High Nitrates

[gclackum]

I need help. I have a 125 gal using a wet/dry. I can't keep my Nitrates down. I am running a skimmer in the sump, seems to be doing a pretty good job. How much skim should a skimmer skim :yes:? I have heard on numerous occasions that I should remove the bio balls. Ok so I am going to remove the bio balls. So how many at a time? How much time between removals? What do I replace them with? Do I remove them all? Do I remove them all before I replace the with what ever? Are there any negative impacts that I need to weigh before I do it. Thanks in advance for your help.

George

 

[broreefr]

I Believe you understand your problem and have already figured out the best solution. The Bio Balls usually host nitrates and will probably cause you continual problems. I never used them but I read you should take them out slowly over a few weeks to allow time for the system to adjust (I would take then all out at once if it were my system). As long as you have suffient live rock and flow in the tank. The other cause could be over feeding, which I myself have a hard time NOT doing. there are other factors involved in high nitrates but this is what I would address first.

 

[glxtrix]

i dont think there is any issue with pulling all of them out at the same time, least thats what i would do. Do that and a 20% water change and you should be on track to low nitrates very soon.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

I am going to disagree here. You do not remove all the balls at once. That would be like removing all your sand and expecting there not to be a shift in what stability. The bacteria need to grow elsewhere. You remove about 25% a week. I use my wet dry as a sump. I store extra live rock in there where I can, but have not ran it with bio-balls in a while. I have known a few people to try to pull out all the balls at once and it had very bad effects. Take it slow, like anything else in this hobby and do not shock the system if you do not need to.

 

[showtime305]

Xyzpdq0121 wrote: I am going to disagree here. You do not remove all the balls at once. That would be like removing all your sand and expecting there not to be a shift in what stability. The bacteria need to grow elsewhere. You remove about 25% a week. I use my wet dry as a sump. I store extra live rock in there where I can, but have not ran it with bio-balls in a while. I have known a few people to try to pull out all the balls at once and it had very bad effects. Take it slow, like anything else in this hobby and do not shock the system if you do not need to.

This is the way to do it. How much live rock do you have in the tank at the moment?

 

[broreefr]

Broreefr wrote: I never used them but I read you should take them out slowly over a few weeks to allow time for the system to adjust (I would take then all out at once if it were my system). As long as you have suffient live rock and flow in the tank.

I do "kinda" agree with you guys ~ but to play devil's advocate ~ if you have these things in your sump(which is in itself a sort of separate system), and they have become a nitrate host, they are probably not helping as much as they are hurting, so why slowly take away what may be slowly poisoning your system. I believe cleaning that sump up and coming in with some fresh water and maybe some rock in the sump would add an immediate positive in filtration on the system.

Why not take away the problem immediatly??

Xyzpdq0121 wrote: I have known a few people to try to pull out all the balls at once and it had very bad effects.

Brandon what bad effects ?

 

[showtime305]

I believe that by removing all of the bio-balls you are removing a large amount of the nitrifying bacteria present in the tank. Without reducing the bio-load, this would cause the an ammonia spike, which would be more harmful than the high nitrates. As the bio-balls are removed they should be replaced with live rock to help counter the nitrifying bacteria loss.

 

[gclackum]

I have around 75 lbs of live rock and around 2.5" live sand. My Ammonia and nitrite levels always show 0. My flow probably is moderate.

 

[showtime305]

I would definately add more live rock while removing the bio-balls.

 

[broreefr]

Showtime305 wrote: I believe that by removing all of the bio-balls you are removing a large amount of the nitrifying bacteria present in the tank. Without reducing the bio-load, this would cause the an ammonia spike, which would be more harmful than the high nitrates. As the bio-balls are removed they should be replaced with live rock to help counter the nitrifying bacteria loss.

I think that is a good point because these balls have been in the system long enough that they do indeed have helpful bacteria present and this bacteria does to a point remove nitrates. but if we are discussing the removal of them, then that must mean they somehow now have more have harmful nitrates being released in the tank than the artificial filter created by these balls can handle.

I do admit that traditional logic says slowly remove them, I just dont agree with traditional logic in this case. If you were to suddenly discontinue use of your sump, that would not negatively impact the system, so how is removing a sump, or exchanging one with good quality water going to impact negatively. Ammonia spikes usually come from dead livestock the cleanup crew cant get or uneaten food that decays

 

[ms_ k]

Whichever route you choose, I would definitely advise replacing the bioballs with liverock or rubble. It could even be base rock for that matter, but I think that in your situation "live" would be better. Not necessarily pretty, but live. The wet/dry (aside from my fuge) is where I throw all of my little chunks of rock that won't look good in the main display.

Perhaps you can find a happy medium and take out the rock a little faster than 25% per week, but still not all at once. Maybe 1/3 or 1/2. Replace it with live rock. A week later, take out the rest and replace with live rock. Another option to help in the mean time is to use a product called de-nitrate. It will help with any nitrate/nitrite problems you might experience during the transition. Good luck!!!

 

[showtime305]

In this case, the tank may see an ammonia spike because there may not be enough nitrifying bacteria remaining to convert the amount of ammonia currently being produced. Ammonia is always being produced in our systems it goes undetected because the nitrifying bacteria colonies are strong and stable.

 

[broreefr]

Nitrates in the Reef Aquarium - Nice article By Dr Randy Holmes Farley