**nitrates**. Please help!!!!! (1 Viewer)

[amarin]

I'm fairly new to the hobby and marsh, I've had my tank running for about five months now. When I first started I did every step carefully before adding livestock but I seem to be fighting nitrates and water changes don't make much of a difference...... I have a 90g setup, with a octopus reef 1000 that produces skimmate every three to four days... As far as live stock I have a blue tang, a couple of clowns, a blemmy, four heads of frogspawn, a Kenya tree, and some mushrooms, and a tricolored brain......... Any advice would be helpful


Water temp 77
Ammonia 0
nitrites 0
nitates 20
ph 8.4-8.6
salinity 1.025

 

[LITTLEGUY]

How many gallons of water are you exchanging with each water change? How often? Overfeeding? Have you tested topoff water and water change water?

 

[steveb]

Water changes, bio-pellets, (vodka,vinegar dosing) are all things that will help reduce nitrates. You probably also have phosphate (PO4) issues as well. Water changes (to some degree bio pellets and dosing will help) but you may have to use GFO (granular ferric oxide) to help reduce phosphates down. Also MACRO Algae and micro algae with an algae scrubber will reduce nitrates and phosphates.

High phosphates will impede the ability of stony corals to lay down calcium carbonate (skeleton). In this case your Frogspawn and Brain coral.


How often and how much are you feeding? What are you feeding? If frozen are you rinsing it first? Are you using RO/DI water to make your saltwater and to perform top offs? If you are using RO/DI what is the TDS at the end of your filtering. It should be 0. Anything above 0 is just going to cause you problems.

 

[amarin]

I change my water 12 gallons a week, and I use nothing but rodi water, and I heve tested my rodi water and everything is at zero..... I have a gfo but I have no clue of what to put in it! I've never tested for phosphates, and everything in the tank seems to be doing good. Nothing's has died but I'm afraid that is going to start happening.

 

[amarin]

I feed my fish every other day, dinichi pellets and I don't feed them very much..... I test my rodi water and change 12 gal a week.