Nitra-Zorb: Am I doing it correctly

First time using Nitra-Zorb, and I'd like to see if I'm doing everything correctly here. I've had to mod things a little, since the store near me only sells the huge ones.

1. Cut open pouch. I purchased the size 6, which is listed for up to 55 gallons
2. Cut the pouch in half. Put about 1/10th of the stuff into one half for my 5.5 and about 1/5th of the stuff into the other half for my 10g. Measurements are no where near exact.
3. Rubber banded the halves closed and placed in media bag so that not too much will escape if the rubber bands don't hold.
4. Rinsed under tap water as directed and added into the filters.

Hopefully no issues with any of that, and if so, please tell me, because that's already been done.

Planning:
1. After 5 days (per the package, recharge every 5 days until the nitrates stay under 30) recharge the package. Should it be 5 days or would once a week with water changes be ok?
2. Recharge by soaking in tap water and aquarium salt for two hours. Should the tap water be dechlorinated before soaking? I would assume so, but the instructions didn't specify that.
3. I purchased aquarium salt, as it stated to do, but does it need to be aquarium salt or does standard salt work just as well?
4. Rinse it really well after it's done recharging in tap water to make sure that there is no salt left that may hurt my inverts. How do I know when I've rinsed it well enough. Also, again should the tap water be dechlorinated before I rinse it?
5. Replace every two months. Per the instructions, this is what you should do. Is this accurate?

Additional Questions:
How long will it normally take to start seeing a reduction in nitrates?
I have pothos in the tank. If the nitrates get too low, will there be a risk to the pothos?

 

1. After 5 days (per the package, recharge every 5 days until the nitrates stay under 30) recharge the package. Should it be 5 days or would once a week with water changes be ok?
2. Recharge by soaking in tap water and aquarium salt for two hours. Should the tap water be dechlorinated before soaking? I would assume so, but the instructions didn't specify that.
3. I purchased aquarium salt, as it stated to do, but does it need to be aquarium salt or does standard salt work just as well?
4. Rinse it really well after it's done recharging in tap water to make sure that there is no salt left that may hurt my inverts. How do I know when I've rinsed it well enough. Also, again should the tap water be dechlorinated before I rinse it?
5. Replace every two months. Per the instructions, this is what you should do. Is this accurate?

Additional Questions:
How long will it normally take to start seeing a reduction in nitrates?
I have pothos in the tank. If the nitrates get too low, will there be a risk to the pothos?

1.You only need to re-charge it when your nitrates either quit dropping or start going back up. That will vary depending on the tank, bio-load etc. You don't have to use a set time frame.
2. I would think dechlorinated water would be best also. I'm on a well so didn't have that consideration.
3.Aquarium salt is a total rip off so no, in the future buy any plain salt at the grocery store. Morton Canning and Pickling salt is like 2 pounds for $4.00 or something. Plain sea salt works fine. Basically any salt where the only ingredient is salt.
4. I usually rinse mine for a few minutes under the tap. You could always swish it around in a bucket of water if you think you should use dechlorinated water. Hmmm. Maybe ask that question up on amazon? About the dechlorinated water I mean. Someone will respond.
5.I don't know about that whole 2 month thing. Most resins can be re-charged almost indefinitely. I would say if it quits working then buy a new one.
6. You should see it drop within the first 24 hours. Its an immediate transfer of the nitrate ions for the sodium ions. Don't worry about your inverts there will not be enough sodium ions to hurt them.
I used to use a tap water nitrate ion exchanger and would run my entire tap/tank water through it. It took a pound of salt to recharge it and I never had any issues. Also, lots of people use tap water that has run through water softener which is based on the same principal of exchanging calcium ions for sodium chloride ions.
7. Do you fertilize at all? I wouldn't worry about the pothos unless they go to 0 but since you have nitrates in your tap water they will be replenished every week. Your pothos should get plenty.

Hope that answers it all!

