I was looking at the posts on Reef Central.com and someone said that using table sugar reduced his nitrates from 60ppm to zero within a few days. The table sugar feeds the beni bacteria, which in turn absorbs the nitrates. I've never heard of this before and the people responding on the posts mentioned that there isn't any long term data on the subject. However, it seems to be working for every person that did it and no one said they lost any animals or had any ill effect. What do you guys think? He recommended 1/8 teaspoon for every 25 gallons to start. I've been having a lot of problems with my nitrates they range from 40 ppm-100 ppm. I've been doing 10-20% water changes every 3-5 days, reduced my feeding load, and rinsed 1/4 of my bio-balls. I bought a pretty neglected established 100 gallon tank about 3 weeks ago. So I put 1/2 teaspoon of sugar into my tank last night. I will check the nitrates and get back to you. Wish me luck
Never tried it cause I never needed to but have read a lot about it. People also use Vodka. Do a search on RC for "vodka nitrates". Does the same thing.
I think from what I have read, it's a good quick fix to get the nitrates down but in no way is it a replacement for good husbandry and maintenance.
What are your nitrate levels right now? Do you have a refugium? Do you have a skimmer?
My nitrates have always been less than 5 and since switching from macroalgae in my refugiums to Xenia for nutrient export, the nitrates stay at 0. The only reason I do water changes is to replace trace elements in the water that have been used up by the corals and I just do 1 and a 1/2 gallon per day changes.
I have a protein skimmer, 125 lbs live rock, 100 lbs of live sand, and bio balls in my sump. I just bought the tank 3 weeks ago and I don't think the guy took very good care of it. He said he only changed the water every six weeks. I only paid $700 for the whole set including the live stock, but it's been a pain trying to get the nitrate levels down. Fortunately, I haven't lost any livestock, but I've added a hefty cleaning crew, bubble tip anenome, etc. I'm just trying to get these nitrates down and I've been doing 10-20% water changes about twice a week since I got the tank. It's currently reading at 80 ppm and I'm probably going to do another 20-25 gallon water change today. How would you recommend me cleaning my tank because there are so many little critters on and near the live rock, I don't want to crush them. However, I think I need to do a thorough cleaning of the sand to try and get the nitrates down. I was thinking about doing a refugium, but I don't have any experience. Before I bought this 100 gallon, I set up a 12 gallon salt water eclipse with no problems. This was a great deal, but it's becoming a pain in my heinie. Do you have any ideas of what I should do to reduce my nitrate levels? I appreciate the help.
I bet most of the nitrates are due to the rock being full of decaying food and fish poo. I'd mix up a big batch of saltwater but just enough salt to keep the bacteria from dying. Hyposalinity would work for cleaning the rocks at a SG of about 1.010 or so.
Pull out one rock at a time and swish it around really well in the bucket of saltwater and scrub them with a brush. You'll see a bunch of crap coming out of the rock. This water will be discarded once you clean the rocks. Don't let the rocks dry out.
How dirty does the sand look? Is it fine aragonite sand or is it crushed coral? If it's really nasty, you need to clean it by removing it and rinsing it. You can't do it all at once though as you will upset the overall amount of beneficial bacteria.
If it's crushed coral, remove it all and replace with fine, dry aragonite sand.
With that much live rock and sand, the bio balls are redundant and a possible cause of nitrates if there is no drip plate with filter pad above them. You don't need them anyway and I would remove them completely.
What water are you using to make your saltwater and for topoff? Tapwater or RO/DI? If tapwater, have you tested your new water for nitrates before adding to the tank?
PS. Which skimmer do you have and how much gunk is it pulling out per day?
I just remembered something about the carbon dosing (sugar treatment).
You need to keep an eye on your fish' breathing. The sugar cause such a boom in the bacteria population that they can potentially deplete the dissolved oxygen level in the tank to the point where the fish can actually suffocate.
plus bio balls can and do harbor bad bac as well as good bac.......search the forums in here theres a couple good threads on the chaos that bio balls can cause
I really appreciate all of your guys input. I've been using R/O water from the local fish store and I've been buying my Salt water from them also. I know it's more expensive, but my little guy just turned one and is getting into everything. I don't want to have any buckets with water in them, I've heard too many horror stories and it's much safer for me to keep the water in the 5 gallon jugs. I'm currently in the process of rinsing all of the live rock in some clean salt water. I'm using a powerhead to get in all of the little cracks.
