PowderBlue Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 As some of you know I've been in a hell of a battle with nitrates. Started out insanely high at about 50 ppm. Here are the steps I've taken and a list of my equipment etc for reference 60 gallon 48x24 tank SRO XP 3000 skimmer with new bubble blaster pump and neck cleaner About 3 quarter of an inch sand bed 40 gallon breeder sump with roughly 40 pounds of rock About 50 pounds of rock in my display 2 Maxpsect gyres Apex controller calcium reactor Here are my levels as of tonight Calcium 480 Mag 1200 Kh 9 Nitrite 0 Ammonia 0 Nitrate 25 Ish I've done about 60 gallons worth of water changes this week 2 doses of nopox over the past 5 days I completely cleaned all of my equipment and my sump I'm curious if I was to suck all of my sand out of my tank over a few days and then replace it with new sand if that would help. My sand bed seems to have a lot of crap in it if I mix it up at all. I moved one of my big rocks and it was just a cloud of dust. Would or could this cause a cycle if I was to remove the sand and then replace it with the caribsea "live sand?" I'm introducing an extremely nice few pieces of sps and I'd like to keep them alive. A lot of my sps is doing good but some isn't, and some.of my LPS is stressed out too. Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjmdh Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 Not sure it would help, but have you thought about a bacteria add Like Bio-Spira? Sent from.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted February 5, 2017 Author Share Posted February 5, 2017 Not sure it would help, but have you thought about a bacteria add Like Bio-Spira? Sent from.... I'm using nopox currently, the cycle is most definitely complete so I don't think ( and I could be wrong) that the bio spira types of chemicals would help much. I think the nitrates are either stuck somewhere or I have just way to many fish lol. Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowen1022 Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 I would just continue to dose nopox, siphon sand a bit at a time with water charges and keep on keeping on. As long as you're not getting nuisance algae then you have a while to get it under control Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjmdh Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 I would agree that the cycle is complete, but an increase in the bacteria population may help lower nitrates. Just a thought. Sent from.... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted February 5, 2017 Author Share Posted February 5, 2017 I would just continue to dose nopox, siphon sand a bit at a time with water charges and keep on keeping on. As long as you're not getting nuisance algae then you have a while to get it under control Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Yea no algae at all. I think I'll do like a 5 inch by 5 inch square a day of removal and replace of the sand. It's nasty. Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovesalt Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 I have recently read that if you aim the pump up toward the surface to break the water it helps break down nitrates. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jorge Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 Have you considered a refugium or algae scrubber? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted February 5, 2017 Author Share Posted February 5, 2017 Have you considered a refugium or algae scrubber?I want to add an algae scrubber but just haven't had time to build one. I think.thst would definitely help for the long term! Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jorge Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 I want to add an algae scrubber but just haven't had time to build one. I think.thst would definitely help for the long term! Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk For sure. Lots of success stories with algae scrubbers. Looking to add one myself in the near future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vance164 Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 I would vote an algae scrubber I just built a waterfall style for my new setup and in a week's time I've went from 10ppm nitrate to 5ppm which is fairly impressive considering its probably only 15% covered. Took me about a half hour to build the waterfall style not the prettiest but I wanted to see if it would even work. I will fine tune it later. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadySaber Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 well I have done the bacteria dosing (still am) does nothing to help with the nitrates so dont spend money on that route. I am still battling high nitrates and its a pain. I already went threw the algae break out as well finally got rid of that and now just have high nitrates. I do water changes weekly, vaccum my sand weekly clean as much as i can weekly and still nitrates..dont have a refugium or a algae scrubber since I have a Nuvo 20 no where to put either, but I am considering a algae reactor but I dont know if it would help any... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted February 5, 2017 Author Share Posted February 5, 2017 Replaced half the sand bed today. Mine is super shallow so it was literally 10 pounds of sand. There is a little more on the other side but I'm going to the other side in 2 or 3 different sections. Tank is pretty cloudy but man the sand was so nasty! Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danlu_gt Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 For quick fix, you can start dosing vodka. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/ Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted February 6, 2017 Author Share Posted February 6, 2017 I replaced vodka with nopox. Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted February 6, 2017 Author Share Posted February 6, 2017 New sand vs old sand... gross Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisQ Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 Nitrate yin yang ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bevo5 Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 I'm sure the Nopox will help given enough time. It's just math at this point - only X amount of nitrates can be produced so adding stuff that eats up nitrates has to help some. Maybe the issue is what is causing the high nitrates in the first place? Over feeding? Not frequent enough water changes? Nopox should be used every night for a week then test and repeat. It only works if you keep it going - which is either true, or genius marketing on their part. From what I understand, each batch doesn't really eat up nitrates - it just helps build up the bacteria colony to where it will EVENTUALLY help. Like two weeks or so. I use it every night - have it hooked up to a doser. Well I did...just realized the doser stopped working. Probably for a week or so. For the first time in months I had brown on my glass, and that's why. So keep up the dosing! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregonic Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 I to have been battleing nitrates above 50 for a few months. For the last 4-5 weeks i have been dosing nopox and for 2-3 weeks i have switched my salt to aquaforest probiotic. No sure if its the nopox or the new salt but over the last 2 weeks of this switch my nitrates have dropped to 20ish. I have also noticed my water is much clearer, and i thought it was clear before. The only thing i dont like about the Aquaforest salt is the low alk 8.0 and mag1325 when mixed at 1.025. My current water parameters is alk 9.5 and mag 1400 so i have to dose my fresh mixed salt before adding to tank. Maybe when i get the nitrates below 5.0 i will slowly start lowering my down to somwhere near 8.5. Very happy with both of these products as they both seem to be helping the nitrate battle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vance164 Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 You could also go the zeolite route. Maybe add a marine pure block to the sump if you don't have one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danlu_gt Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 I replaced vodka with nopox. Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk Nopox is for phosphate? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted February 6, 2017 Author Share Posted February 6, 2017 It works against both nitrates and phosphates. Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lexinverts Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 It works against both nitrates and phosphates. Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk It is supposed to work for phosphate too, but it doesn't reduce both nitrate and phosphate for everyone. Sometimes people end up with cyanobacteria blooms because their nitrate drops way down, but phosphate actually creeps higher than their nitrate level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted February 7, 2017 Author Share Posted February 7, 2017 I'm trying to watch it closely and just get them down to about 5 ppm and then adjust dosage. My phosphates are fairly low and stable to I'm praying this will drop the nitrates to a manageable level. Then address the issue with water changes. Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted February 9, 2017 Author Share Posted February 9, 2017 Moving in the direction! after removing the half of the sand and dosing no pox they have dropped by about 5ppm a day. I'm going to cut back on the nopox and see how it goes the next few days. I don't want to dump them too fast. I'm riding about 5 to 10 ppm as of today. Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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