Refugium impact on Nitrates
 

Having issues keeping Nitrates underneath 50, in spite of cleaning filter sock 2-3 times per week and feeding only twice per day.... Begining to wonder whether enough organic matter is making it's way into the refugium to the point where there's enough to keep nitrates high..... Anyone have thoughts on the matter? The tank itself is 120g with 3 medium tangs, 1 blue damsel, 1 six line wrasse, and one chromis..... so not really much live stock.

I could be that the refugium isn't adequate to manage the nitrate. I think more information is needed. What filters are you using? What's in the refugium, how big is it, & how do you operate and maintain it?

Any bacteria media? Carbon dose or how did is your nutrient export? Only skimmer and fuge?

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How old is the tank?
How much are you feeding?
How big is the fuge?
What is in the fuge?
How is it being lit?

A fuge is rarely enough to manage/reduce nitrates on its own...
Most of the time other nitrate export/consumption methods are needed..

Also, how much live rock is in the system, and how much food is added per day?

Seemed the only thing that reduced my 50 ppm of nitrates was biopellets. Once they fell to around 20 ppm i replaced with macroalgae in my reactor. The nitrates now hang around 8 ppm.

One other possibility would be maybe adding a piece of xenia coral and see if it helps to reduce your nutrients.

And by "piece" you mean something at least 2ft x 2ft to have any chance of it putting a tiny dent in those numbers :D

Yeah that would be a good enough size!!!!!!!!

Have you tried a macro algae in the refugium? My 150 gallon tank is similar to yours in livestock load. I have a Lifereef skimmer and feed pretty heavy with Larry's Reef Frenzy. The 20 gallon refugium is lit 8 hours a day with a 2 Home Depot, 5100 k spotlights and is packed with cheato. I do not run filter socks. I have to dose sodium nitrate weekly to keep no3 between 1 & 3. When I ran the lights 12 hours a day, p04 and n03 remained at 0. Now P04 is usually between .018 & .028. There is about 55 lbs of pukani rock in the tank.