HELP! Any Ideas?

jdykstra

Member
I have a 29 gallon tank with
40 lbs of live rock
3in. live sand bed
Nitrite 0.0
Nitrate 60
ph 8.2
temp 78
ammonia 0
1 percula clownfish
1 clarkii clown
1 spotted hawkfish
1 green brittle star
1 coral banded shrimp
1 star lfs said was a bahama star
1 pincushion urchin
1 condi anenome
5-6Bumble bee snails
5-6narcissus (sp) snails
5 or so redleg hermits,
3 scarlet hermits
5 -7 blueleg hermits
1 emerald crab
So here is the problem: I have been doing 5 gallon water changes every week for the last 2 months and I can not get my nitrates to come down. Everything in the tank is thriving, fish and inverts are fine. I am not overfeeding. I don't know what to do to get the numbers down. I want to start putting coral in and really get it looking like a reef tank should but I cant with these rediculous nitrates. Any Suggestions?
Thanks,
Jennifer
 

whitey_028

Member
I beleive clams will also feed on nitrates
I got some on a peice of live rock that i stuck in my tank and i had high nitrates for about a month..I dont know if its a coincident or not but when i put those ugly things in the nitrates dropped fast
 

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by whitey_028
I beleive clams will also feed on nitrates
I got some on a peice of live rock that i stuck in my tank and i had high nitrates for about a month..I dont know if its a coincident or not but when i put those ugly things in the nitrates dropped fast

I have also used clams to help with my nitrates. I get the cherry clams that you buy at the seafood counter.
 

am3gross

Member
1st thing i would do is to check my test results with somebody elses or maybe even buy another test kit. i seen alot of times that the test kits are wrong because they are either the cheap ones or they have been on the shelf to long. if your tests are accurate i think that step to should be maybe a 7 to 10 gallon water change. you might want to go ahead and test your ro water for nitrates just to be safe to.just my opionion however let us know what happens.
am3gross
 
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