20 ppm nitrAtes

[beaslbob]

My 55g running since Jan has gone from 160+ppm Nitrates to 20 ppm nitRates in three weeks. There was an increase in ugly algae after increased lighting, and the last week that algae is reduced. I just thought all would like to know how this happened.
Tank has 4" play sand, 1" Crushed Coral, and base rock. Filtration is a tetratec pf 500 and macro algae. livestock is a yellow tang, 5 various dasmels, banded coral shrimp, bahama star, green brittle star, 5 turbo snales, ~10 hermits.
Maintenance is replacing water that evaporates. Tap water is the only water in the system.
What I (re)learned was the importance of not overfeeding. I reduced feeding from 2/day to 1/day. No loss of livestock.

 

[reefnut]

In all honesty Bob I would check your test kit and double check your readings. For any system to drop 140ppm nitrates in three weeks w/o water changes seems impossible.

 

[tony detroit]

good call reefnut,
bob that is unheard of

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by ReefNut
In all honesty Bob I would check your test kit and double check your readings. For any system to drop 140ppm nitrates in three weeks w/o water changes seems impossible.
Actually the drop was only one week. Ok will do. I suspect it is correct though. The reading also agree with my experience with my 20g long. And the rock in the 55g is starting to clear up. Again confirming that nitrates have reduced.

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by tony detroit
good call reefnut,
bob that is unheard of
oh really?? you have heard of it now.

 

[krunk]

Originally posted by Kipass4130
let see.. on a 55gal tank.... drop that fast..... hmmm... do you have a 900 gallon fuge like bang guy that you just started with a ton of macros

doesnt it take 3-5 weeks for the fuge too start doing its job?

 

[bang guy]

It took my Refuge 2 months to start functioning properly.
I can easily believe Nitrate can be reduced at that rate, or even faster. Think in terms of 160 parts per million and then think in terms of a pound of algae produced during an algae bloom. I believe the increased lighting allowed the algae to consume the Nitrate which was either consumed by other critters or removed and the reduced feedings kept the Nitrate at the reduced level. Sounds plausible to me.
Keep up the good work beaslbob.

 

[lesa]

A tang in a 55 You are going to get pulled over by the tang police

 

[dreeves]

I do not really understand the hyper-critical comments some display over methods of others...
If the guy says he dropped the nitrates that fast...there is no one here to really question whether he did or did not...
To follow one poster from thread to thread to comment on methods and results, etc...seems a little too critical...

 

[bang guy]

It really wouldn't take much of an algae bloom to consume all those Nitrates in a day or two.

 

[dreeves]

I do not know if they can...I have never had the problem...but I do know if the guy says he did...then why question him about whether he did or not..or worse...insinuate he didn't...
While posting in a public forum, created by a private company to foster the growth of this fantastic hobby, one really should consider being a little more judicial in their replies and posts to others...if someone posts generally accepted as bad advice...that advice is countered with a more acceptable, based on the current general consensus, type of advice...and then we all press on to better and bigger issues of the hobby...
As I am expressing my own opinion here...everyone is entitled to their opinions, ideas and thoughts as long as the general interest of the forum isn't disrupted...

 

[dreeves]

He is (bob) pretty wild in his methods and madness...

 

[beaslbob]

Kip and others
Sorry about the confusion. Gee it all made sense to me
To clarify all this bottom line: plant life balances out and stabilizes any tank.
My current tanks are 1) a 62Quart tub on back porch, 2) 10g fresh, 3) 20g long macro algae culture,4) 55g salt display.
All have tap water with no water changes on only replacing water that evaporates. All tanks have 3-4" of home depot play sand. Water on all tanks is clear.
the tub on the back porch is experimental and I have not mentioned any experiences here on it.
10g fresh is planted, 2 years old, open top, single no tube, 30 guppies (grown up from original 3), no filtration other than plants, no air store or other circulation. This tank represents my preference for freshwater tanks. Enough said. this is a saltwater forum
next i will post on the 20g macro algae then the 55g display.

 

[beaslbob]

My first attempt at macro algae in my 55g, lasted about three weeks. Crabs eat it. I then dusted off an old 20g long added sand and ordered macro..
At the same time an angelfish was distressed in my display so i placed that fish in the 20g. I then went on a three day trip and returned to an decomposing angelfish. I removed it and a week later recieved a macro order. Half went to display and have to this tank.
I did use 10g of water from the display in this tank, and new water to fill both tanks. So technically, last Feb I did conduct a 10G water change in the 55g display. Last water change in any of my tanks.
Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates all pegged the tests. Ph in the display tested out at 7.4-7.8. In this tank ph was 8.4+. Additionally, a baby molly had been accidentially introduced into this tank from the display. Ammonia droped to 0.0 the first week, nitrites the second week and nitRates took about 3 weeks after that to drop to 0.0. Meahwhile the baby molly grew from 3/16' to 1.5" even though I did not add food.
I later added a powerhead and about two weeks later the molly was gone.
the tank has remained at 0.0 nitrAtes. I now have shaving brushes, caulpera (feather and kelp like), Gracillera (SP?), and turtle grass in this tank. As I grow algae in this tank I add it to the display.
I have on two occasions "swapped" 4 g of water between this and the display.

