High nitrate

[degen]

Hi guys, long time listener, first time caller!!
I'm fairly sure I know the answer, but can someone confirm for me that water changes are the best way to lower nitrate? My dogface has been limping along while I listened to bad advice from my lfs!
Thanks
Degen

[Pufferpunk]

Yes, of course water changes will help. It would be easier for me to give advice if I knew what kind of system you are running. How much live rock in what size tank, what kind of protein skimmer is there a refugium, what's in it.?

[degen]

140 liter tank, no sump, 25kgs live rock, G216 Proskim skimmer, has 4 other small fish - 2 mollies. 2 chomis, and a cleaner wrasse. Nitrate problem is all mine - too much food. Have thrown in some elephant snails and two rather large sand worms to help with clean up. Using 4ml Red Sea NoPho each day, but am now doing 25% water change each day as well.
Cheers

[Pufferpunk]

Here's another great solution to nitrate control in SW tanks: http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/vie ... =9&t=13501

[degen]

That link appears to be gone - must be out of stock! Is it Marine C you pointing me toward?

[Pufferpunk]

Dosing Vitamin C Chart

Use this product:
http://www.iherb.com/NutriBiotic-Sodium ... =null&ic=2
$5-10 0ff coupon code: LUL789 (always good for first purchase).
Keep refrigerated.

To figure out how much to use, decide if you want to simply improve coral growth, spread, and color. If so, then you should dose around 5 ppm twice daily. If you are having problems with coral or fish health, dose up to around 30 ppm twice daily.

Calculate the total net number of gallons in your tank (minus rocks, sand, etc). Enter that number here ______.

You will now need to do a little math. The amounts below are for 100 gallons of water so if you have 50 net gallons, cut the amounts shown below in half etc. No need to be exact--I usually round to the nearest 1/4 tsp.

Dosing amounts using Iherb product:
1/4 tsp=1112 mg.

For every 100 gallons:

5 ppm ----- 1892 mg VC
10 ppm ---- 3785 mg VC
15 ppm ---- 5677 mg VC
20 ppm ---- 7570 mg VC
25 ppm ---- 9462 mg VC
30 ppm ---- 11355 mg VC

After you have figured out how much you want to dose at each dosing, enter that number here _____. This is your dose to be used twice a day. Try for at least one dose being done during lights out, as VC absorbs better in the dark.


Notes:
*Be sure your pH and alk are within normal reef limits before starting. Adjust if needed. Monitor weekly.
*Shoot for a ppm of around 5 if only dosing for improved coral growth, coloration, and spread. Shoot for higher amounts up to 30 ppm if you are having melting zoas or closed zoas and look for the causes of your problems as you dose. Check for high nitrates, pests, zoa pox, predators, and unstable water conditions.
*Dose low amounts and increase the amount slowly over the course of a few days to a couple weeks.
*Do NOT dose at high levels (>10ppm), if you don’t have a skimmer! Especially on a nano tank.
* If you notice an algae bloom or increased skim on your glass then cut back by half until it disappears.
* Watch your skimmer, it will start to skim more.
* Dose the amount twice a day in a fast moving area of your sump or overflow. You may dilute the vitamin c in ro/di water for a minute then pour into my overflow. If adding to sump, try and add the vitamin c after filtration such as skimmers and reactors.
* If you have a question, ask here. I check VC threads daily.
* The instructions in this guide and throughout this thread are based on using pure Sodium Ascorbate, not vitamin c pills and other non-buffered forms of vitamin c.

[hadla]

Get some macro algae in there it helps a lot