 

Awesome, thank you! I truly did almost freak out when you said sodium ions, so really appreciate you saying not to worry and everyone would be fine. I really don't know enough chemistry to know what is and is not harmful.

The bioload from the animals isn't too bad. I think more of my issue comes from the fact that I feed the snails, so there's always something in the tanks that's decomposing. Per AqAdvisor, even though it's not perfect, I'm at 68% stock, 241% filtration on my 10 and 82% stock and 411% filtration on my 5.5.

As far as ferts, everything I have feeds from the water column. I dose 1/6 cap of flourish a week (nothing like trying to get the right measurement for small tanks). If I mistyped at some point, I apologize, but what I have in my tap is ammonia, not nitrate.

 

Ahh, well either way it turns to nitrates eventually

I'm curious why you feed your snails separately? I don't feed my snails anything. As far as I know they eat bio-film mostly, algae and decomposing plant matter or food.

I just put my 3 nerites in a 10 gallon fry tank where the whole back wall is a lovely bright green fuzzy algae It gets direct afternoon sunshine this time of the year. They are slowly eating it....I may have to pick up a mystery snail to help out.

Let me know how it goes ok?

 

I feed the mysteries. I've got 4 in the 10 and 2 in the 5.5, so snail jello, veggies, sinking discs, etc.

 

Snails require such a small amount of food, maybe feed less? And remove from the tank after an hour if they haven't eaten it yet.

 

How long should it be before I see a reduction in nitrates with this? Day 2 and I haven't seen a change.

 

I would think you would start seeing a change. Maybe you didn't use enough resin. You can't really use too much, it will just absorb more at a faster rate so I would add more if you don't see much going on.

Are they at least holding steady? Do you know how much your fish were raising it in a week? You have to consider the amount it would rise from the fish and then anything over that will make it drop on the test.

 

Yup they're holding steady, but that's holding steady around 40 which is the norm for my tanks. I really can't tell the difference between 40 & 80 on the test so maybe it's doing something... I'll try recharging today and see if that does anything. If not, any recommendations for a good media bag to use? I had to keep it in the half bag it came in to keep too much from getting into the tank.

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You shouldn't need to recharge after two days. You're right 40-80 is almost impossible to tell the difference on.

Have you tried the dilution method? Fill half your vial with tank water and half your vial with zero nitrate water like Spring Water or RO water, do the test and then multiply by two. You can also cut it down even more doing one fourth tank water and three fourths spring water.

Seachems "the bag" is the finest mesh one that I know of. .

 

Have you tried the dilution method? Fill half your vial with tank water and half your vial with zero nitrate water like Spring Water or RO water, do the test and then multiply by two. You can also cut it down even more doing one fourth tank water and three fourths spring water.

Nope, that is an awesome idea.

Seachems "the bag" is the finest mesh one that I know of.

Is that what you have yours in?

 

Yeah, I divided my no.6 bag into two of The Bags for my 33g. That way I always have one in. Right now they're both out sitting in salt water since I'm trying this other product.

 

Great, thank you again I think the media bags I have are a little too open for it to be in there by itself. I can try adding a bit more, but since I had to cut the bag in half to use it to hold the nitra zorb, I'm not sure how much more I can get in there. Also probably doesn't help that it's a bit more ball shaped rather than flat, so probably not hitting all of the water.

Using the mixing water, I'm sitting at 40ish, so maybe that's an improvement? I'd like to think I was at 40 before, but like I said, I can't tell between 40 and 80. I'll keep testing to see where it goes.

I charged it last night and the water became very brown. Is that normal?

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Yes, totally normal. Are you seeing improvements?

 

Going to check this evening. Not much yet that I can tell, but yesterday was water change day and testing immediately after wouldn't have been very helpful.

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Holding the same, but not decreasing

 

Did it normally go up a lot during the week?

 

Not really, no. It mostly just spikes when the BB gets through the .5 ammonia going in with the water change and sits there.

