nitrates high..update

Nemo,

I would not suggest to change from rinsing the carbon. It is a good practice to remove larger material and surface-bound impurities. The ability of the rinse water to "clean" the carbon is very much dependent on the pH, which is typically neutral to slightly acidic for RO/DI water (5 - 7 pH). In commercial purification applications, carbon can be regenerated using a high or alkaline (pH 10 and above) pH to strip the surface area (pores created by oxygen) of the carbon to "reactivate" it.

If you are replacing the media every few weeks, this may not be your problem. However, if the carbon has not been replaced for some time (again dependent on your organic load hitting the carbon surface), it may be an area to explore to reduce your nitrates.

Another area to explore would be the base rock. Is it raised off the bottom glass surface? Sometimes, detritus can accumulate underneath the base rock in areas where your sand sifters will not be able to access unless your base rock is raised (eggcrate, plastic tubing, etc). It may be possible that accumulation of organics underneath the base rock is contributing the the low but steady nitrate readings. Please disregard if your baserock is indeed raised....

P2B

 

Really? I thought you were supposed to rinse your carbon weekly? And then replace it every few weeks. Everyone says with the filter media you should rinse it weekly so it doesn't trap detritus in it and then replace it every few weeks. So if using carbon in my filter I am supposed to run it for a few weeks and then just chuck it and replace it?

If you pull your carbon out to rinse it, chunk it. It's no good.

For the record, I don't run carbon at all. There's no need for it in an established aquarium unless you have some sort of an emergency. I run a bit of phosguard, and that's it.

If you insist on running carbon, then run it for about a month, then chunk it and replace it. Don't even bother rinsing it out. Consider this: if you rinse it out in the sink, all you're doing is filling it up with Chlorine, Chromomine and other compounds.

Here's more food for thought: Why do you think that they pack individual packs of carbon for every replacement filter you get when you buy a pack of filters?

It's so that when you replace the filter, you replace the carbon.

NEVER, EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES reuse carbon. If you're flat broke, you're better off going without it than trying to reuse it.

Regards,
Tom

 

Tom is 100% correct. and I agree 100%.

J

 

I don't think your mushrooms are being affected by your higher nitrate level! the reason why they are shriveled up/smaller is due to the increased nutrients in your water IMO. When I do a water change, the following day, my mushrooms are always larger in size due to the decreased nutrients in your water causing them to have to open up larger to capture the limited amount of nutrients in your water now. Before I did my water change they would be smaller in size again due to the larger amound of DOM in my water.
I would remove the sponge and I wouldn't stir up your substrate too much as you create more problems in doing so, besides that doesn't do anything to rid your tank of nitrates.
I believe what you have is nitrate fixation which is the cyanobacteria in your tank which gathers dissolved nitrogen gas into their cells. thsi bacteria then releases nitrogen as ammonium when the die or decompose where they are eaten and digested by herbivores causing your nitrates to rise. What are your alkalinity and pH levels? Are you feeding too much and are you using RO/DI water for water changes?
Remember that elevated nitrate levels will spur coral growth as well as Tridacna's but will deplete your calcium level due to this.
If everything is doing well in your tank, I wouldn't worry about adjusting your nitrate level, just keep an eye on your calcium, alkalinity levels and the addition of iodine will help as well!!!!

 

Hey, I chucked my filter sponge a week ago with no ill effects. I have continued to do water changes and my test last night showed 20 so it's going down, thank god. I tested everything in the middle of the week and this was my reading:

ammo - 0
nitrites - 0
phos - 0
cal - 400
alk - 9dkh
ph - 8.4

so it seems all else is normal. Things in my tank are looking good. I had a xenia that wasn't doing good at all and I figured it was a gonner, as soon as my nitrates started lowering it started to improve and is almost looking like the others. My base rock is lighting placed on top of the substrate so it's not on the bare bottom of the tank, it's har to explain, my hubby set it up so it wasn't completly covering everything and the tufa has holes in it. I aslo supplement reef plus for the vitamins and iodine.