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RomaFan
01-07-2014, 06:06 PM
Hi everyone, I could for sure use some help.I have a biocube 14 that has been up and running for over a year now, its a berlin setup with sps and two percs. The Sand bed is about 3 inches deep, with 25lbs of live rock. I have a lfs back pack skimmer and radon lighting.
Parameters a re as follows:

SG35 ppt
Temp 73F
Cal 500 ppm
Mg 1500 ppm
Alk 10.2 dKH
Nitrites 0
Nitrates >60ppm
Ammonia 0 ppm
Po4 0.03 ppm

I have been battiling very high nitrates for about a month now, I have done every other day water changes, I have been using red sea NoPOX, to no avail. I have looked for dead debris and not standing water, there is very good flow. I am at a lost with this. I have been thinking if this could cause my problem:

I have a pistol shrimp and he is moving sand everywhere every night. Keeps digging and making tunnels, and with a small footprint can this cause the high nitrates? Needless to say my sps are not very happy and neither am I. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

craigwmiller
01-07-2014, 06:11 PM
What is your fresh water source?

If you are using an RO/DI unit, when was the last time the filters & DI were changed? And what is the TDS reading after the RO and then after the DI stages?

sphelps
01-07-2014, 06:32 PM
The tank is only 14 gallons so it would be really easy just to change 100% of the water. This is a common approach for small nano aquariums and can be used as a long term maintenance plan or a temporary solution for nitrates and other contaminants.

Some links you may find useful
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/4/aquarium
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/

Also I'll note your temperature is quite low for an SPS tank. In addition with lower temperatures you'll likely see more fluctuations due to external temperatures.

RomaFan
01-07-2014, 06:53 PM
I check my ro/di water paramters before I mix the salt and after with neglagable parameters, so thats not where its coming from. Changing all the water? how would my corals do under those circumstances?

craigwmiller
01-07-2014, 06:57 PM
Most corals can handle significant amounts of time out of water. Walking/snorkling the beach in Hawaii personally confirms this -- many corals are exposed to the air/sun for HOURS each day.

I would just make sure you have the make-up water ready, and then just do it.

IMPORTANT though, is not to disturb your sandbed - since anything in there would get stirred up.



Regarding the deep sand bed releasing nutrients, this is likely the case also. There are many thoughts on the matter, but personally I prefer a shallow sandbed (1-1.5"), which I then have a sleeper goby to constantly stir it up to keep things clean and nutrient-free. If you are interested in removing/cleaning your sand -- I would recommend doing it SLOWLY so not to disturb it too much and release many nutrients too quick. Say remove a cup every few days/etc. If you do it gradually enough, you should not have an issue.

Proteus
01-07-2014, 06:58 PM
Did you keep the foam inserts in back of tank if there is any. If so organics fills up the foam and will make nitrates.

RomaFan
01-07-2014, 07:03 PM
Everything is removed from the compartments in the back. I only have a heater and intake and return from the skimmer. The only thing that is really disturbing the sand bed is the pistol shrimp.

Proteus
01-07-2014, 07:09 PM
I would then consider removing most of the sand as Craig said.

neoh
01-07-2014, 09:11 PM
I had 30~ppm nitrates for a long time. I was recommended Nitra-Guard Bio Cubes from J&L, and within a week my nitrates were down to between 5-10ppm (which I like to keep it there.)

http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/store_pages/product-info.php?product_ID=plb-ng0500

Works pretty well! Just put them in a bag and throw them in the back!

craigwmiller
01-07-2014, 09:13 PM
I had 30~ppm nitrates for a long time. I was recommended Nitra-Guard Bio Cubes from J&L, and within a week my nitrates were down to between 5-10ppm (which I like to keep it there.)

http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/store_pages/product-info.php?product_ID=plb-ng0500

Works pretty well! Just put them in a bag and throw them in the back!


The only caution I would have to this method is that if you don't remove the source of nitrates they will come back. Be it source water, sand bed, filter floss, over feeding, etc.

In RomaFan's case, water is already being changed and it's not helping, so the source is very active and removing the source needs to happen first, then a massive water change afterwards!

neoh
01-07-2014, 11:55 PM
The only caution I would have to this method is that if you don't remove the source of nitrates they will come back. Be it source water, sand bed, filter floss, over feeding, etc.

In RomaFan's case, water is already being changed and it's not helping, so the source is very active and removing the source needs to happen first, then a massive water change afterwards!

This is very true.

If it were me, I would vacuum up as much of the sand as I could, while removing it, then complete a 90% waterchange.

High nitrates like that in such a small system should be manageable.

Have you checked the nitrates of the water out of the tap?

asylumdown
01-08-2014, 01:59 AM
One of the reasons why I've never really been in love with the Berlin method is that it relies on something completely out of your control to deal with the nitrates. In principal, the idea that nitrate will diffuse in to anaerobic areas inside your live rock sounds good, but not all rocks are created equal, even if they look practically identical. There's no way of quantifying how effective your specific pieces of live rock are going to be at processing nitrate in advance, or how that capacity might change over time. If your'e lucky, you'll get awesome rock that can denitrify till the cows come home, or you might get rock that was only ever so-so at it due to the internal microscopic structure, with pore spaces that eventually get clogged up with dead bacterial mulm, pushing crowding out the anaerobes. Also, you can have great live rock but still be over-stocking/feeding relative to it's capacity, but the only way to find out if that's the case is to wind up in the position you're in now.

Very simply, the bioload in your tank combined with the amount you feed is greater than your aquarium's capacity to reduce nitrate to NO2 gas. I'm not suggesting you feed less or get rid of any livestock, but I do think you need to try and figure out a system for dealing with nitrates that's more intentional and controllable than just relying on the live rock.

You're using NoPOX? do you also have a skimmer? Have you tried dosing NoPOX in conjunction with a bacterial supplement like Microbacter7?

On a small tank like that you should be able to control them using just water changes, but to do that you need to figure out how quickly your nitrate levels are rising. The easiest way to do that would be to do a water change (I'd err on the side of a large water change), then immediately measure your nitrate levels. Measure your nitrate levels again one week later, and if they have gone up by say 20%, then you'll need to be doing more than a 20% weekly water change to keep them under control using just water changes alone. If they go up by 50%, then you'll need to be doing at least a 50% water change every week just to keep them 'stable'.

I'm a big fan of 90-100% water changes on small systems. Rather than messing with water chemistry, they let you just reset it completely. I ran my pico like that for months and it thrived, and plan on running it that way again now that it's set up.

JmeJReefer
01-08-2014, 02:55 AM
that sand bed sound suspect. DSB's have inherent problemo's.....