High Nitrates

[capt crabtabulous]

My tank has been up for 10 months now. I've continually had a problem with nitrates. I use a Salifert test kit and consistantly get readings between ~15 to ~25 ppm. I do 25 gal water changes at least every two weeks. My only guess right now is that I've got too many fish in there. I've got six Damsels, two clown fish, a yellow tang, a blue tang (parancanthurus hepatus), one small scooter blenny, a small herd of hermit crabs and snails. I've also got a Torch coral, a Frogspawn, Xenia, and one mystery coral that resembles the Frogspawn. All of the corals are doing great. Any ideas??

 

[peasly1]

do you have cc or ls..your readings are not to high right now although we know o nitrates are best,are you feeding to much ?

 

[capt crabtabulous]

I use crushed coral and yes it's possible I've been feeding to much. I was going basically by the "feed them what they can eat in three minute" rule. Maybe I'll cut back a little... They won't be happy.

 

[dburr]

A plenum won't work right with cc. The particals are too big and your getting too much O2 in the bottom layer.
Also, the cc is collecting fish poop making a nitrate factory.
I would very least vacuum the substrate when doing water changes. Only the top 1" layer.
It would be better to get the cc out. PAIN IN THE BUTT!
good luck!!

 

[nm reef]

I support the remove the cc theory...personally all I will use is a dsb of 4-6 " sand preference for me is 60% carib sea aragamax-40% natures ocean ls...a well set-up and maintained dsb will effectively keep nitrates to a minimum

 

[capt crabtabulous]

I may have displayed my ignorance (once again) when I replied that I had crushed coral. I still have one of the bags that my substrate came in. It is "Carib Sea Argonite". It says it is reef sand with a particle diameter of 1-2mm. I sure hope this stuff is okay for a plenum.

 

[ocellaris_keeper]

Unfortuneately Carib Sea Aragonite is Crushed Coral and the 1-2mm is its size. that's that same stuff I am using and my nitrates are really high. I just purchased some sand and will be making the change in week or so. Suggest you do the same and good luck.

 

[burnnspy]

Your gravel sounds fine too me, how deep is it, how big is your tank and how often do you feed the fish?
Aragonite is cushed coral, but when reef keepers refer to CC they usually mean the large diameter CC with shells and junk.
BurnNSpy

 

[carpetpro]

How do you recommend doing the change from CC to sand? And waht type of sand are we talking about?
Thanks