Denitrating Products

[sanjaypills55]

Hi guys,

Even after using a good skimmer, my nitrates are still 40-60 ppm,

My bio load is moderate & i do 5 % water change daily!

I have put some cheatos to reduce nitrates but i guess they are very slow.

Has any fellow reefers used denitrating products such as SeaChem de*Nitrate or anything similar!

How much does it cost & how affective is it?

Cause i am always in a tight budget!! he he

[ambystoma82]

Hi guys,

Even after using a good skimmer, my nitrates are still 40-60 ppm,

My bio load is moderate & i do 5 % water change daily!

I have put some cheatos to reduce nitrates but i guess they are very slow.

Has any fellow reefers used denitrating products such as SeaChem de*Nitrate or anything similar!

How much does it cost & how affective is it?

Cause i am always in a tight budget!! he he

is it some sort of office tank

hw come u dun wait erm like 4 days later then do water change?

5% is like no significant different lehz..

mayb u want to include ur livestock and skimmer brand so we can help u better?

once your tank mature the nitrate part shld b a problem..

n then hw is the nitrate affecting ur livestock?

or is it jsut the figures u r unhappy with?

[sanjaypills55]

is it some sort of office tank

hw come u dun wait erm like 4 days later then do water change?

5% is like no significant different lehz..

mayb u want to include ur livestock and skimmer brand so we can help u better?

once your tank mature the nitrate part shld b a problem..

n then hw is the nitrate affecting ur livestock?

or is it jsut the figures u r unhappy with?

Mine is a 50 Gallon low-tech tank! Running on fans (28 deg C)

No Sump (just an overflow)

Its a home Tank! At present its only a FOWLR with some mushrooms but i wanna add some coral!

But with such high nitrates, don't think any corals will survive!

Skimmer: Changed from Weipro to Reef Octopus, 3 weeks ago!

Lifestock:

1 Yellow Tang

1 Copper Band Butterfly Fish

1 Maroon Clown

1 Long Nose Hawk Fish

1 Spotted Mandrin

Cleaning Crew

2 Skunk & 1 Fire shimp, 1 Hermit & 5 Turbo Snails, 1 Tiger Cowre & Sand Sifting Star!

[Fuzzy]

Mine is a 50 Gallon low-tech tank! Running on fans (28 deg C)

No Sump (just an overflow)

Its a home Tank! At present its only a FOWLR with some mushrooms but i wanna add some coral!

But with such high nitrates, don't think any corals will survive!

Skimmer: Changed from Weipro to Reef Octopus, 3 weeks ago!

Lifestock:

1 Yellow Tang

1 Copper Band Butterfly Fish

1 Maroon Clown

1 Long Nose Hawk Fish

1 Spotted Mandrin

Cleaning Crew

2 Skunk & 1 Fire shimp, 1 Hermit & 5 Turbo Snails, 1 Tiger Cowre & Sand Sifting Star!

The easiest way to drop your nitrates along with heavy skimming would be to do a 40% - 50% water change once a week for a few weeks in a row.

If the levels still remain high something else is wrong.

How heavily are you feeding your fish?

[sanjaypills55]

The easiest way to drop your nitrates along with heavy skimming would be to do a 40% - 50% water change once a week for a few weeks in a row.

If the levels still remain high something else is wrong.

How heavily are you feeding your fish?

I used to feed one cube Frozen brine/Mysis shrimp twice a day.. now reduced it to once a day, since 2 weeks

I guess u are right, will do more percentage of water change for few weeks.

But sea salt very expensive, leh! :-)

[ambystoma82]

is there any algae bloom in ur current tank yet ?

[albinosage]

5% water change will have no visible effect on your nitrates even if it's daily

5% of 40-60ppm is only 2 to 3ppm of nitrate exported, I think the fish will poop and pollute the water faster than you can change it out.

[dnsfpl]

how about 20% monthly? will that help?

[Fuzzy]

I used to feed one cube Frozen brine/Mysis shrimp twice a day.. now reduced it to once a day, since 2 weeks

I guess u are right, will do more percentage of water change for few weeks.

But sea salt very expensive, leh! :-)

Wow yeah thats a pretty heavy feeding schedule, but you got some big appetites in there. will your fish take pellet food? maybe feed pellet and 1/2 cube, or pellet only on alternate days.

If you have the space you might want to consider building an algae scrubber also.

Yeah sea salt is not cheap but running a denitrator or using supplements like AZ-NO3 not cheap either, heh. If you have transport maybe can consider buying filtered Natural Sea Water every

one or two weeks?

[andyteh]

I am having good results with using vodka,NO3 5-10 for several months with 14 fishes(5 are big ones) and heavy feeding.

Or you can try AZ-NO3,but that is more expensive than vodka.

Denitrator will help too,but i havent go into that.

[sanjaypills55]

Vodka for fish, does the fish turn sebo...ha ha (just kiddin)

But serious does that really work!!

As i said i have reduced the feeding to one cube of frozen food in the morning & pellets at night,... but only my tangs & clown eat pellets.. others too fussy!!

Don't know if i can reduce feeding more without harming the fish!

Especially my slow eaters like my spotted mandarin

Do u guys think changing 20% in 4 weeks is better than 5% every week!

i do change 10-15% some weeks but if i do that every week... will get big hole in my pocket!!

Can see some some red algae on my live rocks.. but not too much!!

Since i have on sump, no place for algae scrubber I but i did make some space in my overflow for cheatos, hope they grow fast & reduce my nitrates.. but i guess that's wishful thinking!!

[cosmo]

[...]

How much does it cost & how affective is it?

