How to lower nitrate levels

[trever22]

So I know to lower nitrates you obviously have to do waterchanges, but the thing is I have been doing a good amount of waterchanges and I actually did about a 75% yesterday. Today I decided to test the water and ammonia and nitrite are good but my nitrate is at about 20ppm. So if its 20ppm the day after a big waterchanges I wonder about it will be like in like 5 days or so. I am just wondering if there is anything I can add to the water to lower the nitrates. I know my petsmart sells these moss balls and I think supposedly they take nitrates out but I was wondering everyone's opinion.

[JRC3]

What is the nitrate level of your tapwater? Have you checked it?

[PufferMe!]

So I know to lower nitrates you obviously have to do waterchanges, but the thing is I have been doing a good amount of waterchanges and I actually did about a 75% yesterday. Today I decided to test the water and ammonia and nitrite are good but my nitrate is at about 20ppm. So if its 20ppm the day after a big waterchanges I wonder about it will be like in like 5 days or so. I am just wondering if there is anything I can add to the water to lower the nitrates. I know my petsmart sells these moss balls and I think supposedly they take nitrates out but I was wondering everyone's opinion.

Lots of live plants will help. Also, rinse in old tank water your filter media every time you do a water change. You may be over feeding?

[RTR]

Everyone has to track nitrate for themselves. There is no magic wand or even a cause that always applies. JRC3's comment on testing your tap (or other source) water yourself is the logical starting point. You can add to that testing the tank water before a partial water change so that you can read the before and after differences. From time to time it is also good to track the water's build-up of nitrate between changes. Rapid increases in nitrate may hint at over-crowding, or over-feeding, or inappropriate feeding, or insufficient substrate cleaning.

If your water source is high in nitrate, your tank will never be low unless you pre-treat in a veggie filter or algae bed filter or use a plant filter of some type, or a DSB or plenum. If you opt for RO or RODI water, in FW or BW tanks you may need to supplement some minerals. In SW tanks you do not need extra supplement in most cases, the salt mix should provide what you need.

HTH

[Pufferpunk]

I use a carbon source (vitamin C) in my SW tanks to reduce nitrate/phosphate. I wonder if this would also work in FW?

[Arny]

I use a carbon source (vitamin C) in my SW tanks to reduce nitrate/phosphate. I wonder if this would also work in FW?

Whats the name of the product you use pp?

[Pufferpunk]

VITAMIN C DOSING CHART
Here are the directions:
Use this product:
http://www.iherb.com/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=10178&at=0 FREE SHIPPING!!!
$10 off 1st order of $40 & up or $5 off on smaller orders, when using this code: LUL789


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 (down to 2-3 ppm works also). 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.

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.

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 or lower if only dosing for improved coral growth, coloration, and spread, also for better health/coloration of your fish. 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. Higher doses of as much as 100ppm (for about 2 weeks) for fish illness. 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.
* If you notice an algae bloom (white stringy stuff) or increased scum 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 then pour into overflow. If adding to sump, try and add the vitamin c after filtration such as skimmers and reactors. *Keep your Vitamin C bottle in the refrigerator. * If you have a question, ask here. I do my best to check these 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.

Be sure to take some "before" pics!

[defool89]

Sticky this

[Pufferpunk]

There is a thread on VC in the marine forum.

[RTR]

Vitamin C's chemistry/biochemistry/physiology is very, very complex. To be honest, nobody really understands it completely. We learn more all the time, but there is still a lot that is poorly understood.

It may have similar effects in FW, or may not. The effects are not just on the fish, but on the biology of the tank as a whole - microbes, infusoria, etc., the entire tank physiology. Some younger hobbyists will have to set up duplicate tanks with and without Vit. C to test it long-term. Not many hobbyists have such interests and keep sufficient records to be sure of results.

[trever22]

So I think have have a problem. I decided to do a waterchange today but before I did that I wanted to test my water.

Here are my results

No Flash


With Flash


So yeah that is pretty high, I immediatly did a 50% WC filled it up another 25% then did another 25% WC

Here are my results after the WC

With flash


No flash



Like someone mentioned above I should test my tap water so I did and here are my results

No Flash


With Flash

(Pretty cool looking color if you ask me)


But this leads me to believe that its something inside my tank rather then the source of water (which is kinda a good thing I guess)

Just not really sure what to add to the tank to get rid of these nitrates, I know live plants will work but there is not a good selection around here

[Pufferpunk]

Are you doing a thorough cleaning of your substrate? What about your filter media? How large is the tank & what inhabitants are in there?

[trever22]

Are you doing a thorough cleaning of your substrate? What about your filter media? How large is the tank & what inhabitants are in there?

I try to clean the substrate as good as I can. I have not cleaned my filter media yet but I guess I should. Do I just rinse it off? The tank is 29 gallons. The only thing in there is my hairy puffer

[Pufferpunk]

What kind of filter is it? I'll bet you anything the nitrate is being stored in that media.

[trever22]

What kind of filter is it? I'll bet you anything the nitrate is being stored in that media.

Its an Eheim canister filter rated for 98 gallons I belive. I got such a powerful filter to try to avoid these kind of problems. I think its like the eheim 3e or something like that