The sand is crushed coral and I will probably change it out to the fine live sand in the next few weeks. In the mean time I will clean all of the rocks and stir around the sand. Then do a 20 gallon water change. Do you guys think it's going to cause a problem with my beni bacteria after cleaning out all of the rocks, some of the sand, and I cleaned 25% of my bio balls yesterday in some clean salt water. The bio-balls actually seemed clean and had very little growth on them. I believe my main problem is probably the live rock and the fish poo and little animals that died in them during transport three weeks ago. Hopefully, this deep cleaning doesn't shock the system, but it's definitely worth a try.
I will watch my fish and their breathing because I've heard that the sugar could effect the oxygen level in the tank. I appreciate your guys help. You've been a lot of help these last few weeks.
what kind of livestock do you have in this set up? ( besides the rocks and substrate) Is there any fish, lots of inverts? The reason I ask, IMO it would be better to start everything from scratch. All you'd have to buy is RO water+ scrab your rocks real good ( in saltwater) and let the tank cycle... It is very hard to lower toxic nitrate levels from a neglected tank
You have to do big waterchanges which can easily harm your livestock, and the whole ecosystem (biological cycle, beneficial bacs, etc..) Let's say you have about 90 Gallons of water in your tank. If you do a 10% waterchange at the nitrate level of 80ppm, you'll do this :
81 G( 80ppm) + 9 G ( 0ppm)= 90 G x ??ppm. ??ppm =81 G : 90 G x 80ppm = 72 ppm
So you still have 72 ppm after a 10% water change. By the time you do your next one the nitrate levels will probably raise back again, no matter how you'll try to cut back on feeding and stuff. In case you'd do a 20-25% water change, you'll have to wait a bit longer to do another one... And there you go, the nitrate is high already, before you even started your waterchange.
If you have a friend or a good expert around you, let them have your fishes, invertebrates and corals for a while, and start a new cycle. You have the right amount of live rock to start with, to cycle this dirty tank filled with motherf**kin' nitrates..:-)
I have a large hippo, medium sailfin, large yellow tang, cleaner wrasse, maroon clown, two damsels, 4 peppermint shrimp, fire shrimp, cleaner shrimp, 50 hermits, 15 astrea, 2 turbo, 5 sand sifting snails, serpent star, large rose tip bubble anenome, 1 leather, 2 sps corals.
Your right about the nitrates and the water changes. I've been doing water changes every three days or so for the last 3 weeks, since I bought the damn tank. My nitrates went from 80ppm this morning to 40 ppm after I changed out 15 gallons this afternoon and cleaned half the live rock in some clean salt water. It was pretty damn dirty. I also used one of my powerheads to clean off all of the other rock and hosed down the sand throughout the tank. I then cleaned out the sock in my sump. I've been doing that daily for the last week. Unfortunately, I don't have anyone who could take all of my livestock for me to start the whole system from scratch. I would if I could, but I don't think it's feasable at this moment.
Do you guys have any other suggestions? I appreciate all of your guys help and hopefully it gets better. Is there any animals or plants that will help me reduce the nitrates. I read about Mangroves.
Schigara was right. Refugiums are the best natural nitrate removers, besides all the other pros. I have a HOB refugium on my 10G, and the nitarates are undedectable.
It is so very easy to take care of a refugium, once it's been set up is basically maintance free. Cut back the macroalgaes, that's all. Do some good research on refugiums, It'd be the best solution for you.
In case you're new to this hobby, DO NEVER GIVE UP! Lots of headaches and hard work will bring smile on your face..sooner or later.
Hey Dick, you might want to look into using Xenia in the refugium instead of macroalgae. I have found that it consumes nitrates faster than Chaeto and when it needs pruning, the frags are valuable and most LFS's will give credit or cash for them.
I think the next step is a refugium and I will get started next week. I have a Tru Vu Platinum Prof. Filtration Series sump that I believe could be set up as a refugium. I also have a 20 gallon sump that came with the tank, when I bought it. hmm I guess I have my homework to do and I'm going to take Schigara's advice and set it up with Xenia.
No more adding sugar to my water. It didn't do anything anyways, but make me worry some more.
How are your refugiums set up? What's the best place to research them and how to put them together?
