# Don't know what to do



## sooley19 (Jan 7, 2009)

So here is the deal.. My nitrates are at 20ppm, my ammonia is at 0ppm my nitrites are at 0ppm.. My phosphates are at 0.36.. I can't get my nitrates or my phosphates to drop down to where they should be.. Yes I have a skimmer, I have fed my tank once in the last week and it was minimal.. I have a refugium with chaeto and 3 mangroves in there.. I'm running out of ideas of what could be the reasoning for this.. My fish are fine.. My corals are fine except for my elegance (not buying any more corals like that again) Any body have any ideas of how to figure this out it would be amazing.. And saying to do water changes aren't doing anything for me.. I've changed the water twice in the last 2 weeks and I've changed 20% each time and it's still the same


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## darthvictor (Aug 16, 2011)

Did you check if you have any dead snail?


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## Bayinaung (Feb 24, 2012)

If your skimmer is working good have you tried the vodka method to get the phosphate down?


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## sooley19 (Jan 7, 2009)

I don't have any dead snails.. The ones that I had are gone and eaten by my hermit crabs and starfish.. My skimmer is working fine.. I have had the same phosphate level for 3 weeks and it hasn't changed at all.. I haven't tried vodka dosing because I am not too sure how it is properly done.. If you have any info on how to do it I'm more than willing to try new things to bring down my levels.. Has anyone else tried the vodka dosing and could let me know how it works?


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## Ctp416 (Nov 23, 2011)

I also couldn`t get my nitrates below 10 to 20 ppm and tried Vodka dosing with great results. Takes a month or two of slowly increasing the dosage before you get the tank stable and haven`t seen a nitrate since. If I had to do it again I think I would look for another solution as I now have to dose 5ml a day and also had a red slim out break but now everything is good. 
This link tells you how to do it...
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/


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## sooley19 (Jan 7, 2009)

thanks a lot for the link. I really do appreciate it. Is there a certain type that i must use and would i be able to just stop using it as soon as i see my results reach the desired level? i will definately look into trying it out.. i just want to be certain that this will help out.. i heard it does a really good job but i just want to make sure that i am putting the right thing into my system without having an effect later on.. i was going to purchase a phosphate reactor and see if that would do the trick but i am looking at atleast 150 for all the parts and everything..

what would you suggest is better.. and would it be better and cheaper to get the reactor rather than purchasing the vodka to deplete the levels?

Im just trying to get my tank healthy where i can have my corals grow and everything looking good like everyone else..


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## fesso clown (Nov 15, 2011)

phosphate reactor is a good idea. I run a two little fishes reactor, it's a bit cheaper but seems to work just fine. they come up in the classifieds every now and then too. I think they are only about $60-70 new. 
I started vinegar dosing about couple months ago, same principle as vodka, less consentraited and supposedly less chance of a cyano outbreak. if you start to carbon dose take it really slow, build up over a month or 2. there is a chart in that article that cpt416 posted. I followed that.


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## sooley19 (Jan 7, 2009)

oh okay sounds good.. im just curious as i have no idea what vodka to use or as in your case fesso clown you said vinegar.. what do i use for it? is there a certain type to use like all this info would be amazing and much appreciative


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## fesso clown (Nov 15, 2011)

Basically vodka or vinegar is a form of carbon dosing, similar to running bio-pellets. It adds a carbon source for benifficial bacteria to really grow to help eat up N+P. 
I thought this was the article that was linked earlier. Here is the one I followed. 
Here's the link:
http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/116-vinegar-dosing-methodology-for-the-marine-aquarium

Also try googling or searching "carbon dosing" on Reef Central


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## Ctp416 (Nov 23, 2011)

sooley19 said:


> oh okay sounds good.. im just curious as i have no idea what vodka to use or as in your case fesso clown you said vinegar.. what do i use for it? is there a certain type to use like all this info would be amazing and much appreciative


The link I posted will answer all these questions. I really recommend that you read it before you dose carbon....


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## sooley19 (Jan 7, 2009)

Yeah I have done partial reading up on vodka dosing but never really read in depth about it because I hadn't really thought it was an option.. I have done a lot of research on different things so I will look more into the vodka dosing to see if it would be a suitable task for me to do to help out my system.. I am waiting for my other test kits to be delivered that is for alkalinity and magnesium as I have seen those are 2 very big ions in saltwater help with corals am I correct on this assumption?


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

What kind of tank is it, and how big?

Is there a lot of debris in the tank, under the rock, in the back chambers, etc?

Is the rock old rock - ie, from someone else "used"?

Is there substrate? What kind, how deep? Do you clean it?

Instead of only solutions, for nutrient issues, getting the the source of the issue is important or else you're always going to be using band aid solutions. If you can get to the reason, you might not need a lot of extra work


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## warfanax (Mar 5, 2012)

From 40ppm nitrates to 0.2ppm within 3 months period. I started with Vodka but switched to vinegar because you can put vinegar to you kalkwasser to make it dissolve better. 2 birds with 1 stone


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## sooley19 (Jan 7, 2009)

the tank is 75 gallons.. everything that is under the rock work seems to get stirred up quite a bit by my cuc and my power heads.. the substrate is crushed coral and it is about 75 pounds of it.. it is about 1" deep at least, some spots more than that.. i never personally clean the substrate because it is always getting moved by my cuc and power heads.. the rock that i am using is from my existing tank that i had up and running for about 2 years and i purshased other live rock that was in an established tank as well for a few years.. i've had the tank up and running since the end of April..


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## BIGSHOW (Sep 10, 2011)

Have you tested your replacement water for PO4?

Here is what I would do. 

- Do a 50% waterchange (test the newly mixed saltwater before adding)

Assuming you have 0 nutrients in your NMS then your levels should be cut by 50%. 

If that works (meaining your nutrient levels dropped by roughly 50% I would then test my tank everyday from the time of the water change and see how quickly your numbers bounce back. If your nutrients double in less then a week you have a nutrient sink (fairly large one0 and you need to rectify that situation. Likely nutrients sinks would be, Sandbed, rock leaching, over-feeding, dead livestock...etc

You can start to rule out some of these by doing the following.....

- Less feedings
- Vacuum sandbed
- Tank inspection for dead stock

That should get you started.


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