Water chemistry is creeping...

Picasso

Seahorse Whisperer
My nitrates are creeping upward. This is a constant problem for me. What can I do to keep them down?

Also, my ph is low. I've never had this problem, how do you get it up?

Thanks,
Catherine
 
From what I understand, nitrates don't go away unless you have a fuge with chaeto or do water changes. My 45g has a fuge, and I only do water changes every 6 weeks or so just to refresh it...but never because nitrates are up. It's constantly at 0. Is this for the pony tank? Dunno about the ph part :) That's beyond my comprehension ;)
 
Just keep doing water changes for your nitrates Catherine.Thats the quickest way to get them down.
On your PH,Whats your alkalinity? If your dosing for alkalinity,what ARE yoou dosing?
 
Yote, how much water can you change at a time without starting a cycle?

Not dosing for alkalinity. I'll do another test tomorrow and give you the numbers.

It seems like my nitrates always want to creep up and I don't really know why.

Catherien
 
Catherine it is possible nowadays, as there are many medications which can help you get it up.

Well on his way to 20 K:mrgreen:

But everyone has you covered. Nitrates just build up unless you remove them. Either fuge or water change.

And to keep pH up, you might have to start dosing. The coraline and corals eat up the calcium and magnesium to build their skeletons.
 
Good flow is also very important for keeping nitrates low. With low flow, detritus is more likely to settle on the rock and sand.
 
another thing to think about re: the pH question is, it's winter time, so your home is probably not getting a lot of fresh air in it. this results in less oxygen in the air, so your tank has less dissolved oxygen, which will cause more dissolved CO2 and a drop in pH. Before dosing, I'd put an airstone in your sump, or run an airline from outside (via a window or somethin) into your protein skimmer air intake.

I'd suspect this phenomenon is a likely culprit in your case, because you haven't seen pH problems before, and it's a slow change.

As for the 'trates, short of having a place for anerobic bacteria to grow, you can't get rid of them without growing macroalgae or water changes. In nature, the bacteria that convert nitrates to nitrogen gas can't do so in oxygen-rich environments, so we don't usually get them in our tanks. I prefer throwing some chaeto in the sump, personally-- seems to remove nitrates pretty well, and I sell a chunk of chaeto to my LFS every month. :) good luck!
 
Keeping excess nutrients out of the aquarium water is one key element in reducing your NO3. As you may know, dirty bio ball media if you have any become a nitrate factory,There are many other things that can add excess nutrients into your tank like some commercial foods which may contain undesirable things like nitrates, phosphates etc. Using , RO/DI water, a high quality salt with no NO3, phosphates etc like Tropic Marin or similar good quality salt will help. Good salts also generally have a stronger buffering capacity that help reduce swings in pH.
 
Back
Top