nitrate fix ? ?????

From what I know carbon (vodka and pellets) take quite a long time to work - I have used them and like both, but they are slow. How much nitrate? I would guess carbon takes a month or so to really work and you have to adjust the amount you use too. In a different tank I use chaeto in a fuge and have never had a nitrate problem.

 

Do you have a skimmer?

 

Chaeto, chaeto, chaeto! It works wonders. When I inherited an established tank it had nitrate over 150. After water changes to get it down to a manageable level I added chaeto and it went down to 0 and has stayed there. Not sure where your at but I have some if your interested. Otherwise you can get it at most lfs for like $10. It might take a couple weeks to take off but once it does it grows fast and consumes nitrates like crazy.

 

What's the depth on your sandbed? What kind of sand? You only have the can, so no fuge? Any macro algae in the DT?

 

Options as I see them:


1: Increase water changes (wont fix the problem but will keep levels down)

2: Decrease feeding ( less waste)

3: BioPellet reactor (will take about 30 days to get up and running, + you need to have the affluent from it dump to a skimmer)

4: Algae Turf Scrubber (will also take several weeks to become functional)

5: Organic Carbon dosing (Also takes time + can be unruly and bacterial blooms if OD'd)

I would also look at taking the canister offline eventually, it is likely trapping waste and could be contributing to the problem.

 

Chemi pur works wonders to help keep nitrates in check along with much much more. . Also as long as they dont reach over 20 ppm for a really long time you have time to get every thing in check again. Some corals are more effected then others, but most are ok for a while. Should be better with in a week if things are balanced again.

 

When was the last time the can filter was cleaned out? Those filters can start to be a 'home' for nitrates to house in. Might be time to look into a small sump so you could tumble cheato. You could also, if you wanted to play with them, get some mangroves and place them in the tank to 'eat' some of the nitrites / nitrates out of the water. I had an outbreak and my mangroves are sucking it up fast but not fast enough.

 

A sulfer denitrator works good too and not hard to build one out of PVC