nitrate reduction procedures

[jkburton1s]

i had a fish die a few days ago and my nitrates are up to 80 , i did a 15 gallon water change on my 75. i am doing another tonight when i get home. does anyone know any other good ways to reduce them. i was gonna use AZ-no3 but some have told me you have to ween the tank or you could have a crash. so i would like to not got that way. i have also read about dosing vodka but i am not reall sure about that either. please if you have input let me know

 

[redsea reefer]

50% WC twice a week.

 

[burntricer]

you take your current nitrates
and multiply them by whatever percent water change you did
and that should be what your nitrates are now.

 

[BigAl07]

you take your current nitrates
and multiply them by whatever percent water change you did
and that should be what your nitrates are now.

That's correct. Look at the formula in my signature


I like to see 50% W/C on anything over 60 and after just a few of them you'll down down to 10 or less as long as you have the "Problem" resolved that created them.

How old is the tank?

How big was the fish?

I've got a 90g and honestly when I fish dies it doesn't even register on the "NO3 Radar".....

 

[jkburton1s]

tank is about a year old. done great the whole time. fish was a 6" kole tang. was in there im assuming overnight before i realized what happened. ive got about 100 lbs live rock..... the only thing that is registering on my mind is my sump. it has some mir mud, and some live rock and chaeto. i keep thinking ot my self its the sump that is keeping my nitrates up. will feeding every other day or just feeding once a day lower my nitrates. would doing a berlin style sump be a better choice? or will redesigning my sump now be a better idea. the tank is the one in my sig.

 

[tnwillia]

Big Al's signature says it all. Good luck!

 

[jkburton1s]

so is dosing vodka a good idea?

 

[DaveK]

IMHO, I believe dosing with vodka, while it does seem to work, introduces a whole lot of other factors into your reef. I believe that long term, unless you very carefully control the doses of vodka used, you are going to have some problems.

I wouldn't recommend this unless the system is more or less experimental, and you want to try some new ideas, and don't mind loosing your livestock if your wrong about something.

 

[BigAl07]

so is dosing vodka a good idea?

You'll keep getting the same answer over and over. Some people have marginal luck with dosing the Vodka but many of them only have that "success for as long as they are "Dosing". That's treating the symptoms and not the cause of the problem.

I had some bad luck with Miracle Mud (massive algae outbreak almost immediately after adding it). Also the Chaeto and Live Rock in the sump could be collecting detritus and causing the NO3 issue.

Regardless you want to get it down via HEAVY water changes and then see where the tank stands as far as producing NO3.

 

[jkburton1s]

im doing another 20 gallon water change tomorrow. i have to work the whole weekend so i wont have much time. im pretty sure im gonna make a new sumpe and try that. so being said. should i do a sump with chaeto and such or a sump with nothing in it beside media

 

[BigAl07]

....so being said. should i do a sump with chaeto and such or a sump with nothing in it beside media

That depends on what you want the purpose of the "Sump" to be. I personally (take it this for what you paid for it) like a sump to be High-Flow and a "Mechanical" area. Sort of like that "Mechanical Room" you see in commercial buildings. It's RAW and to the point and you don't see any pretty "Hanging Baskets" or storage lockers in there. It's there for equipment and nothing else. That's how my sumps are.

I have a FUGE for the other stuff and in my experience if you can have both and have them with the correct amount of flow and other parameters they are much more efficient at their intended tasks. I'm not saying you can't have a "mixed use" tank but if space, money, and ingenuity allow it the "System" as a whole works better with a SUMP as a Utility tank and a Fuge as a "safe harbor slower flow" tank.

And that's my
.