Nitrate problem part 2 with pic

[Huskyguy]

still fighting the nitrate issue, it was 160 this weekend.
my 5 stage RO has TDS and it shows only 8-9ppm coming out of the last filter, its not too bad but I have noticed a lot of dirt build in the filter housing and couple of the filter has black dots build on it too. so i just ordered all new filters to my both RO units. so that should take care of that problem.
few of you guys advised me that i might have dead spot in my tank. which that means I have to move all my rocks and syphon the base of the tank. that is a lot of work that's why i didn't do it yet. on saturday when i was changing the water in the tank, I looked under the tank from the stand area and i can see that couple of the places that the crushed coral turned brown. i took pictures for you guys can see but it is a lot browner that the picture. is this the dead spot that you guys talked about?????? I am moving all my rocks and i will syphon the gravel this saturday. so hope I can fix the nitrate issue.

 

[Huskyguy]

as you guys can see in the last picture how the crushed coral is clean but not in the first 2 pictures.

 

[jahmic]

How deep is your sand bed? When you do siphon it to clean out some detritus, you will probably only want to siphon the top 1" layer of the bed; at about 2" or deeper there is anaerobic bacteria that have colonized the bed...sifting that deep sand up to the top of the tank will end up killing the bacteria (by exposing it to oxygen, as it lives in oxygen depleted areas of the tank) and can actually cause more issues as ammonia is released into the tank.

Coarser crushed coral does tend to collect detritus more than finer sand. As a result, you end up with more waste for bacteria to consume. As your bacteria colony increases in size and processes the detritus/waste from your tank, the rate of nitrate production in your tank also increases. What's likely happening now is that your tank is producing nitrates faster than your system can export them via water changes, macroalgaes, etc. Are you running a skimmer at all? Running one will help remove some of the organics from the tank before they are converted to nitrates to help get your levels down. Water changes and siphoning the top layer of your sand bed regularly will help as well. It will probably take some time to get the levels down...but just have patience and do it little by little as you don't want to shock the system.

Dead spots would be areas of your tank where flow is allowing detritus to collect on top of your bed of crushed coral. Those brown areas might be an indicator...check your tank to see what's going on just above those spots in your tank to see if you are getting detritus buildup or low flow

 

[Smiley]

might i ask what you have in terms of cuc? looks to me like you have no sand stirrers.

 

[Smiley]

actually, lets go down the list... what is your equipment list and what livestock do you have? how often are you feeding? How long are your lights running? How deep is your sandbed in DT and fuge? What do you have for cuc? Post a FTS...

I looked for a tank thread and didnt see one...

 

[Cake_Boss]

Jake, I think we need to have a good ole fashioned tank cleaning party at your place. You know, talk fish, sip lemonade, that kind of thing.

 

[Huskyguy]

I have 3 sand sifter star fish and 2 horse shoe carb. The spots were the crushed coral is bcompletly brown is under the rocks, so they have never been siphoned. There is 2 lobsters that live under the rocks that the crushed coral is brown.
I don't feed a lot, the food will be gone in less than 2 minutes. I only feed 1 time a day. White lights are on only for 8 hours.

 

[Huskyguy]

Jake, I think we need to have a good ole fashioned tank cleaning party at your place. You know, talk fish, sip lemonade, that kind of thing.

I thought fish talk is better with beer but I could be wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[reefmaster719]

Haha. It always is with some cold ones.

 

[Cake_Boss]

.

 

[Cake_Boss]

I have 3 sand sifter star fish and 2 horse shoe crabs. The spots were the crushed coral is completely brown under the rocks, so they have never been siphoned. There is 2 lobsters that live under the rocks that the crushed coral is brown.
I don't feed a lot, the food will be gone in less than 2 minutes. I only feed 1 time a day. White lights are on only for 8 hours.

No tea in a bamboo forest?

Back on topic, you can aggressively siphon cc, like the gravel on fw, to get rid of the brown.

 

[ReefCheif]

You have a crushed coral substrate? Is it large size or small size? Your substrate may be the issue all together IMO.