Michigan Reefers banner
Cancel
Create thread New Forums

Still cannot get my Nitrates to lower.. any insite?

Tags
algae clean crew dsb filter filtration fish gallon healthy large lighting live live rock live sand mag phosphate problem reef refugium rock sand snails tank temperature water changes
1 reading
Jump to Latest
1 - 20 of 35 Posts
B

Bohle

· Registered
Joined
·
386 Posts
Discussion starter · #1 ·
Here it goes...

Well I have a 55g with a 20g sump, I have about 100lbs of LR. I use carbon. I just upgraded to a bigger skimmer (ASM G1, just got it up and running 2 days ago). I feed 1 time a day.

I have 2x Clowns, a 2in Koran, and a 4in Halequin Tusk.

I have 2x Koralia #1 powerheads.

I do a 10g a week water change.

And my Nitrates are still 30-40.

I was told..

"Get a filter sock"
"Get more flow"

Anything else I should do?

Maybe more water changes?
 
#2 ·
Increased water changes will help.
Where are you get your water from?
If you have a fuge, you could run cheatoin it. It will help export nitrate too.
You could also mod your skimmer to increase skimmate production.
Dosing suger is an opiontion, but I would use this as a last resort.
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
Dejavu said:
Increased water changes will help.
Where are you get your water from?
If you have a fuge, you could run cheatoin it. It will help export nitrate too.
You could also mod your skimmer to increase skimmate production.
Dosing suger is an opiontion, but I would use this as a last resort.
Click to expand...
I get my water from Aquarium Services in Jenison.
I already run Cheato.
I have my new skimmer running with the bubbles starting at about 3/4 the way up.

I was told also that doing a 30% water change once a week is better then a weekly 10%? This true?
Also I need more flow and I should put on a filter sock?

Any thoughts about this?
 
#5 ·
I didn't see that ti has only been two days since you upgraded your skimmer. I would wait and see if it help. All good things take time. As for the water changes, I chage about 10% every week or two and feed more, still have nitrate at 0. IMO 30% a week is alot. Also I have never been a big fan of filter socks. For them to work you need to chage them offten.
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
I meant 30% a month. Sorry about that. My tank is hmm 5 and a half months old. I have 4inch sand bed. As well.

I think I will set up the flow, as well as step up to 15 gallon water change every week instead of 10. and see where that goes.
 
#7 ·
Is this a FO? If so a 30-40 ppm nitrate is not all that bad.
Do you have a picture of your rock work? No matter what you are going to have to do a series of large water changes to get it down initially. From there changes to the set-up will help you keep it down. If you want to have a greater impact on the nitrate I would do 50% water changes (make sure to match salinity and temperature relatively close). Getting it down with water changes is just simple math (If your doing them daily we will assume nitrate production is insignificant). One 50% will bring it down to 20 ppm. Another 50% will bring it down to 10 ppm. Another to 5 ppm and so on.

I would use a filter sock (cleaned out very frequently-daily if possible) assuming this is a fish only set-up. I would not use one in a reef set-up. I have not used them in FO when set-up with a good clean up crew (I am assuming your harlequin tusk doesn't allow much of a clean up crew). Creating areas where debris settles and can be cleaned is another form of mechanical filtration which I prefer as well.
 
#8 ·
When you do your water change BLOW your rocks off, i bet you will be amazed at how much dust/detritus blows out of them. Along with maybe adding a DSB to ur refigum section of your sump (if you have one). Also it could do with your aquascaping...that is something that is very important in a healty system IMO...you need to not create dead spots in the rockwork and allow for food/detritus to settle down on ur sand bed cuz that will really give you high nitrates, im kinda in the same boat...i have A LOT of flow (mag 24 for a closed loop on my 50breeder!!) and am in the process of reaquascaping again! to get the look i want with the proper water circulation throughout the tank. Hope that helps!

