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dbboy17 
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 Topic: Nitrate help
Posted: April 21 2009 at 9:34am |
I have tried and tried to get my nitrates down but just can't seem to get them down. My nitrites and ammonia are pretty much "0", hard to tell some times with the color coding. I may have to try another testing kit to make sure though.
My nitrates are around 40 and up. I added a bigger skimmer which is starting to pull some stuff out. I am working on getting my macro algae going in my refugium. My tank looks fairly clean and everything is still alive. I've just recently added these items about a week to two weeks ago. I am sure it will take some time, but just wondering how long.
What other suggestions do you have to reduce nitrates or should I just hold out and see how the new skimmer does and wait for the macro to take off.
Thanks,
Trent
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Ryan Thompson
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Posted: April 21 2009 at 10:05am |
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Just be patient and let the skimmer go to work. A water change will also help bring nitrates down.
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: April 21 2009 at 10:21am |
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Here is the answer. Don't believe it? Try it and discover for yourself.
Leave the lights on 24/7 and add some macroalgae to make it reduce the nitrates to within acceptable range within 24 hours. Leave it that way for 2-5 days and if the tank is set up correctly with a good start of biological filtration, you will have no more problems.
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dbboy17
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Posted: April 21 2009 at 10:48am |
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Are you suggesting leaving the refugium lights on 24/7 or the main fish tank lights on 24/7. Is there any suggestions on how to get the macro algae to bloom, so it can do it's job a little faster?
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Jake Pehrson
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Posted: April 21 2009 at 12:16pm |
I would recommend some large water changes. And then after that periodic water changes. The larger skimmer and algae will help.
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dbboy17
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Posted: April 21 2009 at 12:33pm |
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If you are suggesting large water changes, how much are we talking about for a 90 gallon tank and over what period of time do you suggest.
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Jake Pehrson
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Posted: April 21 2009 at 1:47pm |
I would do up to a 50% water change if possible. If not a smaller water change would work. The large the water change the faster you will get your nitrates down. I would keep doing these every 7-10 days until your nitrates are below 0. You can always try Mark's natural method first and see how it works, but water changes are guaranteed to lower your nitrates now and then you can use natural method to try and keep them under control.
You may want to read through these posts:
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dbboy17
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Posted: April 21 2009 at 2:31pm |
Thanks for the info. I was reading on those forums that they recommend not even disturbing the sand. Is that correct?
If i'm doing lets say a 30 gallon water change, is it recommended to take the full 30 out first before putting any new water back in. Or is that not really going to make a difference?
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Jake Pehrson
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Posted: April 21 2009 at 3:23pm |
 dbboy17 wrote:
If i'm doing lets say a 30 gallon water change, is it recommended to take the full 30 out first before putting any new water back in. Or is that not really going to make a difference? |
Yes, if possible. Let me help you understand why:
Let's assume you have a 60 gallon aquarium and your nitrates are 40.
If you do a 30 gallon water change (50%) your first change will take your nitrates to 20
second to 10
third to 5
If you do a 10 gallon water change (20%) your first change will take your nitrates to 32
second to 25.6
third to 20.4
fourth to 16.3
fifth to 13.1
sixth to 10.4
seventh to 8.3
If you do a 5 gallon water change (10%) your first change will take your nitrates to 36
second to 32.4
third to 29.2
fourth to 26.2
fifth to 23.6
sixth to 21.2
seventh to 19.1
eighth to 17.2
ninth to 15.4
tenth to 13.9
eleventh to 12.5
twelfth to 11.2
thirteenth to 10.1
fourteenth to 9.12
That was a lot longer then I thought. As you can see the bigger the water change the faster you get your nitrates under 10 (of course this is assuming your water change water is nitrate free). This is why it is important to do large water changes to get a problem under control. Small water change will simple not get you there fast, especially if you are still accumulating nitrates over time. Once the problem is under control smaller water changes can be used.
I thought I would mention that this also works similar with other undesirables in our aquariums (like phosphate), but ammonia and nitrite should not be handled using water changes.
Edited by Jake Pehrson - September 25 2009 at 10:11am
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dbboy17
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Posted: April 21 2009 at 3:54pm |
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My question is this though if you are going to do a 30 gallon water change does it make any difference though if you drain 5 gallons and then put 5 gallons of new water back in and continue doing that until you have done 30 gallons. Will you still get the same nitrate reduction as above or will that only take place if you completly drain 30 gallons at once and then add 30 new gallons back in.
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dbboy17
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Posted: April 21 2009 at 3:59pm |
Looking at your example above it appears that you would be doing the water changes over a period of a month or so. I'm saying that the 5 gallon water changes would be done on the same day. Hopefully i'm making sense.
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Jake Pehrson
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Posted: April 21 2009 at 5:34pm |
In the example above it doesn't matter if you do the water changes 1 minute apart or one month apart.
Using the numbers above if you drain 5 gallons and then replaced 5 gallons and repeated this 6 times you would have reduced your nitrates to 23.6. If you do it all at once you will reduce your nitrates to 10. This is why I recommend large water changes instead of lots of small water change to fix nitrate problems. Small water changes will take too long and you will never get to your desired number via water changes (there are always other nitrate reduction methods as Mark pointed out).
I hope that makes sense.
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cl2ysta1
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Posted: April 21 2009 at 6:20pm |
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i second jakes well thought out answer and his math!
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I <3 Boxers
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dbboy17
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Posted: April 21 2009 at 10:18pm |
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I appreciate your help in the matter.
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