Nitrate....

[greysin]

My current setup is a 29 gallon sw tank with a penquin filter and a seaclone 100 skimmer and 20 lbs of live rock and sand.My current problem is trying to get nitrates down, so i can add more exotic specimens to my aquarium. I have a few questions regarding denitrate and stability. Will denitrate work in a filter bag stuck in HOB filter? And can it be fully submersed in the water. Also i have read that stability can reduce nitrate. My tank has been established already. Is it Okay to add Stability in next water change or maybe as a topoff?

thanks,
chris

[EliteEagleX]

First of all what is you're nitrate level? 20 to 40 PPM Is fine. There is NO harm in adding Stability at any time since it is just beneficial bacteria. It could help but I would try out Purigen or DeNitrite instead, DeNitrate controls it very well Purigen kinda controls it but also make's you're water look CRYSTAL clear, Still Stability isn't a bad idea it will shove more benefical bacteria but the easiest way to get rid of Nitrates is to keep doing water changes, maybe instead of a 15% goto 25%

[greysin]

Thanks for the quick response, but my measurements are reading ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate arond 30 ppm. I have inverts ( snails and shrimps) and fish. Since i have a 130watt light fixture, I was looking to add Coral and an anenome and i heard they require nitrates to below 10ppm

ty
chris

[EliteEagleX]

Dude... that's how it should be, you should have 0 ammonia 0 nitrites.. those are the most deadly, you will ALWAYS have Nitrates no matter what you do 30 ppm is FINE. Nitrates are ALWAYS In the tank after it has been through a succesful cycle I am at 40 PPM right now I'm pretty sure Coral would be fine at anything UP TO 40PPM.. It would be incredibly hard to keep it below 20 w\o useing Denitrite, If you're very worried still just buy Denitrite and put it in you're filter that should fix you're problem in two to four days or atleast start lowering it. INVERTABRATES can stand anything below 40PPM.. if you go over 40 PPM Then you are taking a risk.
My tank is ALWAYS at 20-40 ppm.. It's insanely hard to get it to go down w\o stressing the fish out (aka tons of water changes which in turn starves you're benefical bacteria)

[Tech Support CH]

You will want to get your Nitrates down. Many invertebrates do not do well with high nitrates. For a reef you will want to try to keep them around 5ppm. You can either use a denitrator, refugium, or water changes to get the nitrate under control.

De*nitrate is best used in a low to no oxygen area. The preferred method being in a slow flowing canister filter. Many people T into the line leaving their existing canister filter and install a dummy canister filled with de*nitrate. They add a ball valve on this line after it T's off. That is so they can control the water flow. From the dummy canister you will have another line leading into the tank. A dummy canister is a old non running canister or you can buy a canister without a motor from some companies.


I have a diagram that will show you another idea for building a de*nitrate filter. If you will private message me your email address I will send it to you. Essentially it involves a PVC tube the length of the tank and of big enough diameter to hold the required amount of de*nitrate. You will want to cap off each end. And then lay it across your tank. Pick one side as the top and drill holes on that side at each end to accommodate a PVC elbow fitting. Attach another PVC elbow so that the water flows toward the water surface. Now you can hook a power head (with a prefilter that you clean weekly) up to a piece of flexible tubing attached to the last elbow. Water will flow from the tank, through the prefilter into one end of the PVC tube. At this point the water will come into contact with de*nitrate. Aerobic bacteria will grow where the water enters and consume all of the oxygen. As the water passes through the PVC tube it will become deoxygenated and the anaerobic bacteria will grow. This bacteria will consume the nitrates and then pour the water back into the tank.

You need at least 1L of de*nitrate for each 50-100 gallons of tank water.

Most of the small power heads will work even if they have a flow above 50 gph. Because of all the 90 degree turns and the friction on all of the de*nitrate they will lose a little flow. And a lot of power heads have some adjustment on their output.

You'll want to push the water through. Most pumps do fine when their output is limited but they start to have problems when their input is limited. This also allows you to put a prefilter sponge on the intake, preventing the de*nitrate from getting clogged up with particles quickly. You'll want to rinse the prefilter at least once a week.


The more de*nitrate you have the more nitrate that you can remove. It will take a few weeks to see any visible improvement, bacteria take awhile to grow. The conversion between mg/L to ppm is easy, they are the same. 20 ppm = 20 mg/L. I would continue the water changes trying to maintain them around 20 ppm. You probably won't have to do daily water changes to keep them that low. It can take up to 6 weeks for the bacteria to get established. And 3-6 months to attain 100% effectiveness. You can speed this up by seeding the filter with Stability. It contains anaerobic bacteria to consume Nitrates.

Purigen will also help remove the nitrogenous waste that eventually becomes nitrate.

[EliteEagleX]

I thought 20PPM to 40PPM was fine....my bad

[Tech Support CH]

Most fish are pretty tolerant of poor water conditions. When you start dealing with marine invertebrates (like coral and anemones) than you have to really keep up with your water. Many marine inverts have a form of algae called zooxanthellae that lives in their skin. This algae is really sensitive and something as simple as adding carbon to a tank can cause the zooxanthellae to lose pigment or die. Zooxanthellae provide nutrition to the coral or anemone and their loss can mean demise for the coral.

[EliteEagleX]

I thought 20 to 40 PPM was pretty nice.. since most fish can take it up to 100 to 120 PPM

[Tech Support CH]

20- 40 ppm is better than 160 ppm. But the ideal reef environment will have a very small amount of nitrates for optimum fish and invert health.

[fsukum]

I too would like to see that diagram if I could.

My Nitrates are hanging around 30-40 ppm. The odd thing is is that my corals seem to be thriving and growing daily.

[Tech Support EH]

fsukum, I am trying my best to find that diagram. This thread was started in 2006, and that post actually dates back then. I will do my best to locate it, however, in the meantime, you may want to visit the following links to see how others are setting up denitrators/using de*nitrate:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=814978

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=785453

I will continue searching for the diagram for you...