Nitrate issues / Vinegar not working

truperc

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I have been adding Vinegar for 6 months now. I have tried to be patient but I still have Nitrates consistently above 25ppm. I have a 180 gallon tank and another 40 gallons of water in my sump. I have increased the vinegar to 175ml per day. I am scared to do any more than that. The fish and coral seem to be ok still but I don't know what I am doing wrong. Should I be trying a different carbon source? If I do, would I decrease the amount of vinegar at the same time? I have read different carbon sources promote different bacteria. Is that True? Any help would be appreciated. I don't have algae issues and my phosphates are above 1ppm. I have tested other tanks with the test kit and they are reading less than 2ppm, so I know the kit is working correctly.

This tank was set up a year ago when I transferred the contents from my 120 over to the new tank. I never had issues with nitrate in the old tank.
 

71xlch

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Why are you afraid to dose more? I will say you need to find where the nitrates are coming from as well. If it was from detritus buidlup. Removing it will go a long way.
 
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truperc

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I have cleaned up all the detritus I could find and I don't feed that much. I am confused as to where they are coming from. What would you say is a safe amount of vinegar to dose daily is? I thought I was dosing a lot more than most people that have had success in reducing nitrates. I thought I should have seen results long ago.
 

71xlch

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My experience was 8 weeks to 0 so it's odd your not having luck. I was adding about 50ml in 70 gallons. Have you blown off your rocks with a turkey baster or powerhead ever? According to Randy's article he hit 2ml per gallon before seeing negative effects. Which for him was 410ml.
 

Waterjockey

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You are less than 1ml per gallon. I wouldn't call that a "high" dosing amount, you likely haven't hit the amount you need to start reducing nitrates yet.
 

BoneXriffic

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1ml per gallon is a starting point....youre barley there....i ramped to 3ml per gallon and found a balance.

Sounds like you have some debris hiding in sump or rock work, stuff is decaying somewhere.

What test kits do you use and how old are they?
 

brandon429

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this is why people go bare bottom

either you have a high fish bioload, or you have a sandbed + good fish bioload is that right assumption?

dredge out a little water sample from the bottom most layer of the sandbed with a siphon hose tied to the end of a stick or dowel or hunting arrow and poke the tube down to the bottom, siphon out some mud and test it for nitrate compared to the cleaner topwater after the dredge sample sits for two hours, let it sit before testing (this is what wastewater engineers do for biological oxygen demand testing in nitrification samples, it needs the sitting time to reveal potential N contributions)


I bet its 100 ppm in the sand if applicable, and the locus for the main contributor in many cases.
 

jenreefer

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I have been adding Vinegar for 6 months now. I have tried to be patient but I still have Nitrates consistently above 25ppm. I have a 180 gallon tank and another 40 gallons of water in my sump. I have increased the vinegar to 175ml per day. I am scared to do any more than that. The fish and coral seem to be ok still but I don't know what I am doing wrong. Should I be trying a different carbon source? If I do, would I decrease the amount of vinegar at the same time? I have read different carbon sources promote different bacteria. Is that True? Any help would be appreciated. I don't have algae issues and my phosphates are above 1ppm. I have tested other tanks with the test kit and they are reading less than 2ppm, so I know the kit is working correctly.

This tank was set up a year ago when I transferred the contents from my 120 over to the new tank. I never had issues with nitrate in the old tank.
You can try mixing vinegar, vodka, and sugar. (got recipe from a friend). It is closer to nopox I think. You can dose much more than you are dosing.
I agree with blasting your rocks if you are not already doing that.
 

cperry7467

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Before dumping more in the tank, have you gotten a 2nd test from anyone else? Have your LFS test it and double check your number to rule out a bad test kit.
 
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truperc

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Thank you everyone for all the input! I am glad to hear I can increase the vinegar more. I will work to get rid of any more detritus. I just bought a new test kit so I know it's working. I will update you with my progress. Thanks again.
 

AcroNem

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Alright I'll say it, call me crazy but I'm going to say it...just do water changes. Start vacuuming your sand and just do water changes. That's a surefire way to export nitrates. No need to mess with all these risky ways of dealing with it.
 

Umair

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Thank you everyone for all the input! I am glad to hear I can increase the vinegar more. I will work to get rid of any more detritus. I just bought a new test kit so I know it's working. I will update you with my progress. Thanks again.
Hi matey, any update please?
Since i'm going thru a very similar phase would like to know if you were successful in the end
 
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truperc

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Hi matey, any update please?
Since i'm going thru a very similar phase would like to know if you were successful in the end
Yes I was successful, I kept increasing the vinegar and eventually it came down. Don't be afraid to keep upping the dose. It will work.
 

reeferfoxx

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Not sure if it was asked and I don't think I saw mentioned but are you running a skimmer? Also, have you considered running kalk to help bind phosphates?
 

reeferfoxx

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Shoot. Nevermind this is an old thread. Sorry :oops:
 

Umair

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Yes I was successful, I kept increasing the vinegar and eventually it came down. Don't be afraid to keep upping the dose. It will work.

Thanks for the update bud!

I have a 200 gal tank and have increased dosing from 0.5ml/gal to 1ml/gal over two weeks after reading this thread. Will increase further if required.

My nitrates are between 50-100ppm.
 
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