nitrate filter q&a

[pizzaguy]

Does anyone have any experience with nitrate filters. Looking for goods bads any info really.

[BowieReefer84]

I think wrench used to have one setup, but not 100%.  Try shooting him a PM.

[lnevo]

Take a look at this. I think this is a great way to go and maybe pretty relevant to your unique situation...

 

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2381987

[jaddc]

A good link

 

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2009-01/diy/

[Origami]

Hmmm... sulfur reactor. I seem to recall somebody here having run one for a while. I'm thinking that it was JamesBuf. I'm pretty sure that James checks the forums fairly frequently. Try sending him a PM. 

[pizzaguy]

Stupid question. How do you search by user id. Never tried that

[Origami]

Stupid question. How do you search by user id. Never tried that

Advanced search should get you there. Click on the gear icon to the right of the search box.

[Origami]

James mentioned a sulfur denitrator in this 2008 post. He also ran a coil denitrator for a while.

[AlanM]

Is the phosphate dosing not doing the trick?

[DuffyGeos]

Stupid question. How do you search by user id. Never tried that

 

Or since Tom mentioned him, click Origami, click Friends, and click his friend JamesBuf, then send a private message.

[pizzaguy]

I stopped a few weeks ago for a few reasons.

Small cyano patches on backs of rocks in very dead spots

Cleaning glass every day or 2

I might start it again but the cyano made me very nervous all though I can tell my corals want it back but my nitrates are still sky rocketing at an alarming rate. As an example they were over 80 last week so I changed 350 gallons in the last 10 days.

[Origami]

Stupid question. How do you search by user id. Never tried that

 

Or since Tom mentioned him, click Origami, click Friends, and click his friend JamesBuf, then send a private message.

 

Ohhh, were you asking about how to find a member's profile so you could send a PM? Just type in the user name in the destination field for the PM. Or, in the search box up above, click on the gray box to the right and select "members" to search on member names. To search for posts or topics that a member made, use Advanced Search.

[zygote2k]

Eric- why don't you try those new N/P biopellets that just came out?

What's the actual quantity of food that you are feeding to the tank on a daily bass?

[pizzaguy]

Pellets have been on system for quite a while now with no change. I feed one sheet of algae one day and that's it nothing else. Then the next day a very small amount of lrs frozen reef food. So basically aside from algae I feed once every other day.

[surf&turf]

Just a thought, could the algae have stored nitrates? A whole sheet every day is a good bit.

[lnevo]

The link i posted for a denitrator was not a sulfer based coil version...this was a pumped up carbon dosing technique using methanol as the bacteria fuel.

[zygote2k]

nitrates are only going to rise if nutrient removal is less than nutrient input.

[pizzaguy]

So as frank has suggested my last option has to be to heavy of a bio load? Any input on that? I do have a very good skimmer now

[zygote2k]

I suppose lots of corals could be producing lots of waste from photosynthesis- how quickly do the nitrates rise? HOw much nitrate is in the make-up water?

[pizzaguy]

Make up water is 0. It will go from 20 to 80 in 3 weeks or less

[howaboutme]

All things aside and going back to fish keeping 101..... If you have high NO3 in a short amount of time and knowing that you have adequate beneficial bacteria converting everything to NO3, that means something is producing a heck of a lot of NH3. A heavy bioload is certainly a relevant guess.

 

Crazy question for the chemistry inclined out there, can you get NO3 w/o going through the nitrogen (NH3 to NO2 to NO3) cycle? (Not referring to adding NO3 as a supplement which I am assuming Eric is not doing.)

[jaddc]

All things aside and going back to fish keeping 101..... If you have high NO3 in a short amount of time and knowing that you have adequate beneficial bacteria converting everything to NO3, that means something is producing a heck of a lot of NH3. A heavy bioload is certainly a relevant guess.

 

Crazy question for the chemistry inclined out there, can you get NO3 w/o going through the nitrogen (NH3 to NO2 to NO3) cycle? (Not referring to adding NO3 as a supplement which I am assuming Eric is not doing.)

 

In most cases, direct addition of nitrogen in the form a nitrate is non-existent. Using fresh water that is not filtered via RO-DI is the usual culprit of direct nitrate injection.

[treesprite]

I still have the small denitrator I got from James,  if anyone wants to give it a try. It's good for about a 50g tank. I never really used it because I was too impatient. You usually won't see results from using a denitrator for a couple of months after starting it, because it has to cycle itself and you have to keep adjusting it until you get it right.

[pizzaguy]

Thanks for the offer but I believe I'm gonna go the diy route and give it a shot.

[howaboutme]

Eric...Just a thought since it seems like you've committed to putting some time into this issue. How about grabbing a large Rubbermaid tub and transferring all of your livestock over temporarily. Assuming your rocks aren't epoxied together, transfer them w/ your corals on it and while doing that, do scrubbing and get all of the detritus out of there. Then once your tank is clear, clean out the rest of the sand you couldn't get to and other settled junk and then put everything back in. One days work....

 

I say this because I am guessing there is something in your tank that's causing this since you've pretty much eliminated all other possibilities like RODI, etc...

 

Just a thought.