Cause i am always in a tight budget!! he he

Go to Google and do a search on the following key words:

"DIY coil denitrator"

I just build myself one DIY unit for approx SGD70 (including buying a new power head / pump for the unit)

Managed to get a second hand FR for cheap, which makes the task much easier.

Once you get the unit properly set up, adjusted, cycled ... it works wonder, and you can save lots of money by delaying water changes.

You can get all the info you need on how to DIY it, set it up, adjust it and operating it, all from the web.

PS. one thing that most website did not mentioned is that you need to keep the unit under wraps, the bacterial cannot be exposed to light. Just in case you using a clear transparent FR too, need to cover it up.

[dnsfpl]

I am having good results with using vodka,NO3 5-10 for several months with 14 fishes(5 are big ones) and heavy feeding.

Or you can try AZ-NO3,but that is more expensive than vodka.

Denitrator will help too,but i havent go into that.

how long does it take for your to see visible result when dosing vodka?

i have been dosing daily for the past 2 months but still no drop in no3, 30-40ppm

[RockyBoy]

Try not to use vodkha or sugar if your tank is not matured enough. Might breed those non beneficial bacteria instead.

[RockyBoy]

Vodka for fish, does the fish turn sebo...ha ha (just kiddin)

But serious does that really work!!

As i said i have reduced the feeding to one cube of frozen food in the morning & pellets at night,... but only my tangs & clown eat pellets.. others too fussy!!

Don't know if i can reduce feeding more without harming the fish!

Especially my slow eaters like my spotted mandarin

Do u guys think changing 20% in 4 weeks is better than 5% every week!

i do change 10-15% some weeks but if i do that every week... will get big hole in my pocket!!

Can see some some red algae on my live rocks.. but not too much!!

Since i have on sump, no place for algae scrubber I but i did make some space in my overflow for cheatos, hope they grow fast & reduce my nitrates.. but i guess that's wishful thinking!!

Try to change water weekly if your nitrates are high. Use distilled or DI or DI/RO water instead of tap water. Tap water contain lots of stuff which will add back to your system.

Mandrin will normally eat pods in your tank, so your tank should have enough pods if you don't want your mandari to go hungry.

Good if you can make a sump to house your nitrate exposts such as cheato or algae scrubbers. If not, you need denitritrator.

[[V]tEc]

how long does it take for your to see visible result when dosing vodka?

i have been dosing daily for the past 2 months but still no drop in no3, 30-40ppm

u need a powerful skimmer for that to work.

[dnsfpl]

u need a powerful skimmer for that to work.

powerful skimmer = overskim?

I am using Reef Octopus DNW 200 for my 322 feet tank.

Recommended for aquariums up to 200 gallons.

[andyboss]

can u share more about it? as in what media do u put inside the FR and stuff? pics will be great

Go to Google and do a search on the following key words:

"DIY coil denitrator"

I just build myself one DIY unit for approx SGD70 (including buying a new power head / pump for the unit)

Managed to get a second hand FR for cheap, which makes the task much easier.

Once you get the unit properly set up, adjusted, cycled ... it works wonder, and you can save lots of money by delaying water changes.

You can get all the info you need on how to DIY it, set it up, adjust it and operating it, all from the web.

PS. one thing that most website did not mentioned is that you need to keep the unit under wraps, the bacterial cannot be exposed to light. Just in case you using a clear transparent FR too, need to cover it up.

[sanjaypills55]

My tank isnt big enough to house so many pods to keep the madrin from going hungry!!

About the denitrator!

Do u need to add bacteria & other supplements to keep the bacteria alive!

What do u guys use, & how much is the running cost?

[sanjaypills55]

My tank isnt big enough to house so many pods to keep the madrin from going hungry!!

About the denitrator!

Do u need to add bacteria & other supplements to keep the bacteria alive!

What do u guys use, & how much is the running cost?

Sorry, i was a little confused!!

The Coil denitrator doesn't require supplements.

I saw a good website with details on how to construct it!

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/diydenitr...oildenitrat.htm

[sanjaypills55]

Coil Denitrator Sounds very diificult to construct & use...

So from now on will follow a new regime!!

Will feed half a cube of frozen food for morning & balance half at night! (that goes for my fresh water tank too)

Will do 10-15% weekly water changes for few weeks & see whether the Nitrates reduce!

What do u guys think?

Open for more suggestions!!

[andyteh]

how long does it take for your to see visible result when dosing vodka?

i have been dosing daily for the past 2 months but still no drop in no3, 30-40ppm

Hi,

I think after 1 month,I see a drop in nitrates from 25+ to 10.

I have been dosing for 5 months already,the NO3 is maintained at 5-10.You have to increase the dosage till it drops,it works but a good skimmer is needed though.

You can search Reefcentral for more information.

Cheers

[dnsfpl]

Hi,

I think after 1 month,I see a drop in nitrates from 25+ to 10.

I have been dosing for 5 months already,the NO3 is maintained at 5-10.You have to increase the dosage till it drops,it works but a good skimmer is needed though.

You can search Reefcentral for more information.

Cheers

thanks bro

[sanjaypills55]

Has any bro's have any 1st hand experience in adding sugar!

How much do u add! Does it work?

[[V]tEc]

Has any bro's have any 1st hand experience in adding sugar!

How much do u add! Does it work?

sugar work the same way as vodka. u need a gd skimmer for this method to work. i was using vodka but seem like no effect. then i switch to sugar n notice my NO3 dropping within 2 wks. but for dosing, u have to increase ur dosage slowly. i started with 1/2 tsp for my 450L tank. started to c no3 drop when i increase to 2 tsp after a couple of days. but dose with care for both vodka n sugar. it can reduce ur NO3 but at the same time if u overdose, it can crash ur system. right now i using denitrator so stopped using dosing liao.