nitrate think tank I'm at my wits end

[John Ford]

I put my frozen pe mysis in a cup and fill with tank water. Swish it until it thaws then dump out all the water once the shrimp sink to the bottom. It's amazing how dirty the water is. Then fill the cup back up and use a turkey baster to slowly feed my fish with the pumps off. I try and convince myself this helps with nutrients.

 

I usually feed Blackworms too so this is more of a once a week deal at best

[jaddc]

Ok I'll stuck with this for a few weeks and keep updating. I'll have the po4 here when and if needed.

 

Lost a few colonies of sps. A lot of browned out stuff is starting to color back up and pe is coming back. After tomorrow's water change and sand removal I will test everything and stop wc for a week or two closely monitoring everything. If I start going backwards again then we will assess the situation again.

 

If you have time -- post your nitrate and phosphate levels here. Try to do the test about the same time every day that you test.

[pizzaguy]

Just now

Nitrates 40

Po4 0 on Hanna regular not Ulr and API also

Nitrates are steady climbing and I've only been feeding once a day and very little

Changing more water and removing more sand right now

[howaboutme]

2 questions...

 

About how much sand have you taken out so far percentage-wise?

 

I think you said you have a fuge attached...what's in the fuge besides the cheato that can't grow?

[pizzaguy]

After tonight at least 50% sand and all of tonight's removal was under the ledge and up against the overflow under everything in the back. It was a no flow area and was pretty dirty.

My fuge is also a frag tank. So chaeto and some random corals it's bare bottom with plenty of flow. I do keep my reactors and now the second skimmer out there also. It's a 40 breeder tank.

[pizzaguy]

So macro is just chaeto.

[sen5241b]

So macro is just chaeto.

 

 

People sometimes refer to macro-algae as "macro". Cheato is the best. Generally it will not grow in the DT and unlike caulerpa it will not hsoot out a mass of spores that float arounf, rot and cuase a tank-killing cycle. Cheato needs strong light and strong flow.

[pizzaguy]

12 am last night one hour after water change and sand removal

Nitrates 20 to 25

Po4 no detection

Corals bouncing back pe looking good

[gmerek2]

Super! It took me months to see undetectable nitrates after making system changes. You might need to be patient. But i wasn't as aggressive with water change. I had to test It 4 times to believe it. The minor stirring of the sand may spike them a little but hopefully continue to go down. A lot of people claim nitrates don't bother anything. But my corals are growing fast and much more plump. It's worth the trouble keep it up

[morgan175]

I don't know much but I was having a similar issue. I found my volume of water was not being turned over enough. My sand was also holding everything in due to all being really fine. Like I said I know nothing.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[howaboutme]

Great to hear! I would not do any water changes and monitor your NO3 the next few days. Conventional wisdom says that it shouldn't rise so much anymore w/ 50% of that detritus laden sand gone...GFO still offline?

[pizzaguy]

No gfo for me. If I was a betting man I would say nitrates will continue to rise. I hope not but I'm going with my gut. Something tells me, me and the wamas gang will be trying our hand at po4 dosing. Time will tell. Lol

[pizzaguy]

By the way awi said I should only be getting 100 gallons out of my Di resin. That's normal.

[jaddc]

lol... It is so freaking weird that just your nitrates are rising.

[howaboutme]

By the way awi said I should only be getting 100 gallons out of my Di resin. That's normal.

 

What do you mean? You can only make 100G of water before your DI is exhausted? That can't be right.

[pizzaguy]

That's exactly what they just told me on the phone. But both of my other brands I had I would go 4 months or more on the same Di doing the same huge water changes. Don't know but I can tell you I'm not changing Di every water change. That's absurd, sorry. Just my 2c.

[pizzaguy]

Just changed Di 4 days ago. One water change. First tds is 1 second is 76. What do you think about that. I'm not sure I wanna spend money on filters or just go back to the old brand.

[howaboutme]

Yeah, that can't be right, the 100G comment. Maybe 1000G does make sense since most DIs should last a year for normal use (yours is definitely not normal)....I agree that replacing DI every wc is ridiculous.

 

Did you change your RO membrane? If not, I'd do that first before doing anything more. To trouble shoot your RODI, you need to start from the 1st stage to the last and not backwards. So based on your other thread, your RO rejection rate sucked. That means it's exhausted. Replace it and then see where your DI is...

[gmerek2]

Buy BRS RODI unit with inline TDS before that unit messes something up.

[AlanM]

100 gallons on a fill of resin is not anywhere close to right. 

 

I must have made about 1000 gallons with my 5 stage chloramine RO/DI from BRS and I'm still on the first batch of resin 10 months later.  It has a dual gauge TDS meter that measures output of the RO membrane and output of the DI resin.  Output of RO membrane is around 2 TDS and output of the DI is always 0.  Never anything but 0. 

 

If you're getting much higher numbers maybe that's what is driving your nitrate problem, your water changes...

 

Are you sure you have that thing assembled correctly? 

 

Edit:  I mean are you sure you're running new water through the pre-filters, carbon, RO, then DI, then out?

Edited May 21, 2014 by AlanM

[pizzaguy]

Already assembled when you get them. I have a question for some of you. What is your tds of your tap water and if you respond please also with your reading how often do you change Di resin.

Awi was very clear. She said with my tap tds I would get 90 to 100 gallons of water. So I asked, your telling me if I change 100 gallons a week on my system then I will be changing Di every week. She said that's correct, just order the large bags.

[Arkonen]

I change my DI resin maybe every 6 months, and my incoming tap water is 390 TDS, outputs at 4 from the membrane, and 0 out of my DI canister.  I'm on a well in a very heavy limestone/shale area so my well water is crap... There's no reason that RODI system should burn through THAT much resin.  What is your pressure coming into your RODI unit?  I put a booster pump on mine and my production rate has tripled and my resin lasts longer now as well.  

[AlanM]

My tap water is 148 ppm on handheld tds meter. Just checked it. I believe 100 gallons if you werent putting it through all of the prefilters and RO first, but most RO membranes will get it down to a few ppm easily which should not exhause the resin for a long time. I have not changed resin in well over 900 gallons. That is how much salt mix i have bought in the past 10 months. Plus all of the topoff water, so easily over 1000 gallons and still coming out at 0.

[smallreef]

My TDS is about 146.....and I make 15g of water a week...I've had my rodi for a little over a year and my TDS coming out is just now creaping up to 12...so I will be changing it out next month...

(Though my TDS constantly changes as I am 1 block from the water treatment plant...so I can tell when they need to be doing some work as my tap TDS will get up to 280ish sometimes...)

[howaboutme]

Eric...that person from awi is not correct. i will give them the benefit of the doubt and she just misspoke but it's sad to hear that coming from a reputable company, especially since they are a sponsor. Measuring life of a DI or RO membrane is not by amount of water made. It needs to be done by a TDS meter since everyone's water source is different.

 

Did you change your RO?

 

My tap is 146 (I know I mentioned it was in the 300s previous..i was wrong.forgive me.. )

after RO: 9

after DI: 0

 

I changed my DI at approximately the 1 year mark. I also have changed my carbon and sediment filters (all 1 micron or less) twice in the past 15 or so months I have had my tank. I try to change them every 6 to 8 months depending on how much water I make. I have not had the need to change my RO. Good ROs should last 2 years if not more.

 

Another thought....could you have contaminated your RODI unit somehow that it will actually increase TDS through your filters?

Also..order a pre-filled DI resin next just to eliminate user error in packing it tightly as that will affect its lifespan.

Edited May 22, 2014 by howaboutme