# nitra -gaurd to battle high nitrates and high phosphates



## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

hey there this is a question for a friend who is battling high phospates and nitrates , a lot of green hair algae, so who out here has some methods to lower there phospates who uses nitra -guard and how do u find it , I know ryan at R20 swears by it .any other methods please let me know , right now he is gonna spot treat the green hair algae with some peroxide , and is thinking about removing rocks and doing a muratic acid dip... would appreciate any insight on this 
thanks again 
tom


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## Crayon (Apr 13, 2014)

We run Rowaphos in a reactor and nitraguard cubes in 3 bags with air stones. We started them over a year ago, and when nitrates get down, think...."ah, everything is fine, I can pull out the cubes", only to have nitrates go up again. So I think these are permanently in the sump from here forward. It's the only thing we have found to keep nitrates lower-ish.

You need to put the cubes somewhere with lots of flow. Preferably before the skimmer.
And if you want to see them at work, come and visit........


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*nitra-cubes*

Where do u get the nitra-cubes from....


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## notclear (Nov 5, 2011)

I bought mine from SUM. Call first.


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## CanadaCorals.com (May 12, 2013)

Like any form of carbon dosing, it does wonders for lowering nitrates but does very little to lower phosphates.

Read up on the Redfield ratio for an explanation: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redfield_ratio

When you carbon dose (amusing your nutrients are in balance), it lowers nitrates 16X more than phosphates (16:1 ratio).

The only "set it and forget it" method that lowers both nitrates and phosphates would be some type of all-in-one bio-pellets. There are beads mixed in to lower phosphates but they are not easy to get locally.

Nitraguard and GFO would be effective as Cheryl (Crayon) mentioned.


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## ohdino (Jun 17, 2014)

What is causing the high nitrates to begin with?

Get the nitrates in control first and the algae will eventually die off.

I won my battle with hair algae by doing water changes every three weeks, run GFO and Carbon changed with every water change, chaeto, reduced feeding to once a day, turbo snails, scarlet hermit crabs, pulling out the hair algae by hand twice a week as much as I could.

Took a few months, but it is better than using quick fixes. 

Continued use of GFO and Carbon, monthly water changes has starved off all algae in my tank.

Then again, what works for one tank, may not work for another.

My $0.02.


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## loonie (Mar 29, 2008)

My tang fish take care of any hairy algae. Sometimes if I find any rock in other tanks that has hairy algae, I will remove and put into the tank with tangs and they will clean up all algae.


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## JamesHurst (Mar 1, 2013)

I used a combo of bio clean and nitraguard for a couple months then switched to np biopearls as i was stuck at 10ppm.

Thing with nitraguard is that to be effective you need to constantly agitate and provide oxygen to them, normally using an airstone and media bag. It can get messy with bubbles and splatter wherever it is placed, causing crazy salt creep. Also makes the skimmer go a bit bonkers at first and breaks down really fast, needing to be replaced more often than pellets.

Recommended Airbomb Method:









Salt Creep (after it was cleaned 48 hrs prior):


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## cica (Feb 10, 2013)

I use nitraguard in a home made reactor, just like the tlf 150 but I made it from 4" dim. acrylic pipe. I use a pump from an old, small skimer to circulate the water with air bubbles through it. Works for me.


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## advanced reef aquatics (Apr 20, 2009)

Nitra guard works like a charm Tom, we have had great success with them,


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## simba (Jun 9, 2009)

A.k just brought in a whole bunch FRiday feb 20.


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

Who is AK?


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## simba (Jun 9, 2009)

Aquatic Kingkom and also a whole skid oh D&D h2o.I am planning to use the nitra guard as well


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## nc208082 (Jun 27, 2013)

http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142754
Yep they posted about this a few days ago


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## simba (Jun 9, 2009)

Started using today in a 200g plus 75g sump tank , about 15 cube size pieces in a mess bag near high flow Not sure if its enough.I brought the small 250ml container.What is the recommented amount that i should used.


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## joel.c (Sep 11, 2012)

hey Simba, you need way more. For a 200g you should be using all of the 1000ml sized container, perhaps even 1250ml. 

I used the whole 1000ml container in a 175g total water system and have had 0ppm Nitrates for the last 6 months. So far no complaints, super easy product to use. 

I have a 'bomb' set-up with air-stones in my intake section of the sump, I look at it every once and awhile... that's about it. Fish and corals seem happy.

Good luck,
Joel


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## simba (Jun 9, 2009)

Thanks Joel need to buy more!


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