Upgrade time !

[Craigdillman]

I'm getting a doser here soon but until I get it all set up

[Craigdillman]

Well nitrates still sky high say 30-40 I'm doing a 75g water change as we speak and that should be around 50-60% of total water volume then I'm going to head out for the weekend and do another big % water change when I get back on Tuesday and go from there if this don't fix it idk what will

Still dosing the vinegar slowly no problems yet but no results either

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Craigdillman

Well nitrates still sky high say 30-40 I'm doing a 75g water change as we speak and that should be around 50-60% of total water volume then I'm going to head out for the weekend and do another big % water change when I get back on Tuesday and go from there if this don't fix it idk what will

Still dosing the vinegar slowly no problems yet but no results either

Vinegar takes about 4weeks to work and longer if you have high levels.


I'm not sure where your getting e numbers to dose but with vinegar you really don't need to gradual rise slowly , randy says 15ml per 100g of wat and double this weekly up until around 45ml

I do this and have gotten countless others to use this recipe

1ml per gall for 7 days
2 ml per gallon for 7 days
3 ml per gallon for 7 days
4 ml per gallon for 7 days

Repeat and raise as necessary , once nitrates hit zero then start to cut back in half increments , so if you make it to 5ml per gallon , then the next week drop down to 4.5 then week later to 4 then to 3.5 etc. this is to find your maintenance dose as the dosages to bring the levels down will be higher then it is to maintain them when they are lower

If you need to miss three days simple go back to the week before when you start again

Good luck

[Craigdillman]

Ok awesome thanks maybe I started too slow when I'm back I'll ramp it up and see how it reacts

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Craigdillman

Ok awesome thanks maybe I started too slow when I'm back I'll ramp it up and see how it reacts

Oh and adding it to your ato is fine as long as its not sitting in the h2o for longer thn 3-5 days after that it's useless

[Craigdillman]

Thanks for the help never had water issues like this must have just been the new fish and pump and not keeping up with my bigger %wc

[reefwars]

And it's evidence that the water changes for removal of nitrates are only masking the bigger issues , if your nutrient rise is greater than what you remove then you'll slowly accumulate. Something as simple as 0.5ppm is 3.5ppm in a week and 7 in two and so on and so on. Sometimes the rise is so small it takes months to even notice you've been going up.

Adding more nitrogen sources simply speeds all this up more so.

Water changes have great advantages but I don't consider nutrient export one of them maybe a bonus to be had but certainly not it's best feature

You'll get there attack in small battles and wear your enemy down step by step, there's no rush to do this unless you feel the tanks inhabitants are in danger or decline

Good luck buddy

Denny