# High Nitrates



## R D

Good morning all,I am a regular on a blue crab discussion site but feel like I am intruding here but I need a little help if possible. I have a closed system soft shell blue crab shedding operation in Fla. with 4600 gal. capacity than has been running for 2 yrs continuously,oyster shell substrate,mechcanical filter,16 3.5 by 8 ft tanks. My problem is Nitrates. Bio filter is working great,Ammonia is less than 0.5 ppm,Nitrite is less than 0.5 ppm,Nitrates are greater than 150 ppm,I didn't dilute the 2nd time to see how much greater.I bring my water in from the Ocean in 55 gal drums so it is a large chore to change most of it but that is the way in past years I have dealt with it. What I was wanting to know if there is a product i can buy in bulk to treat this problem. The water is tinted just a little yellow right now and this always seems to happen on weekends when the boat ramps are full making it very difficult to dally around with 300 gals of water on a 24 ft boat


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## musho3210

you running a skimmer? Dont take water from the ocean, its full of nasties.


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## R D

No protein skimmer yet,I am looking at building one,I live about 20 miles south of Tallahassee in a relatively undeveloped part of Fla. The water quality here if pretty good and I try to get water from whatever area my peeler crabs are coming from


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## musho3210

dont build one, to complicated and DIY ones are useless, buy a good quality venturi skimmer. For a tank of that size you would probably need more than one. Buy an RO unit and some high quality salt mix that clearly says NO NITRATES and NO PHOSPHATES. Its the best thing to do.


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## R D

RO unit?? The main problem with making my own salt water is cost,I am running around 16 ppt and that takes a lot of salt mix along with declorinating tap water.


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## musho3210

RO unit is a unit that makes RO water, you shouldnt mix tap water with salt mix as tap water can have nitrates, phosphates, copper etc. Get an RO unit that runs about 75 gpd, buy lots of salt mix and work the magic, cant afford it, shouldnt have started the hobby.

If you really want sea water, take the water from 20 miles out coast, there shouldnt be much pollutants there, an even better solution is to fly to one of the earths reef systems like the great barrier reef and take water from there.


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## R D

It's not a hobby,I have 7 or 800 crabs in the tanks right now and in a week to 10 days it will be 2500 too 3000 I hope. The saltwater I start with tests very well,(low Nitrates) it is a problem with build up after the bio conversion takes place, just looking for a way to reduce them without plants or alge


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## musho3210

and i gave you a way to do it, water changes with RO water and synthetic salt mix and adding many protein skimmers. Define low nitrates, a low nitrate level of new water that is to be added to the tank is 0


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## Andre

it could be where you are getting your water in the ocean, even though i realize ocean water is tuff, but if you need to do it this way, i would deff. start by testing the water in the drum before adding and see the exact quality of that water. How is the salinity. do you use fresh water for topoff. What quality is the top off water. Another thing is you need a protein skimmer no questions asked.


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## R D

My Nitrate scale only goes down to 0.5 ppm and the new water I bring in is well below that,new water is not the problem and making new salt water at 75 gpd will take me 61 days to fill up again, What I asked about was if it was possible to get rid of high Nitrates in the water I have already in excess of 150 ppm with a additive of some kind


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## musho3210

and we told you the answer, no material will get rid of nitrates except: Water changes, protein skimming, natural nitrate reduction. Youve gone to far to do nnr so water changes and protein skimming is the best. Were saying no ocean water since it is full of pollutants.


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## R D

Thats what I needed to know,I knew this would be the place to find out. Thank y'all for your help. Protein skimmers will be next,What about a saltwater well,where I am at we have saltwater if you drill too deep or would it have the same pollutants as ocean water?


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## musho3210

saltwater well would probably be high in other things like phosphates and copper, you still need to do RO and synthetic salt mix. Trust me its a lot easier than hauling buckets and buckets of water from the ocean.


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## R D

I'm assuming I can find a RO unit at the better pet stores or they can order one,can it be found online?Do they make them bigger than 75gpd?Trying not to be dumber than a box of rocks, :roll:  but I just don't know. I have always done this the way I was taught and that just isn't good enough.


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## musho3210

there might be, i think ive seen units that do 120 gpd, let me check.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=8111&N=2004+113775
thats 200 gpd


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## Andre

NO one that really makes amazing home reefs really use natural salt water. First off, you need to go like 25 miles of coast just to get un polluted water. There Is not really any product to remove nitrates that is safe for saltwater aquatica. water changes and skimming only things you can do, skimmer would probably really help if not fix your problem. RO water is really the only way to go.


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## R D

I would like to thank you for your help and the link,thats a great site,I was just looking at skimmers and then found a page on cats(we have 5 with #8 6 day old kittens from one the neighbors left when thy moved) Once I start with good clean water again then the RO unit will maintian it just fine, I lose around 100 gals a week through evaporation,Thank y'all again very much.


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## musho3210

could we get some pictures, probably one heck of a tank if you lost 100 gallons a week :O, i lost about 1/2 a gallon a week :roll:


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## R D

Let me see if I can pull some up. They are jpg and not allowed


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## R D

I will have to put them on our blue crab forum(something I have been going to do for months) as soon as I do I will come back and post a link,it will be a day or 2,thanks again for the help


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## musho3210

dont link it to a forum, its againts the rules here


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## leifthebunny

You might want to use imaging software, such as MS Office Picture Manager, to reduce the size of the image. This forum has size limitations on the JPGs.


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