Nitrates

[Marinereefiner]

Hello,

For the past four months I have been getting 50+ ppm reading on my nitrates. My tank has been up and running for just over a year.

I do small water changes approx 5-10% on my 75gal DT and 29gal sump (not actual volume probably more around 85gal)

Parameter;

Abv.	Parameter	Units	01/23/24
	Salinity	SG/PPT	1.025/35
	Temperature	Celcius"	79F
	pH		8.16
NH3	Ammonia	ppm
N02	Nitrite	ppb	002
N03	Nitrate	ppm	50 €
P04	Phosphate	ppm	0.09
	Phosphorous	ppb
	Alkalinity	dKH/ppm	8.96/160
	Calcium	ppm	491

My new thought is to start dosing NOPOX to lower nitrates. I seem to have stunted growth on my zoas and would like to be able to grow Monti and acro.

-Frogspawn thrives(had to frag pieces for over growing)
- Zoas are wide open but no new growth
-Xenia looks happy but is only a month old in my tank
- Duncan was thriving but my clownfish started to breed and the female for some reason didn’t like it and brought it down to one head
- gonipora seems happy but is 1 month okd
- blastos love there spot in tank
- 4 fish in total


Tried to give as much information and will look forward to answering any questions

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I would not assume that 50 ppm nitrate has stunted zooanthids, nor that it means you cannot keep sps corals. Some great tanks has as much nitrate as you do.

That said, organic carbon dosing, either DIY such as vinegar or a commercial mix such as NOPOX is a fine plan.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I would also suggest a larger water change. Water changes are usually the simplest way to remove nitrates. If you do a 40-50% change you should cut the nitrates by about the same proportion.

 

[Devisissy]

I had 50 nitrates in my old tank and dosed NOPOX and it was an insane drop very quickly. So maybe start with a half dose and feel it out. That bottle works.

 

[MnFish1]

Hello,

For the past four months I have been getting 50+ ppm reading on my nitrates. My tank has been up and running for just over a year.

I do small water changes approx 5-10% on my 75gal DT and 29gal sump (not actual volume probably more around 85gal)

Parameter;

Abv.	Parameter	Units	01/23/24
	Salinity	SG/PPT	1.025/35
	Temperature	Celcius"	79F
	pH		8.16
NH3	Ammonia	ppm
N02	Nitrite	ppb	002
N03	Nitrate	ppm	50 €
P04	Phosphate	ppm	0.09
	Phosphorous	ppb
	Alkalinity	dKH/ppm	8.96/160
	Calcium	ppm	491

My new thought is to start dosing NOPOX to lower nitrates. I seem to have stunted growth on my zoas and would like to be able to grow Monti and acro.

-Frogspawn thrives(had to frag pieces for over growing)
- Zoas are wide open but no new growth
-Xenia looks happy but is only a month old in my tank
- Duncan was thriving but my clownfish started to breed and the female for some reason didn’t like it and brought it down to one head
- gonipora seems happy but is 1 month okd
- blastos love there spot in tank
- 4 fish in total


Tried to give as much information and will look forward to answering any questions

I would double verify your test. They I agree with others - water changes may be safer. There is a nice calculator at Hamzareef.com that helps

 

[MnFish1]

I would not assume that 50 ppm nitrate has stunted zooanthids, nor that it means you cannot keep sps corals. Some great tanks has as much nitrate as you do.

That said, organic carbon dosing, either DIY such as vinegar or a commercial mix such as NOPOX is a fine plan.

Randy - do you think someone on R2R could come up with a calculator page that would allow some of the things on other sites - I hate to keep recommending other calculator sites for example NH3-->NH4, water change effectiveness, dKH to mg/l, etc?

 

[blecki]

Experiencing a similar nitrate spike right now, and don't care if plenty of tanks operate at higher nitrate - my urchin dropped all his spines and that means the water is no bueno. Also using nopox, but will be switching to vodka when I run out. I figure what happened is the tangs finally found the other patch of hair algae and ate it all, combined with getting near the end of my stocking list and feeding heavily.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy - do you think someone on R2R could come up with a calculator page that would allow some of the things on other sites - I hate to keep recommending other calculator sites for example NH3-->NH4, water change effectiveness, dKH to mg/l, etc?

I don’t know how to write the code, but others probably do. I’ll check around,

 

[blecki]

Randy - do you think someone on R2R could come up with a calculator page that would allow some of the things on other sites - I hate to keep recommending other calculator sites for example NH3-->NH4, water change effectiveness, dKH to mg/l, etc?

I can handle the programming part if you hold my hand through the math.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks. I'm discussing the possibility with reef2reef managers.

 

[Marinereefiner]

I would not assume that 50 ppm nitrate has stunted zooanthids, nor that it means you cannot keep sps corals. Some great tanks has as much nitrate as you do.

That said, organic carbon dosing, either DIY such as vinegar or a commercial mix such as NOPOX is a fine plan.

I would not assume that 50 ppm nitrate has stunted zooanthids, nor that it means you cannot keep sps corals. Some great tanks has as much nitrate as you do.

That said, organic carbon dosing, either DIY such as vinegar or a commercial mix such as NOPOX is a fine plan.

I had some terrible algae previously. After some research and reading on R2R. I tried using Live Phyto plankton from RN. After a few weeks of adding a small amount(~10ml) every other day my algae isssue almost went away. I was also vacuuming excess algae off the sand bed and aqua scape during water changes.

I have recently stopped using the Live phytoplankton and I’m starting to see the algae return.

Would you advise using phyto plankton with NOPOX? Don’t want to waste any of my nopox or live phyto if they counter act.

as for the Zoas. Any tips on getting them to grow more polyps? I purchased mostly single polyps. Only my Rasta has grown one polyp after 1 month in my tank but hasn’t grown any more since and it’s been over 6 months.

TIA

 

[blecki]

Iodine. Zaos grow somewhat exponentially so it can take a long time to get from 1 polyp to five, and then you have 25 in the same time span and 125 a month later.

 

[Marinereefiner]

Iodine. Zaos grow somewhat exponentially so it can take a long time to get from 1 polyp to five, and then you have 25 in the same time span and 125 a month later.

Any tips on using iodine?

Would my salt (Fritz rpm) provide any iodine, I don’t have an iodine test to see my current parameters.

 

[blecki]

It's one you have to test because overdosing can have negative consequences. The actual products are iodide, not iodine. It should be clear. There's some in your salt. I suggest it but it's unlikely you're deficient - I dose because my tank is over 200 gallons and 50% of the rock work is covered in zoanthids.