 

[dreeves]

Some pictures of your setup beaslebob dude would be interesting to see...
OT: Where were you all stationed in the AF? Me, DMAFB, AZ, Suwon AB, ROK, MAFB, WA, Taegu AB, ROK, and EAFB, SD

 

[beaslbob]

Not to bore you with all the details, the 55g display was first setup in october, crashed in november, was changed to sand with CC on top in december. filtration is a tetratech pf500 and the macros. fast forward:
ammonia and nitrItes has remained at 0.0 for some months.. Ph tended to dip to 7.4-7.8. I continued to add macro which was being eaten by my yellow tang. Thinks seemed to settle down with 5 damsels, the yellow tank, green starfish, bahama star, banded coral shrimp, ~10-15 hermits and 4-5 turbo snales. I was feeding flake food only with a little at the top of the tank in the morning and heavy turkey baster feeding at night. nitrAtes varied from 40 to 160+ppm.
When I set up the 20g I used the original two 18" NO lights for the 20g. This tank got a $8.00 4' utility fixture with 3300 lumen daylight type tubes. About a month ago I sawed off the edges of the reflectors and added another 4" utility fixture. Each fixture now has a corralife actinic bulb and a 3300 lumen daylight bulb. Brown/red algae did reappear with this extra lighting.
About a month ago I went on another trip for a week. During that time my wife fed the tank. At the end of the week nitrates tested at 40-80 ppm. After a week of my feeding nitrAtes were 120-160ppm (light red). I then cut down my feeding to one light feeding per day. For the next two weeks nitrAtes remained at 160+ppm (solid red on the test). On the third week I was a little shocked that nitrAtes tested to 20ppm (Yellow on the test). Meanwhile, the new brown/red algaes have reduced, cleaner crew have cleaned patches on the rocks, and remaining algaes have turned green.

 

[beaslbob]

Dreeves:
If i can get a good pic then yes. It is a little dark now with the green algae.
was stationed at chanute, Il, Keesler, Luke, ellsworth sd (75-80), Holloman NM, eglin Fl, Blytheville/Eaker ark, howard panama, Kirtland, NM
I know what I say here is not the accepted method. I also respect the very sucessiful and absolutely awesome tanks you, reef, tip, and others have. My hope is that my 55g will make it to that point. If anyone here wants more info my email is: beaslbob@aol.com

 

[reefnut]

Originally posted by beaslbob
My hope is that my 55g will make it to that point.
With that said think about this...
If you were to connect your 20g macro tank into your 55g not only would you have a fuge the macros in the 20g would get a good supply of nutrients. Leave the macros in the display if you like the looks.
Buy a skimmer to help the macros. The goal is to weed out the bad algae and replace it with good, right, a skimmer could help this by eliminating excess nutrients.
Buy lighting that is atleast 6500k. Again to help the macros weed out the uglies. Most algae grows better under a lower kelvin because of the red/yellow spectrum.
Get a fresh water source. A fresh water source will make it to where your macros are only filtering out the excess nutrients that the tank is producing. Again to help the macros weed out the uglies.
A good water change with fresh water will replenish trace elements, remove excess nitrates, phosphates, what ever and will help the macros weed out the uglies.
We (I) am a strong believer in all of this. I for one like to learn from others and avoid the mistakes of others. It is my hope that other newbies will learn ways to avoid algae blooms, tank poisonings, etc. and have extremely successful tanks.

 

[crazy8]

Reef,
I have to say that in my short time on this message board, that is the first time I have ever read anything that makes me actually want to do a water change.
All this about doing a water change to lower Nitrates didn't make sense since my tank and hopefully many others have nitrates near 0.
But I hadn't thought of replacing trace elements with a water change. Makes more sense to do that than to waste money on chemicals. A lot easier to use the salt I have left in the closet
As for the algae (good and bad) I know the bad algae is brownisih, but the best looking tanks have what appears to be purple algae all over the rocks. Am I right on assuming this is the corraline algae? If so, what other colors should I be hoping for. Personally I don't mind a lot of algae even though I do have a cleaning crew. I can always clean the glass with my magnet.

 

[crazy8]

So, on a 55 gal without a fuge, what is the recommended water change intervals. When my lights come in, I expect a lot of evaporation that I am using tap water (yeah, I know) to replace it with. I just use a chlorine remover and still leave it out overnight in a 2 gal jug when I do top-offs. Correct me if I am wrong, but do not sell me on a RO-DI yet. Still getting into this hobby as "easily" as possible.