No3 / Po4 - fighting to reduce to acceptable levels for reef

[AquAttila]

I am in the process of converting a fish only to a reef tank after a tank swap and going to a bare bottom. I never paid too much attention to the nutrient level in this tank before because fish only. When I swapped tanks, I did a 50% water changed removed majority of the rocks and no sand in this new tank as I am going bare bottom. I am shocked that after the large water change and sand removal that my nutrients are crazy high! I am talking > 75 for No3 and can't even measure Po4 as it's too high for Hanah checker. I started dosing NoPox & Macrobactor 7 but sure that will take forever to put a dent into my high levels. I know I can use Phosphat-E or something similar to address Po4 quickly, but is there any suggestions for a quick way to reduce Nitrates? I am hardly feeding, the tank is 210 gal with very small amount of live stock - 8 small fish and 2 larger.

I do have a algae turf scrubber and just purchased a larger skimmer (reef octopus 250 regal) as I think the current one may have been too small. I am also making a DIY Cheto Reactor - hope that may help as well.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Attila

 

[Lavey29]

Sounds like appropriate steps. Some choose to carbon dose to bring nitrates down also. Once you add corals they consume nitrates as a food source so your tank will eventually balance out. You want nitrates at 10 to 15 for corals.

 

[AquAttila]

Thanks and agree on the level for No3 - I have a thriving grow out coral tank (180gal) my No3 is 15 and Po4 is .03. I actually dose NeoNitro to keep No3 up

The important question I have is how long to reduce nitrates? a friend tells me I should see immediate results with NoPox, but I always read it takes a long time to start seeing an impact.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks and agree on the level for No3 - I have a thriving grow out coral tank (180gal) my No3 is 15 and Po4 is .03. I actually dose NeoNitro to keep No3 up

The important question I have is how long to reduce nitrates? a friend tells me I should see immediate results with NoPox, but I always read it takes a long time to start seeing an impact.

Many folks report carbon dosing takes a while to see nitrate drop. I'm not certain why, unless it is just because folks usually start with low doses, but do not expect immediate results,

 

[AquAttila]

Many folks report carbon dosing takes a while to see nitrate drop. I'm not certain why, unless it is just because folks usually start with low doses, but do not expect immediate results,

Thanks, Randy. Do you know if there is a risk in overdosing NoPox? the instructions state 2ml / 25gal as I recall but maybe I can double that?

 

[ScottB]

Thanks, Randy. Do you know if there is a risk in overdosing NoPox? the instructions state 2ml / 25gal as I recall but maybe I can double that?

There is a risk to overdosing. A large bacterial bloom could strip oxygen from the water. Make sure the skimmer is well tuned; that will help in the removal and oxygenate the water. Doubling the recommended amount may be a bit much, but you can ramp the dosing faster.

All that said, another 50% WC SHOULD reduce nitrates by about 1/2. It is fairly linear. It does not lower PO4 that fast though. I like using Fauna Marin Elimi-Phos which is a diluted Lanthanum chloride solution. Use with care. Don't over strip the water. Be sure to dose in the overflow slowly and make sure you filtration (socks?) are ready to capture the milky precipitate. That stuff can do a number on fish gills in higher concentrations.

 

[AquAttila]

There is a risk to overdosing. A large bacterial bloom could strip oxygen from the water. Make sure the skimmer is well tuned; that will help in the removal and oxygenate the water. Doubling the recommended amount may be a bit much, but you can ramp the dosing faster.

All that said, another 50% WC SHOULD reduce nitrates by about 1/2. It is fairly linear. It does not lower PO4 that fast though. I like using Fauna Marin Elimi-Phos which is a diluted Lanthanum chloride solution. Use with care. Don't over strip the water. Be sure to dose in the overflow slowly and make sure you filtration (socks?) are ready to capture the milky precipitate. That stuff can do a number on fish gills in higher concentrations.

Thanks for this and yea, I am worried about overdosing stuff... I hear horror stories with guys using Phasphat E, etc. and not being careful. I know tangs are very sensitive to that stuff. I did actually just purchased a new skimmer for this system but need to install - I feel the one I have (ETSS) is not sufficient and purchased that when I first got into the hobby. Now I got a reef octopus regal 250 as it was highly recommended by friends as it seems very easy to dial in vs. some others.

My plan is to try to get my No3 reduced to reasonable level and then tackle my elevated phosphate level.

It's funny how my frag / growout 180g tank is perfect and it's because day 1 when I set it up I started testing and adjusting so never let the levels elevate. I am just surprised that with hardly any fish - removed all sand, reduced rock to at least half and No3/Po4 is so darn high.