How do "You" control nitrates?
- Thread starter isde02
- Start date
I vacuum daily and perform my water changes religiously.
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I've been trying out an algae scrubber for few months now. Once the string algae started growing, my nitrates measure all over.
System is 125g with several large brown comets/carp and two full grown RES turtles. Lot of mess.
Throughout the week my nitrates go up to 10-20ppm then by weekend don't read anything. Then on Sunday, as per the algae turf scrubber rules, I have to clean all the hair algae off and it begins to build up over 7 days again. I know some people have 2 ats and clean them 3 days apart to avoid this, but that's too much work and I'm not 100% sold on it already. I'm burning 2 bulbs on each side of it for 18hrs a day, evaporating water like there's a hole in the sump and had 3 major leaks on the carpet from squirting fits.
I may take it off and see how long it takes for the nitrates to hit 100ppm, decide if that's too frequent for wc and revisit ats in different style or use purigen and time it's life before cleanings.
My outdoor pond is a sweetheart and I've never read nitrates or harmful toxins from the nitrogen cycle since it matured 5 yrs ago. It's completely rocked in over the liner with boulders, rocks & rubble. Nice layer of short carpet algae over every light-facing inch, long hair algae running down the stream bed (I remove 75% every few weeks) and surface is almost completely covered by lily pads.
My two 3g nanos get water changes. Fw with yellowtail guppies is thickly planted so it's become more stable. Even though it's above the kitchen sink and RO faucet, I hope the weekly wc go to bi-weekly.
Then SW fowlr pico still cycling with weekly wc. I plan on using purigen with weekly to biweekly wc
Setups aside, in my experience algae is the best way to reduce nitrates followed by chemical then plants. The reason I put plants last isn't because they can't do the job, they do great, but because they don't give the same bang for your buck as free algae and need prunings and removals before they add more toxins from decay. Plus heavily planted tanks release a lot of natural and safe toxins that bounce around parameters and also co2 & o2 levels. So does algae but you only need 1 inch of algae per 10 gallons. So my 13x11" algae scrubber simply can not take enough o2 out of the water at night for my fish to notice vs equally efficient amount of plants that would take up a large mass in the tank or sump
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System is 125g with several large brown comets/carp and two full grown RES turtles. Lot of mess.
Throughout the week my nitrates go up to 10-20ppm then by weekend don't read anything. Then on Sunday, as per the algae turf scrubber rules, I have to clean all the hair algae off and it begins to build up over 7 days again. I know some people have 2 ats and clean them 3 days apart to avoid this, but that's too much work and I'm not 100% sold on it already. I'm burning 2 bulbs on each side of it for 18hrs a day, evaporating water like there's a hole in the sump and had 3 major leaks on the carpet from squirting fits.
I may take it off and see how long it takes for the nitrates to hit 100ppm, decide if that's too frequent for wc and revisit ats in different style or use purigen and time it's life before cleanings.
My outdoor pond is a sweetheart and I've never read nitrates or harmful toxins from the nitrogen cycle since it matured 5 yrs ago. It's completely rocked in over the liner with boulders, rocks & rubble. Nice layer of short carpet algae over every light-facing inch, long hair algae running down the stream bed (I remove 75% every few weeks) and surface is almost completely covered by lily pads.
My two 3g nanos get water changes. Fw with yellowtail guppies is thickly planted so it's become more stable. Even though it's above the kitchen sink and RO faucet, I hope the weekly wc go to bi-weekly.
Then SW fowlr pico still cycling with weekly wc. I plan on using purigen with weekly to biweekly wc
Setups aside, in my experience algae is the best way to reduce nitrates followed by chemical then plants. The reason I put plants last isn't because they can't do the job, they do great, but because they don't give the same bang for your buck as free algae and need prunings and removals before they add more toxins from decay. Plus heavily planted tanks release a lot of natural and safe toxins that bounce around parameters and also co2 & o2 levels. So does algae but you only need 1 inch of algae per 10 gallons. So my 13x11" algae scrubber simply can not take enough o2 out of the water at night for my fish to notice vs equally efficient amount of plants that would take up a large mass in the tank or sump
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Beyond weekly maintenance, I've used Red Mangroves as natural filtration for nitrates and the such. They will grow well in freshwater, brackish and salt. If you float them on the surface and give them 6 months +, the roots will create a nice refuge and look cool too.
You’re pretty inexperienced obviously, 100% water changes are accomplished with a DRIP SYSTEM.
buddy, what evidence do you have of this? most zoos aquariums have nitrate readings of 800ppm +. fact is, nitrate won’t kill fish instantly, it is very slow, therefore it’s disregarded.
Doesnt the bacteria and what not on the bio filtration help wit amonnia and nitrates n what not too?
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