Ok, I'm definitely doing it wrong. I have added my two snails from their "quarantine tank" (not really a QT tank, but set it up as one temporarily for them) back to the main tank - increased bioload there, but also reduced the feeding a little bit. Nitrates were actually higher today than normal. Last water change was about 30% on Wednesday, and I was up to about 80 today

I did also clean out all of my filter media today, but it still looks pretty gross. I'm thinking maybe it's time to seed some new media, as maybe there's just too much gunk on it for the nitrates to be reasonably lowered?

 

Do you really clean them well?

I usually use a couple gallons of water, really swish them around, squeeze and rinse well. The water is usually quite brown so I do it again in another bucket of water.

I feel bad its not working for you. Strange.

 

Well, I think there are probably a few possibilities.
1. There wasn't enough in there.
2. There's just too much stuff on the filter for it do work on it.
3. I have no idea, but I did read some reviews and others seemed to have the same issue.

And yes on the filter, I clean as well as I can without them literally falling apart on me. The one in the smaller tank is actually separating pretty badly. They're the starter ones that have AC in them, so while the AC isn't doing anything anymore, it makes it harder to clean the actual guts that house the BB.

Well, I figured I'd give the stuff another go and not cut the package open this time... After playing tetris with the filter, I managed to get the 6 bag into it. Had to leave out the thing that holds the actual filter, so hopefully there's no concern there. However, just did a nitrate test, and I'm at about 10!!!

 

That is fantastic!

I thought adding more might do it.

What kind of filter do you have?

 

Aqueon 10 Quietflow

 

Oh ok. I have their 20 and 30's. They have a bit more room so can fit in half of that no 6 bag along with my diy foam and padding.

 

I probably could have gotten half the bag in there without nearly as much effort, but I figured I'd just go with the whole thing if I was able to get it in there

 

Probably a good idea with your nitrates!

 

So, I could really use a bit more advice on this. The nitra-zorb made my water really cloudy. I was thinking it would reduce after a little bit, but the cloudiness hasn't gone away. I have the pouch out in salt water currently, but my snails aren't very happy with having the extra stuff in the water and it's irritating them. Think I should try cutting it open and only using maybe half the pouch?

Edit: At this point, I have done two back-to-back 50% water changes, added an extra filter pad, and added AC. The water is starting to clear up a bit, but it's still cloudy. I also have an odd string of bubbles around the top of the tank by the edges. There were even some stuck to my poor snails earlier that I have brushed off. When I did the WCs I actually had stuff floating at the top of the water. I'm not really sure what the nitra zorb was leaching, but I've never had that before, or the bubbles that don't go away.

 

Huh. Is it cloudy through the front as well as the sides?
How well did you rinse it? I put mine in a container of water and kept rinsing it until the water was no longer cloudy which did take a bit. Maybe it just wasn't rinsed well enough?

Did you have this problem when you were using the smaller amount?

Did the stuff floating at the top look like grains of sand? or ??

I would think if you had done two back to back 50% changes it should be much clearer.

I'm assuming nothing else new has been added to the tank?

For my 33g tank I am using half the bag. My tank is a bit cloudy from the sides but not straight on. Even when I wasn't using the nitrazorb it stayed that way so I think I'm just overstocked or was.

I know MarkN1990 has been using it too so lets see if he has the cloudiness issue.

 

Didn't have the issue with the smaller amount. I washed it until the water was clear, but maybe it wasn't enough? The stuff at the top, it's not like grains of sand. It's like air bubbles that won't go away, like if there had been an odd chemical mixture. They came out of the tank and were still present when the water was in the bucket for the water change.

Only thing added to the tank was a plant that I swapped from my other tank, which was not having any cloudiness issues, so I would rule out the plant as a concern.

 

I am going to try Algone to see if I have less dust(I keep trying new things lol).

It is not an ion-exchange resin so has to be replaced but a pack of 6 on amazon was only 13.00. Reviews are good so will let you know. Will start a new thread if I have any success with it.

