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Thread: High Nitrate Levels

  1. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by jfenton954 View Post
    I will try all of that then give you an update. Also I've been trying a different way to clean the screen to get the turf algae to grow better it seems to be working. Instead of scrubbing one side clean I take the sink sprayer at full blast and spray both sides off the thick turf algae gets thicker and seems to grow better, I do check the bottom of the thick patches and it seems to do fine and grows pretty fast.
    I have noticed this as well on one of my systems.. the screen grows very well, but also catches a TON of detritus. So much than when I wait a week and take the screen out to clean the first minute of running water over it like mud coming off the screen. I know this isn't an answer that people want to hear, but I have found rinsing (not cleaning the algae off) the screen every 1-2 days really helps with the growth.

    I also had some issues with the 'screw in' LED bulbs I bought, but I found out (using a real spectrometer at work) that the spectrum is not even close to ideal for photosynthesis (620-630nm reds, but were listed as 660nm). $70 worth of screw in LED bulbs wasted, $20 of DIY parts to make my own with known good LEDs fixed the growth issues. It should be a crime to market bulbs as something they are not, ie, 'Grow Bulbs', if they don't contain the proper spectrum for photosynthesis. Unfortunately it seems a large majority of the sellers are doing just that, passing off junk to customers.

  2. #22
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    Ace, good to know. Thank you for sharing.

  3. #23

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    ace greetings, you do rinsing with fresh water or aquarium itself,,, after 7 to 14 days if the algae clean normal??

    I stop using the vsv,,, so incredibly dirty wore glasses, but IMMEDIATELY my nitrates went from 1ppm to 10ppm over

    I think it's a concentration of detritus in the sump,

  4. #24

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    So could detritus build up in my crushed coral in my sump cause nitrate levels to rise and stay in tank?

  5. #25
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    Detritus in your tank or sump feeds the animals if you have them.

  6. #26
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    yeah I think the "built up detritus causes nitrates" is mostly people talking out of their rear ends. Unless you have a LOT of it, and I mean like 1/4" layer over the whole sump, then maybe it might be contributing. But when your scrubber is operating as it should, food in = nitrate in => scrubber => nitrate out and there is no room for it to "build up" and then "leech out" or "become a factory".

    I have not seen any evidence that detritus in itself causes a "nitrate factory". I think poor tank maintenance creates a nitrate factory. Dunno, maybe I am wrong.

    People create entire benthic zones in stand-alone tanks for the purpose of letting the detritus settle out and feed a microcosm, so I fail to see how detritus buildup is an issue, again, in and of itself. With the absence of the microcosm, maybe. But not to the point that you are having (but a pic might change my mind).

  7. #27

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    Here is a pic of my sump with crushed coral an LR the bed is about 3 inches deep.
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  8. #28

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    Quote Originally Posted by SantaMonica View Post
    Detritus in your tank or sump feeds the animals if you have them.
    Detritus feeds bacteria not animals.. what animals does he have in the sump that feed on fish poo? the amount of worms and critters needed to consume waste(detritus) at the level we have in our tanks is unreachable and impractical, leaving it available for bacteria to break down.. Even pods by the thousands couldn't deal with all of it.. I'm sure if corals had the choice they would eat something other than detritus and fish waste.. And fish prefer foods not poop last time I checked.. lol just found this comment rather odd and misleading..

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