How Do I Lower the Nitrates in My Reef Tank?

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Hunter from the Austin Aqua-Dome. I do a lot with salt water fish tanks, many people want to know how to lower nitrates in the reef aquarium. Nitrates in higher concentrations can be damaging to the live corrals. In most cases, fishes are not affected until the nitrates become very high but coral growth will slow as any nitrates do accumulate. There are no good products, as far as, media, chemical medias, on the market for removing nitrate so the only ways to do it are through frequent large water changes or going with a natural method of removing them. One of the ways that we do this is through use of what we call a refugium. This would be a small tank, in line on your system, that's plumed into your system that is a place where you can grow different macro algaes, by that we mean different seaweeds. As seaweeds and algaes grow, they absorb nitrates out of the water and this is probably the best and easiest method for removing nitrates."