high nitrates

[casey75]

I havent done much with my tanks lately because im a broke college kid

but i made enough to convert my 75 reef into a 125 reef. So i checked the water conditions of the 125 first to see what a mess I have made. Everything is pretty good except i have high nitrates. I am getting a reading of about 20 ppm or under on this test. Besides doing a water change, is there anything else i can do? the only things that are in the tank is a small picasso and 2 small damsels and about 60 lbs of live rock; i just wanted the tank to be cycled. its been running for about a year and a half now

 

[puffer32]

I would hope its cycled after a yr and a half. :notsure: what you meant by that?A reading of 20 nitrates is not to bad, but you could try lowering it by water changes and chaeto in your fuge if you have one.

 

[casey75]

sorry for the confusion. the tank has been cycled for a year and a half. I havent done much with it besides throwing in those few fish so i decided to convert it to a reef.
I dont have a fuge, so anything other than the water changes?
Is it bad to start transfering liverock and corals into this tank with the elevated nitrates?Will the added live rock help this situation?

 

[felipe]

Make sure the volume of your water changes is large enough to make a difference in the nitrates reading.
Dr. Holsmes-Farley has a good article on this on the reefkeeping magazine.
As far as I remember, small constant water changes work well replenighing lost nutriesnts, but don't do much for your situation. The best way to rid yourself of pollution is dilution.
Hope this helps.

 

[poniegirl]

Originally Posted by Felipe
Make sure the volume of your water changes is large enough to make a difference in the nitrates reading.
Dr. Holsmes-Farley has a good article on this on the reefkeeping magazine.
As far as I remember, small constant water changes work well replenighing lost nutriesnts, but don't do much for your situation. The best way to rid yourself of pollution is dilution.
Hope this helps.
Don't mean to intrude, but that is good to know, about larger water changes!

 

[am3gross]

yeah i would say that if you only have fish in there i would do a 50% water change. that should bring your trates down to about 10. then maybe in a week do another 50%water change. just remember not to feed the fish to much or your trates will go back up. i would also do a fuge if you are considering going reef. there are so many benifits of having a fuge not only on a reef system but also with a fowlr tank. jmo good luck

 

[casey75]

what are trates from? with the size of the fish in the 125 tank there should be barely anything. the picasso is maybe 4 inch long and the two damsels are an inch long each. there should be no stresses on the tank

 

[bonebrake]

The nitrates could be the end products from die off from adding live rock or live sand, overfeeding, or neglecting to do needed water changes in the past.

 

[felipe]

Originally Posted by PonieGirl
Don't mean to intrude, but that is good to know, about larger water changes!
Don't make them too large now or you can put too large a stress on the life in your system. Research shows ( from what I understand) 30% works best in most nitrate cases.

 

[pyro]

Anything on it filtration wise? Keep the pads clean? Run a skimmer at all?
Just a couple ideas.

 

[tangs123]

you might want to invest in a protein skimmer!
it will take the fish poo out that is most likely causeing the nitrate problem!!