24 gallon aquapond Nitrate...

[redtide94]

I am having a heck of a time with nitrates (stuck on about 25-30). Doing my water changes. Have leather coral, open brain and polyps about 35lbs live rock + pseudo chromis, bi color damsel, cardinal and mandarin. All seem to be doing pretty well.
In the back I took out the bioballs and carbon. I only have the sponges back there now. Any suggestions on what to put in the back and where? Two compartments. Thank you.

 

[fedukeford]

When was the last time you cleaned the sponges? Did anything die recently? IMO you should keep running the carbon in one of the sections, and im pretty sure that make a nitrate remover. what kind of tests are you testing with? if its not sailfert, then you may want to get a sailfert nitrate test kit before you do anything to make sure that you have accurate readings.
Feduke

 

[redtide94]

I just boiled the sponges this week, rinsed with tap water and allowed them to dry. The carbon was the original that came with the tank (6 months old...they were white rings). I replaced them with carbon in a nylon mesh bag.

 

[yerboy]

mandarins dont do well in nano tanks, they feed of pods that live in your rock. 1 mandarin needs around 100lbs of lr that has been in a tank around a year to produce enough pods to keep it healthy. You can buy live copods to help supplement feeding but its not cheap IMO. If you notice him getting skinny try to take him to a lfs for store credit or give him to someone that has a pod population to support his diet.

 

[lbaskball]

yerboy,
I agree with you. They eat pods like thers no tomorrow.