Doing my head in - High nitrates

[revolutionhope]

i have mine in the filter, as long as it in a bag

+1

double stocking :-)

[perplex]

yea, my pruigen already came in a bag, but sometime it still gets through, so i could always put a stocking over mine

[jayc]

3 hours ago, larrymull said:

I added the macropore in to the tank s couple of days ago @jayc is it ok if it sits in the filter?

As everyone has mentioned, is fine in the filter. As long as you have water passing ever it.

[jayc]

11 hours ago, larrymull said:

I added the macropore in to the tank s couple of days ago

What's the nitrate now ?

 

[larrymull]

Hey @jayc I'm pleased to say it's 0-5 more leaning towards zero. Amazing stuff! 

Thanks mate - helpfully this sorts my death issues.

[perplex]

that good news! now just work out what was causing it

[jayc]

2 hours ago, larrymull said:

Hey @jayc I'm pleased to say it's 0-5 more leaning towards zero. Amazing stuff! 

Thanks mate - helpfully this sorts my death issues.

Thats good news indeed.

[Jo]

So I've been meaning to post for the last week about my experience with macropore, but life kept getting in the way!  For anyone who comes across this thread in future, better late than never I figure.

Step 1: checked my test kit by testing RO water at the same time.  As you can see, the test kit was reading fine but my tank nitrates were through the roof.

I added 375ml of macropore to my 440L tank last Sunday.  I didn't have time to dismantle the filter (plus something always goes wrong and I end up dumping water all over the carpet), so I just hung it in my tank in front of the power head:

After 24 hours,  I did the first test.  Nitrates were way down to 10-20 already.

After 48 hours there wasn't a huge amount of difference, but it was closer to 10 than 20.

After 48 hours I got bored of testing my nitrates every 24 hours.  Jeez, do I hate that test kit.  </rant>  Ahem.  So after 1 week, I managed to get the macropore into the filter (without too many accidents) and the results are great - looks like 10 to me :)

Can't say that the shrimp look that much different yet - I don't know how they survived so long with such high nitrates (and don't get me started on the Ph), but for now it appears to be stable. 

Thanks everyone for the input!

[perplex]

did you check the colour of the macropore before you put it in the filter?  if its the same a purigen, and it turns brown maybe it stopped working and you needed to regenerate it.

 

still good to see it works

[jayc]

17 hours ago, Jo said:

So I've been meaning to post for the last week about my experience with macropore, but life kept getting in the way!  For anyone who comes across this thread in future, better late than never I figure.

That's exactly what this thread needed ... colourful pictures. 

[larrymull]

17 hours ago, Jo said:

So I've been meaning to post for the last week about my experience with macropore, but life kept getting in the way!  For anyone who comes across this thread in future, better late than never I figure.

Step 1: checked my test kit by testing RO water at the same time.  As you can see, the test kit was reading fine but my tank nitrates were through the roof.

I added 375ml of macropore to my 440L tank last Sunday.  I didn't have time to dismantle the filter (plus something always goes wrong and I end up dumping water all over the carpet), so I just hung it in my tank in front of the power head:

After 24 hours,  I did the first test.  Nitrates were way down to 10-20 already.

After 48 hours there wasn't a huge amount of difference, but it was closer to 10 than 20.

After 48 hours I got bored of testing my nitrates every 24 hours.  Jeez, do I hate that test kit.  </rant>  Ahem.  So after 1 week, I managed to get the macropore into the filter (without too many accidents) and the results are great - looks like 10 to me :)

Can't say that the shrimp look that much different yet - I don't know how they survived so long with such high nitrates (and don't get me started on the Ph), but for now it appears to be stable. 

Thanks everyone for the input!

This is a fantastic result, well done. It is quite amazing how quickly it lowers nitrates. I have had no shrimp losses since I have lowered my nitrates. Fingers crossed this was the problem and your problem is fixed now too.

[Jo]

I'll keep an eye on the tank (as per usual).  The nitrates have been too high for months now, but I never really noticed many deaths.  I'd see 1 or 2 every so often, but I figured in a colony of hundreds of shrimp that only live 18 months to 2 years that a couple of deaths every so often was normal. 

With such high nitrates the mosses are looking super-awesome, now I'm overdue a trim! ;)