Need advice on lowering Nitrates

So for the past 2 weeks my Nitrates have been steady at 20ppm. I know this is acceptable for a FOWLR tank but i'm not happy with it.

In my sump i have some ceramic rings - could this be the culprate? Thy are not in watter 100% of the time. Its kinda like a trickle but isnt a full wet/dry.

What i'd like to do is convert it to a full sump and forget about the wet/dry stuff - anyone have an opinion wheather i sould keep the medai in there?

Any opinions would be great

 

I have a sump with no filter media in it just macro algae and a few peices of live rock.you should do a water change in their.that may help out a little.

 

If you could get a photo up of what you have now, that would generate some ideas

20ppm is OK in a FOWLR , its also not that bad in a reef set up (softies etc)

how big is the tank, how much rock do you have, what skimmer are you running?

all the above are factors in the equation

do you have a pre filter / foam etc before the water hits the ceramic rings?
the nitrates will be coming from detrius that is collecting somewhere in your system
a foam pre filter or sponge pad etc would collect the large items of waste and this could be rinsed or renewed often and thus cut down on work load for the Biological filtration

a good clean off of the ceramic rings - 1/3rd of them a week done every other week , may also help to reduce nitrates for same reason

do you have predator fish or Vegitarians? if its carnivores maybe adding some macro algae to your DT would help (Halimedia has a good rep for Nitrate reduction)

do you have room in your sump for a fuge? if so adding macros into a fuge area under the tank can also help to reduce nitrates

chemical option - Purigen took my nitrates from 10ppm to 0 in 2 weeks on my 70 and they have stayed there since

just some general ideas - but images of your current set up may inspire even better solutions

Steve

 

Tank is a 46 gallon
Sump is a 18 gallon
Skimmer is a Super Skimmer 125

Yes, pre filter has a white pad thingie (i'll add a pic).

Oscileris Clown and a Green Clown Goby

pics coming soon - need to load them up...

 

OK see the attached images.

As you can see, there is a foam thing in the prefilter.

Then the water goes into a white media drawer. I keep the carbon & phosban in there.


Then the water goes under and through a blue sponge pad. (i rince it every other change).

Then through the skimmer. then the return pump to the tank.

Sorry if the pics are hard to see, its a little cramed in there...

 

The wet-dry system is very, very good when set up properly. There are two other possiblilities: A denitrator (about $100 shipped) and the sump/fuge (about $100 DIY minus macros). Or you can do any combination thereof. You will find the balance eventually. But 20ppm IMO is even OK with corals. I have run upto 80ppm with corals with no problems. Right now, it is 50ppm. Clearly I have to do something.....my denitrator is handling some of the problem, I just need more Chaeto to capture the rest.

 

tpasche, the way you have described it and the images, I cant see any obvious problems

picture 4 . there does seem to be a lot of sediment accumulated on the ceramic/ sintered glass rings so I can assume there is also a lot in the base of that chamber a good clear out/ rinse with old tank water at next water change may help reduce them

as stated previously 20ppm is not a major issue

do you rinse your carbon and GFO media on a weekly basis as I have both of those and it amazes me how much crud accumulates on those mesh bags each week

as you already use 2 x chemical filter media and probably have space, I would suggest giving purigen a try along with the Carbon and GFO - you will see a reduction in nitrates
without a doubt


Steve

 

I wouldn't freak about 20 ppm. You will be fine in a fish only system.

 

Does deNitrate from Seachem in a reactor work? Anyone have any experience?

I have an aquaripure which is complete junk.

 

That's a good idea. I'll go ahead and rinse em out with my water change this week. (i do em weekly).

My other concern about messing with the media is causing another mini cycle. Is 68 lbs of live rock enough bio load to prevent the sump from causing a cycle if i clean it out?

I never thought of that, i'll clean those out too...


Thanks for all the help.