So far so good with the AlGone. They are tiny little packets. My water is not clear yet (trying to clear up the side view cloudiness) but it said that can take a week to two weeks so I'll be patient. BUT it definitely is holding my nitrates steady. They went up for the first day or two but now have held steady at about 8.8 in my 33g tank. It is 85% stocked and I feed twice a day and am not a light feeder.

Not ready to start a thread on this cuz I want to see if and when it clarifies the water but thought you'd be interested.

 

Definitely interested, thank you I haven't seen updates on the bottled stuff yet, how is that working?

 

That works great too but I stopped using it not knowing if it has attributed to this side view cloudiness. I decided to use nothing except purigen, the small AlGone packets and wait for a couple weeks. At first I thought it was the nitra-zorb but it hasn't gone away. Then I thought it was the buffers I use for my RO water but cutting back on that didn't help. I have always used Replenish or Wonder Shells for GH and have had crystal clear tanks so I have discounted that idea.

Once it clears up I'll go back to Instant Oceans Nitrate reducer though if this works I like the idea of these. It is all natural enzyme and micro organism packet that is supposed to help balance out tanks.....They were pretty inexpensive I thought. A box of 6 for $13.00 and should only need to be replaced every two to four weeks once things are clear.

I do 50% water changes and it does get rid of the cloudiness then comes back. Its weird and I let it bother me too much. This tank has been cycled for years. Could be algae....though its not green when I change the water and I don't have much algae at all on any plants or surfaces.

I probably let it bother me too much lol since the front view is nice and clear. The weird thing is my 10 gallon does not have this issue and I couldn't really tell you what the difference is.

 

Ugh, I think I need some more advice. Since I stopped using the Nitra-Zorb and got all of the extra stuff from it out of the tank (not a fast process), my nitrates have been sky rocketing. Before, I was hitting about 40 after 3ish days, and doing water changes twice a week (Wed and Sun). Wednesday and then today the tank tested at about 80-100???. Did my standard change on Wed and scrubbed down the filter and just did another one today. Planning to test tomorrow as well, but I really don't know what is going on with them at this point. I'd love some suggestions of what may help.

Bigger tank is not currently an option. I could try a more powerful filter, but I don't know if that would do any good.

 

Hi, so you haven't been using it since then?
Did you test your tap? Sounds like they may have gone up?.....Mine vary throughout the year. You might be better off with a combination of a couple of different reducers.

A bigger filter is not going to help nitrates unfortunately.

I wrote this review today, not sure if you saw it:
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/review-of-nitrate-reducers.217267/

 

Nope, haven't tested the tap since a few weeks ago. It's been 0-3 since shortly after I started the tank.

Reading the article you posted now

 

That does seem unusually high! How much do you change out twice a week? I'm assuming you have tested your tap recently for ammonia and nitrites too?

 

If I had such small tanks I would do a 90% water change. That will drop nitrates by 90%. Why mess with the filters?

 

Yup, tap runs .5 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and close to 0 nitrates. I typically do about 40-50% Sunday and 25-30% Wednesday.

I also just ordered a few things from Big Al's last night to try, so hopefully that will help out. I got a box of the Algone, some Matrix, and then some pad that is supposed to reduce them.

 

If they aren't in your tap and your ammonia and nitrites are 0 also then I agree that doing a large water change might be all you need to do.

Do they start near 0 and go up to 40ppm in days? a week?

 

They start lower and then go up as the BB works through the influx of ammonia from the tap is all I can tell. I honestly haven't tested the tank immediately after a water change. Was planning on doing another one this evening if the nitrates are still high, so I'll test after that. Probably also should retest the tap for everything to see if there was a change in that in the last week.

 

Oh that's right. Sorry I forgot you have ammonia in your tap. How much?

 

No problem, I think we were both typing at the same time. Tap is .5

Edit: Well, cancel that statement. Just retested the tap. Nitrites still 0, but ammonia is now reading 1+ ammonia.