Bringing down nitrates

[xrayman]

I have been doing 10-15 percent water changes daily for a week my nitrates are 20-40 ppm the color is closer to 20 i think,but alot better than last week.My question is can i continue to do this daily till they are at 0 without causing damage to tank or creating a cycle.I'm using RO water from walmart.Any help would be appreciated.

 

[ninjamini]

Think about your bioload and how much you feed them. Try a cleaner clam (aka littleneck clam at the grocery). It seems to work wonders for me. Get rid of any biowheel or balls. Changing water would be stressful if all the perams are not the same. temp/ salt... I would not want to do it every day.
My kid likes this guy:

 

[jester805]

I have a similar problem (except my nitrates are upwards of 200). I've been doing 12 gallon water changes weekly. That hasn't even phased it. I just recently cut way back on the feeding in hopes that this will fix my problem.
Here's the post I started last week. Some good info in there if you want to look at it:
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=193397

 

[zoie2]

my tank has been cycling for 2 weeks now, and my nitrates won't go down either. Mt nitrites and amonia have been 0 for 3 days now. If I take those ball things out of the filter thing, do I have to put anything else in there, and why does taking them out make a difference (just out of curiosity :thinking: )

 

[mbowker]

I currently have 12 little neck clams in my sump, they are from the local grocery. 3.99 per dozen. Put them in a bowl of your tank water, they will open and purge out all the bad water they have been storing. after they show there little foot and try to move around, drop them in and they will bury themselves in the substrate. My nitrates went from a 40 to zero. I have never had zero nitrates before this. The lfs wanted 5.99 each, yes each,because they called it a cleaner clam. Look it up on this site and It is a little neck clam.

 

[xrayman]

Water and salinity are the same i have mixed ro water in trash can that i always try to keep some in it.My bi0-wheel has been gone now for several years.

 

[xrayman]

Are there any more thoughts on continuing daily water changes as long as new water is same temp and everything as the tank?

 

[farslayer]

Water changes help the situation, but you need to find the root cause. First, what size is your tank. What do you have living in there? How much LR do you have and how much coraline growth do you have? What is your filitration? Are you using the Wal Mart drinking water? Give some more info and then we'll go from there.

 

[xrayman]

It's 75 gallon about 50lbs live rock.I would say the root of problem is that lack of attention for awhile i'm on call all the time at the hospital.

 

[xrayman]

I forgot i have used the distilled water from walmart,but have switched to the RO water from there.

 

[farslayer]

Ah, well, first I would say not enough live rock, I've always had a ratio of 1 to 2 lbs of live rock per gallon, so you would need another 25 lbs or more. How much livestock do you have?

 

[xrayman]

Four fish damsel,maroon clown,engineer golby and can't think of the other one at this moment.

 

[farslayer]

Hmm, not an overload issue I would think. Are you feeding too often? Definately add more live rock, and the little neck clams is a good idea, I believe the rule of thumb is 1 per 5 gallons. Do you have any canister filters or any other source of nitrates by chance? You could also place some mangroves in your tank, plus Xenia reduce nitrates as well. I use Xenia, live rock and mangroves and have 0 nitrates and tons of coral in my 46 gallon. I also have a clown, scooter blenny, yellow watchman goby, dusky jawfish, blue faced blennie, cleaner shrimp, pistol shrimp, 8 scarlet hermits, one left handed hermit and an emerald crab.

 

[xrayman]

Would water changes daily hurt my tank to get nitrates down

 

[farslayer]

I wouldn't do it daily, I would make changes every other day, no more than about 15 per cent. Test your parameters about an hour after you do your water change and make sure everything is on target, otherwise cease your water changes or you could shock your system. Then implement a nitrate reducing scheme to keep your tank nice and clean.

 

[xrayman]

Thanks for your help I tested nitrates this afternoon and they are around 20ppm.Have alot more time to spend with tank and going to add some stuff to help once i can get the water levels back good.All the other parameters are good except nitrates

 

[xrayman]

Here's a pic of my tank

 

[farslayer]

Is that a candy cane coral on the left?

 

[xrayman]

Frogspawn,but it was one of my casulities at the time of picture did not get it out in time for picture.

 

[farslayer]

Looking at your pic, I would say definately not enough live rock and very little coraline from what I can tell. I think that is the root of your problem, stock that puppy with live rock. Your water changes will only be a band aid right now, put all the LR you can afford in that baby!