Also you could try the larger water changes weekly/bi weekly but i am a fan of changing a gallon or so a day!...this is less of a change to the overall system however you get the same affect over a few days as if you were to change a lot at once, plus its less stress on everything in the tank since i doubt they will notice a gallon or two changed
 
#10 ·
How strong is your flow??? You may have some dead spots in your system that are a magnet for detrius accumulation. 2x Koralia #1s is very very little flow for a 55g. I recommend a lot more flow for your tank. Also, when I had nitrate issues, I did a 15-20% water change every other week. It worked like a charm. So is the water that you are getting RO?
 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
-Yes my water is Ro
-The Halequin doesn't bother any of my snails.. its the dang hermits.
-My ref has a DSB
-This is a reef tank
-I have recently just started blowing off the rocks
-I have 2x Koralia #1's

Things I think I need... More flow..also more/bigger water changes.hmm maybe try to suck up some of the dead spots.

I think maybe I can get more snails.. should I lose some hermits then?
 
#12 ·
I had high nitrates as well. I wouldn't stress too much as they don't seem to affect corals that much at the levels you are reporting. My colors and growth were still good even with nitrates in the 40-50 ppm range. In fact, I think some of the corals did better with higher nitrates.

Honestly, water changes don't help that much. With my bare bottom tank, nitrates would be largely unaffected by minor water changes. And even larger water changes would be a temporary solution. Although the theory is that if you do a 20% water change, you would lower your nitrates by 20%, it never seemed to work out that way for me. Perhaps somewhere in the system there is a nitrate sink...not really sure.

I finally licked the issues I was having with a larger skimmer. Sounds like you are on the right path.

Coincidentally, I also had to modify my sump to add the larger skimmer and I am sure the old way the sump was configured added to the nitrate problem. The first section of the sump allowed water to overflow and didn't have a lot of flow at the bottom. What I found was a 1/2 inch of sludge in that compartment...which probably was the nitrate sink. By changing the flow detritus can no longer settle in that spot. So, I think the solution for my problem was two fold, a bigger skimmer and a better sump design.
 
#18 ·
jim i think he's answered those

-Yes my water is Ro
-The Halequin doesn't bother any of my snails.. its the dang hermits.
-My ref has a DSB
-This is a reef tank
-I have recently just started blowing off the rocks
-I have 2x Koralia #1's

Things I think I need... More flow..also more/bigger water changes.hmm maybe try to suck up some of the dead spots.

I think maybe I can get more snails.. should I lose some hermits then?
Today 09:20 AM
Click to expand...
I meant 30% a month. Sorry about that. My tank is hmm 5 and a half months old. I have 4inch sand bed. As well.

I think I will set up the flow, as well as step up to 15 gallon water change every week instead of 10. and see where that goes.
Click to expand...
 
#19 ·
Yup saw that after I posted.

Sand and not crushed coral...that should be fine. Tanks just old enough to start having problems.

I agree with open rockwork that minimizes areas for detritus accumulation. I like to use branch rock for this very reason.

I also agree that good things take time and if you just upgraded your skimmer, I would hold tight and see if it helps. As I said before, 30-50 ppm is not a crisis. Sure, it's less than ideal but as long as things look healthy, I wouldn't stress too much.
 
Discussion starter · #20 ·
Only things that dont really look health are a few zoa colonys.

I used live sand, not sure the name its the bag at like everystore with the mixed water/substance in it.

The skimmer I got was a ASM G1. So far in two days it has taken out about what my old one did in a week. So this might be a good thing.

Also as for the dead spots, I think I will get another powerhead or 2.

I will get a pic of my rock work, its pretty open. But I will get a pic uploaded tonight, just cant from this government work computer.
 
1 - 20 of 35 Posts
About this Discussion
34 Replies
9 Participants
Last post:
Onlycrimson
Michigan Reefers
posts
1M
members
20K
Since
2003
Michigan Reefers is dedicated to the marine reef aquarium hobby. Learn more about reef aquariums and maintenance, and view our large collection of coral and marine fish photos.
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Selling Forums Want to Buy Announce Frag Meets & Swaps New Member Introductions