Have a huge problem with nitrates and phosphates

B

BillyD

New member
I've done numerous large water changes and running GFO and NPX pellets in 150 reactors. What else can I possibly do? I'm resulting in trapping fish and selling.
 
A wise man [MENTION=1971]jayjerk[/MENTION] once advised me to use lanthium chloride to bring my phosphate down. In two weeks it went from .9 ppm to undetectable.


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Ive been doing alot of research on phosphate rx. Same thing as what vucious is reccomending from what I understand you have to keep an eye on your alk cause lanthium chloride also binds to carbonates. But the plus side everyone who has used it has seen great results at keeping phosphates down.
 
Bigger ? What is causing the high phosphates and nitrates , how long is the tank been running , how much do you feed? Gfo and bio pellets will only do so much , what are the tds on your water, need to find the root cause. Over feeding is one of the biggest issues us reefers have to deal with, it is very hard to control ourselves to walk by the tank and not throw a little food in there.



Tom
 
ultimatemj said:
What's huge?
I've seen some some "big numbers":hypnotoad:
View attachment 8336


P04 was 1.35 at the time!
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How long has the tank been up and did you reuse sand or rock? What animals are in the tank? What size tank? My suggestion would be that you should not remove all of the animals because you want to keep the bacteria cycle going.

One last thought, what is the expiration date on your test kit and have you tried testing with a different type of kit?

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If possible, feed ever other day for a week or 2 to see of that does anything. . When I had a huge problem was my live rock leaching phosphates and that didn't help nitrates I got rid of it bit by bit till I had new rock from solid LFS and that did it. Also and this is my personal experience I haven't done a water change in a year, I have sps, lps, anemone and go # of fish, I give a cap full of vodka every night for carbon which helps with nitrates and I run GFO with a dual BRS reactor and BRS GFO. I feed heavy 2 - 3 times a day
 
chriz2 said:
Your bioload is probably enormous
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that's what she said

on a related note, a bag of Seachem Denitrate, weekly dosing of bacteria, a GFO reactor running RowaPhos, and wet-skimming keeps my levels down...in fact, i think my nutrients are too low considering both are undetectable and might start effecting my sps...i've even started feeding everyday and added more fish...i have 7 fish now in a 34 gallon and they all eat and poop like champs...still no nitrates/phophates detectable

carbon dosing works too but you gotta be careful about throwing your nitrate/phosphate levels off balance too much...it's a good way to get dino blooms
 
So, IMO, the root cause of your high nutrients needs to be determined first. You should not have high nutrients running pellets and gfo. You need to answer how many fish you have, how big is your tank, how much/often do you feed and how long have the pellets been running.
Throwing random cures in your direction (ie "treating") before there is a diagnosis is as backwards as a doctor performing surgery before taking your temperature...
 
EricTheRed said:
So, IMO, the root cause of your high nutrients needs to be determined first. You should not have high nutrients running pellets and gfo. You need to answer how many fish you have, how big is your tank, how much/often do you feed and how long have the pellets been running.
Throwing random cures in your direction (ie "treating") before there is a diagnosis is as backwards as a doctor performing surgery before taking your temperature...
Click to expand...

+1
 
EricTheRed said:
So, IMO, the root cause of your high nutrients needs to be determined first. You should not have high nutrients running pellets and gfo. You need to answer how many fish you have, how big is your tank, how much/often do you feed and how long have the pellets been running.
Throwing random cures in your direction (ie "treating") before there is a diagnosis is as backwards as a doctor performing surgery before taking your temperature...
Click to expand...

+1
 
EricTheRed said:
So, IMO, the root cause of your high nutrients needs to be determined first. You should not have high nutrients running pellets and gfo. You need to answer how many fish you have, how big is your tank, how much/often do you feed and how long have the pellets been running.
Throwing random cures in your direction (ie "treating") before there is a diagnosis is as backwards as a doctor performing surgery before taking your temperature...
Click to expand...

+1

That said, consider vinegar dosing. It is a long-term tool that I have found very effective, but won't address your immediate issue.
 
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