use siporax in my tank and I need to dose nitrate. Have had it in the sump for years without issue.


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[cwschoon]

I’ve slogged through as many threads as possible and the people love siporax! Think I’m going to go with either matrix or denitrate in the sump in bags.
What I need, is a good, old fashioned deep sand bed.

[wtac]

Overfed and overstocked...sulphur reactor.

[cwschoon]

Thanks for the reply. That may be the best solution after all!

[JWClark]

Agree. When I had this issue on an old 125 denitrate did not help in a canister. Sulfur denitrator did the trick though. Maybe I didn't use enough.

I use MP 4" blocks now and no sand bed w/ higher flow. Never had nitrate issues in the current tank. To the point I sold the denitrator a while back. They did start to slowly climb at 18 months but Tropic Marin NP bacto balance took it back down to close to nil. Did start using filter socks w/ weekly swap outs too, which may have helped--maybe even be the main cause for the drop.

If you use denitrate do not buy off Amazon. I did and received repackaged denitrate that was half driveway gravel. Pay the few extra bucks from BRS, premium aquatics etc, or your LFS.

[JWClark]

Also, MP should not crumble in the sump unless it is really being blasted by flow. You do need to handle gingerly though. This is another thing you don't want to buy off Amazon. There are Chinese knock offs out there that do crumble and leach Al.

[cwschoon]

I will never put another MP Block or Brightwell Brick in my sump!

[cwschoon]

Originally Posted by JWClark

Agree. When I had this issue on an old 125 denitrate did not help in a canister. Sulfur denitrator did the trick though. Maybe I didn't use enough.

I use MP 4" blocks now and no sand bed w/ higher flow. Never had nitrate issues in the current tank. To the point I sold the denitrator a while back. They did start to slowly climb at 18 months but Tropic Marin NP bacto balance took it back down to close to nil. Did start using filter socks w/ weekly swap outs too, which may have helped--maybe even be the main cause for the drop.

If you use denitrate do not buy off Amazon. I did and received repackaged denitrate that was half driveway gravel. Pay the few extra bucks from BRS, premium aquatics etc, or your LFS.

Perhaps too much flow with the canister? It must be below 50 gph

[JWClark]

Originally Posted by cwschoon

Perhaps too much flow with the canister? It must be below 50 gph

Maybe. Had it turned down to a trickle I think but really can't remember. Anything can work as a denitrator if the flow is slow enough to allow anoxic conditions to occur. Goal is to try and keep it from going completely anaerobic but don't think that would be an issue with a little flow. Depending on the size of the canister 50 gah may be way too much.

I had good success with a deep sand bed as well that I had on my first tank back in the early 2000s. Thinking of doing this again w/ the 125 that I still have and tying it into my retirement build--which will be bare bottom. Stick a plenum in there and maybe plant mangroves.

Good luck. High nitrates can be easily fixed, you just need to find what works for your system and have the patience to give it time to work. If no improvement after 8 weeks or so, re-examine your situation.

[cwschoon]

I am going to add a Reef Octopus MF 800B with Denitrate