Update - nitrate imbalance - running out of options

[Darkrooster]

Ugh I had this problem for about 8 months. Not that high but the under feeding and still just going up and up. I wish I could tell you what worked but I eventually just threw everything at it. Huge Refugium, nopox, under feeding, pods,reef mat, change of foods, skimmer, lots of CUC. It eventually just turned into a GHA forest!! I guess Nopox was my last resort as I hate chemicals but that was the only thing that started to turn it around. But I haven’t been able to stop dosing it so whatever it is problem isn’t solved just bandaid. If you figure out the answer I would love to hear it!!

 

[Chris Spaulding]

I was in the same boat as you. My Dad passed and with all that was involved making sure Mom and stuff are taken care of I let my tank maintenance slide to the point it crashed. Now that things are more normal I sat back and got the tank on track, but it too some time.
At the start of the reset my Nitrates were 98 and Po4 was at 3.2. After taking out all dead coral scrubbing rocks and vacuuming the sand I still had nitrates at 90+ and Phos at 3+. I was at wits end.
I installed a Aquamaxx zeovit reactor and started carbon dossing following @SunnyX bacteria system.
I used Tropic Marin NPminus for the carbon source and Nitrates and Phos Started to drop. This took about 6 weeks, and Nitrates got down to 14 and Phos to .42. I ran out of NPminus and the Phos stalled there.I switched over to Tropic Marian BactoBallance. for the carbon source and Nitrates came down to 10 but Phos stayed at .4 .
I then started to use Brightwells PhosphateE slowly lowering the Phos and now it is at .04-.08 and holding and no longer using the PhosphateE.
Nitrate steady at around 6-10 and Phos at .04-.08. System is about 170 gallons total with a VERY large bioload which gets about 8 cubes a day of frozen and feed with Auto feeder 6 times a day for the Anthias and Fusiliers damsels.
It took a few months to get in check but it can be done. BTW only one water change in that time.

 

[joelat]

Socks or Roller. how often do you clean?
Clean up crew..How mant types and numbers?
Do you add pods?

Neither , the sump has a large gloss pad under the down pipe so acts similar to a sock but with abit more filtration.

Theres 20 or so hermits and the same bumblebee snails. A blood shrimp and a Nassarius snail.

I don’t use pods at the moment.

I have just done a 30% water change . Dosnt look a massive difference on the salifert test but I will clarify when I test on a digital test.

 

[joelat]

I was in the same boat as you. My Dad passed and with all that was involved making sure Mom and stuff are taken care of I let my tank maintenance slide to the point it crashed. Now that things are more normal I sat back and got the tank on track, but it too some time.
At the start of the reset my Nitrates were 98 and Po4 was at 3.2. After taking out all dead coral scrubbing rocks and vacuuming the sand I still had nitrates at 90+ and Phos at 3+. I was at wits end.
I installed a Aquamaxx zeovit reactor and started carbon dossing following @SunnyX bacteria system.
I used Tropic Marin NPminus for the carbon source and Nitrates and Phos Started to drop. This took about 6 weeks, and Nitrates got down to 14 and Phos to .42. I ran out of NPminus and the Phos stalled there.I switched over to Tropic Marian BactoBallance. for the carbon source and Nitrates came down to 10 but Phos stayed at .4 .
I then started to use Brightwells PhosphateE slowly lowering the Phos and now it is at .04-.08 and holding and no longer using the PhosphateE.
Nitrate steady at around 6-10 and Phos at .04-.08. System is about 170 gallons total with a VERY large bioload which gets about 8 cubes a day of frozen and feed with Auto feeder 6 times a day for the Anthias and Fusiliers damsels.
It took a few months to get in check but it can be done. BTW only one water change in that time.

This is a promising read it sounds like you had it worse than me with the high phos too.

I think I am going to have to ride out a long carbon dosing cycle and see where it takes me by the sound of it. Currently using redsea nopox but I may start increasing the dose as it dosnt seem to be dropping in any measureable amount.

Your bio load is huge compared Aswell, what did you run in your reactor? Currently using my reactor for cheato but u feel like there may be a more effective chemical way.

 

[Chris Spaulding]

This is a promising read it sounds like you had it worse than me with the high phos too.

I think I am going to have to ride out a long carbon dosing cycle and see where it takes me by the sound of it. Currently using redsea nopox but I may start increasing the dose as it dosnt seem to be dropping in any measureable amount.

Your bio load is huge compared Aswell, what did you run in your reactor? Currently using my reactor for cheato but u feel like there may be a more effective chemical way.

Sorry it has taken me a long time to get back. In the reactor I am running Brightwells Zeomix as I had a large bag at work that I was no longer using. I do not run a Fug at all,messy imo. I still have some algae on the rocks but it is under control and slowly going away. I also over the last few weeks replenished my CuC as over the years they has diminished.
Next steps for me are starting back up the Phyto cultures and ProBio PNS cultures.

 

[joelat]

Update **

For anyone following or with similar issues.

First of all did a 25% water change.

I have been dosing Nopox around 10ml per day for around a month now and nitrates are down to around 35ppm.

Cheato reactor has been growing a nice amount which I have harvested a couple of times.

Done another ICP but only slightly down on Iron, vanadium and iodine so dosed as required.

Going to carry on the dosing nopox for the foreseeable as that combined with the record seems to be doing the job. I have been able to increase the feeding slightly too with the numbers still dropping. Corals seem to be thanking me for this too as I have noticed a fair amount of growth over the past few weeks.