Bringing down nitrates

[jonnywater]

I am using a biowheel and dont seem to have any problems with nitrate, why is that? I use the Marineland 400 biowheel with the filter floss and carbon filters. Then I have an AquaC Remora that is slightly big for my aquarium, LOL. I do have about 80 pounds of Aragonite sand in my 55 but only about 10 pounds of actual live rock. I figured that something was wrong the first month that I set up my tank because of a green algae bloom, but every place I took my water (and it was a lot of places) said that my nitrate was undetectable. I do have a frequent problem with diatoms though. Mainly on piping is about it. Why else would biowheels be bad? They are supposed to get rid of ammonia and nitrite rather quickly.

 

[reefreak29]

these clams at the grocery store are they just those white clams if not what should i ask for specificly

 

[ktsdad]

Originally Posted by xrayman
Would water changes daily hurt my tank to get nitrates down
I don't think it will hurt you, but I also don't think it will help much.
Do the math.
Nitrates at 20 - 10% water change will reduce your nitrates by 10%
20 x 10% = .20
So after a 10% water change your new nitrate level is 19.8ppm.
If you want to get drastic then do a 50% water change, that will take a big chunk out.
Wait a few weeks then do another 50%.
Meanwhile you need some other means to get the nitrate out of the tank on a more permanent type fix.
Cleaner clams, Xenia etc is a good start.
More live rock = better biological fitration - this is a good thing.
What kind of filtration do you have? (sorry if I missed it in an earlier post).
Do you have a protien skimmer?
Do you have a good clean up crew? (hermits, snails, etc?)
Are there any filter pads in the system that may need changing?
If you have a chamber with bio balls, have you cleaned them lately? Gotten any detrious out of the bio ball chamber? I do not agree with removing the bio balls for the reason that they contribute to the nitrate problem - they don't if you do some simple housekeeping now and then.
I am just going on what has worked for me in the past.
Good luck, I am sure it will work out for the best!

 

[xrayman]

Thanks everyone for you help.

 

[sunnyday]

Originally Posted by 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.

I'm trying your cleaner clam idea (to lower nitrates). I purchased a dozen from the local seafood market. I put them down in my sump; I figure that way I can keep an eye on them in case one dies. Do you still keep yours in your sump? Will they get enough to eat down there, or should I move them to the tank? I have crushed coral for my substrate, not sand. Will the substrate make a difference? Also...I bought 1 cleaner clam from swf several months ago, and haven't seen him since the day I put him in. Maybe that's a good sign he's buried and still alive? I haven't notice any sand being spit up. Thanks.

 

[phoenixfla]

Question for those of you who purchased clams at the grocery store: Our grocery store keeps their clams on ice. While I am sure they are still alive, will they be able to survive being at such a low temperature? Did yours come the same way? If so did you warm them up slowly or just drop them in?

 

[farslayer]

Math error, 10% of 20 is 2, not .2, so a 10% water change with 20ppm of nitrate would reduce the nitrates to 18, not 19.8.

 

[lockemup]

I had a problem with trates some time back and removed the bio balls. I then took some base rock, broke it up into pieces and put them in the sump in place of the bio balls. Ran the system like that for about 6 months and finally switched over to a sock filter. After installing the sock filter in the sump, I moved the base rock up to the display tank and now I am starting to get nice growth on all that base rock just like the LR. I am very pleased with this and so are my xenias... Oh yah, my trates are lower and very managable.