At my wits end!!

I have a nitrate problem. I've had this 30 gal set up for about 3 months now. the first month and a half the levels were healthy all zeros except for nitrates and even then it was at about 20 ppm. But it slowly began to climb, and now it is at about 80 ppm. I have only one thought as to what might be causing the spike, and that is that when i do my weekly 4 gal. water change i shouldn't be cleaning my filter media. I don't have bio balls but it's a sort of fiber/mesh bag where where the water flows first into the sump from the overflow. The first part of my sump has the skimmer, live sand and a few chunks of live rock after that chamber it goes into the return pump chamber. As the water enters that chamber it also passes through a sort of sponge, which is another part of the filter media. How often should I be cleaning them? I was thinking of getting a RO/DI to possibly help but i hesitate on getting one because I am thinking of upgrading before new year to a 75 gal. and don't want to drop $200 or so dollars now and then need a different one when I upgrade and basically waste that money if I need a different one. What are my options?

 

First off, without lecturing you the nitrates are most likely coming from the tap water... I can be pretty confident of that. Many municipalities either get tramp NO3 or PO4 from ground water contamination or esp PO4 enters as a water purifier... Yes purifier. My local water company just put out there annual water report and stated that they intentionally add it, not good for reefers... Also the Copper level was .45ppm that is THREE TIMES the does needed to kill ick!!! THIS IS WHY TAP IS NO GOOD PEOPLE!!!

Anyway back to your problem, I would at very least start buying water from your LFS or buy distilled water from the store.
Also doing 4 gal water changes is NOT aggressive enough to remove large amounts of NO3. It might be a good maintenace water change but to get the NO3 under control you need to be doing like 30% or more a week to really make a dent.

Also I would be making sure you are not overfeeding, and look for hidden detritus under or in your rocks, a handy turkey baster will help blast it out for you to siphon out of the system.

If your sump has like a prefilter sponge or pad I would at least be rinsing it out, that will be catching and harboring a lot of detritus as well...

As for the RO unit, you will not need to upgrade later... Just buy the biggest one you can afford now and it will carry you into your upgrade... I have a 180 and only have a 50 gpd RO unit... I just need to save water in buckets until I have enough to do a water change...

Good luck

 

You did not mention what livestock you have in this tank. It seems that many people tend to overstock small tanks.

 

so for a 30 gal and a 75 gal i could use a 50 gph unit? I belive all ive seen at my lfs is gph(h=hour), not gpd(d meaning day i presume). I have a coral beauty, 2 purple fire fish, and 8 nassarious snails. I f u give me enough info, I will go out and purchase a unit today from my lfs. I don't know how they would actually be installed. How ans where will it be mounted? Will I need to purchase some hardware from there? Waht are some questions I should have ready fro them?

 

A 50 gpd would be fine, but if you can afford it go bigger... Then there are stages... 3 is standard that would be 1. prefilter/sediment filter 2. carbon and 3. Membrane..
4 is usually a DI add on which would take your water to 0 tds or TOTAL DISSOLVED SOLIDS, that would mean its as pure as possible... I do not have a DI but my TDS is 4-5ppm which in my eyes is pure enough esp since my tap is anywhere from 300-500ppm...

Most come with a garden hose adapter so you could hook it up to that or I bought an adapter from the hardware store that lets me hook it up to my kitchen sink.

Others will tap into a cold water line but remeber ROs work best at ~77 degrees.. less waste water, more and faster production of RO water...

 

"Pure-Flo II RO with Pump - 50 gpd - TFC - 3 Canister",...this is the one i have my eye on. but if needed there also is "MaxCap Reverse Osmosis and Dionization Filters" Im gonna keep looking for about another hour or so but want to fix this problem asap...about the water temp when filtering, i just have to put a thermometer to the faucet and then start filtering right?
I don't have any corals or anything like that but plan on buying them once i get my 75 up and running. Will it be a good thing to have the DI for that set up?

 

hey Rynoskim

Dr Fragenstein has gone off site
you have 80ppm Nitrates in a tank with just 3 fish and some snails ?

getting a RODI unit in the fullness of time is a great idea / the sooner the better sure
but dont buy without making sure the unit you are buying is the right choice for you

I am not familiar with either of the above units , all I can say is that that are both probably an improvement on your tap water, but I dont know if they are right for you present and future needs - hopefully someone else will know or advice you on a better option or Dr Fragenstein can if he comes back on site

in the short term

you do need to clean those filter pads along with each weekly water change, rinse them in the old tank water
you do need to syphon any accumulated waste in the sump areas (not the sand area)
Its a great idea to blast the rocks with a baster or a power head to flush out and sitting crud in there
you have sand ? in the sump - is it a fuge? do you have macro algae in there?
as macro algae could utilise these nitrates and thus reduce them for you

dont do anything in the next hour , thats the best advice I can give you here
wait until someone gives you solid advice on what RO or RODI unit to go for
and in the mean time

what Nitrate measurement do you get when you make up a batch of new water using tap?

Steve

 

out of the tap and after a water treatment they measure up the same at 10ppm. can you explain the benefits of a fuge now complicated are they to set up? can i use the same one on a 30 gal if i were to purchase it on a 75 gal? should i consider that before or after the RO/DI unit?

 

a fuge is a section of the sump that generally has a DSB - deep sand bed
that encourages a healthy population of non oxygen requiring bacteria and its that bacteria or those bacteria , that convert Nitrate to Nirtogen gas
coupled with macro algae such as Chaeto, or Mangroves or other - which also utilise Nitrates - is often used method of proccesing this nutrient in reef systems

as you have a compartment with sand in? (get a photo up please) then all you might need
is the addition of a light source and some macro algae for this portion of your sump ? maybe

when you set the 75 up for corals, yes consider having a sump and fuge combination as many reefs have negligent Nitrate levels using this system

RODI unit would be my 1st choice
I would do weekly water changes of 20% and do the housekeeping mentioned above each time
I would use a product called Purigen by Seachem which will absorb the nitrates you have and combined with the water changes reduce the level significantly over the next couple of weeks or so

bear in mind on this tank with a couple of fish and some snails only - you dont want to be
panicking over nitrates- if they where 20ppm for example and you had no major algae issues, then your fine IMO

this will be great experience for you when you set up the 75
use RODI
have a sump fuge combo
and providing you stock and feed sensibly and routinely clean your pre filters and have enough water movement to prevent mostcrud settling on rocks etc

you should avoid 80ppm easily on the next set up

Steve

 

so get the purigen along with the RO/DI? What is a way to find out the appropriate amount of water movement in a tank? as of now I have a koralia2 moving 600 gph, is that enough or do i need more?