New To site Need a little help

[alfieferenzo84]

Hi I have been reading on this site for about 2mo its really a great place so i figured i would leave my other site and talk hear!
I have been doing saltwater for about 4yrs took a yr break due to moving aorund and ect now i am back and been doing it for about a yr!
I got a 75 gallon fish only live rock/sand You can check out this page for pics and details on my tank current http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2474061/2
I started off kinda fast got a lot of fish and 6mo later got ick and did hypo lost 7 fish and been doing kinda good for the 4mo but my nitrates will not stable out or really go down!
Tank as of now salt 1.023, ph 8.3, nitries 0, ammonia 0, Nitrates always 20
if i dont change water everyweek after 2wks my nitrates will almost be off the chart around 80-160
I cut back major on feeding down to usally once a day to everyother day i hate to be mean and not feed! I just added the skimmer but i know its not very good about 1/2 cup a week, I started to run the mag 350 with carbon changing and cleaning wkly just started this week, Also been using amquel with water changing and top off sense i use tap water My tap water has 10 nitrates in it from the start not to high but i know not good!
Anyways long story short on the other board there telling me my fish are going to die and everything will be a mess with having nitrates at 20 witch i can maintain it there and keep it under 20 so i wanted to ask you all what do you think about this? Is there sumthing i should change or do? Just looking for a second thought as ive read alot and you all are alot nicer and i think smarter!
Last thing i am maybe thinking about ro/di but i dont see the point in a fish only as i thought nitrates dont hurt fish? Well let me know and glad to join the site hope i can help! Thanks

 

[scubaguy]

First thing how much LR and what do you have for substrate?
Nitrate 20 ppm is not bad but it is not good also. You need to do water changes every week not every two weeks.
What do you have the 75 gal stocked with?
With your Tap having 10 ppm Nitrate I would switch to Ro/DI water. At my LFS it is $.40 a gallon, I think that is highbut not sure.

 

[alfieferenzo84]

link had details and pic but hear ya go also i just wanted to really know will the 20 nitrates hurt anything? Also i have been doing a weekly water change of about 12gal now to let you know!
Tank setup
2 Maxi jets 1200mp
2 Maxi jets 900mp
1 Sea clone skimmer 150
1 Mag 350 canister (Usally dont use to much trouble)
1 Ebo jagger 300w i think
20lb live rock
100lb of base rock seeded for about a yr now
120lb of play sand (soon to add 60lb of live)
1 Percula Clown fish had for yr
1 Porcipine puffer had for 9mo
1 Baby clown had for yr
1 Sixline wrasses had for 9mo.
1 Flame Angel had for 9mo.
About 10 blue leg crabs (Need more)
Snails getting eatten by puffer
soon to get starfish again
Maybe add a sump!

 

[sebae09]

the problem im seeing is that you dont have a very good cleanup crew. im guessing because the puffer eats them and you dont want to buy new snails every week, that gets expensive. i suggest you hold off on the starfish and definately add a sump. i allways had high nitrates in my reef tank untill i got about 500 snails off of

[hr]
for like 50 bucks they are definatly a great cleanup crew. that will be the cheapist way to help. next cheapist would be buying a new skimmer and most expensive will be the sump.

 

[alfieferenzo84]

i know i need a clean up crew but i do make sure all food is eatten and what is not i net out as i turn the ph off during feeding!
So the nitrates being around 20 wont hurt my fish then and i shouldnt worrie?
Is maybe my live rocks having trouble?
What do you all think about carbon in the mag 350?
i am thinking about a sump and a ro/di unit just dont really have much money now! Thanks

 

[scubaguy]

i know i need a clean up crew but i do make sure all food is eatten and what is not i net out as i turn the ph off during feeding!
So the nitrates being around 20 wont hurt my fish then and i shouldnt worrie?
No should not hurt but it is the max that it should be at.
Is maybe my live rocks having trouble?
Alot of base rock, will take time to become LR
What do you all think about carbon in the mag 350?
Would not hurt.
i am thinking about a sump and a ro/di unit just dont really have much money now! Thanks
Yeah, I know about the money wooooos

 

[sly]

The first thing you need to do is get a water filter. If you can't afford reverse osmosis right now, then get a deioniser unit made by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. It's simply called "The Tap Water Filter". This will remove the nitrates from your tap water. You need to stop using tap water ASAP... it is nowhere near good enough for saltwater use.
Also why are you using Amquel? This simply hides a problem rather than fixing it plus it can disturb the mineral balance in salt water and is not good to build up in a tank. Your ammonia is at 0 ppm and you are doing regular water changes. You do not need to put additives in your tank. They cause far more problems than they create.
Don't get a starfish with a puffer.
If you need a cleanup crew that is puffer safe then consider getting some urchins. I have found that pincushion urchins work just as good as snails and nothing will dare eat them.
From the sound of it... you need more nitrobacter bacteria to consume your nitrate. Add more live rock as soon as you can. Let it cure in a seperate tank if you can so that you don't release ammonia into your main tank. Also consider adding a refugium with live plants. Mangroves, chaetomorpha and others work great at removing nitrates. Another option is to add a deep sand bed... but I personally recommend adding live rock instead as deep sand beds can be problematic in some cases and can crash if you ever need to move your tank.
Just remember, as long as you are doing your water changes, you do not need to put in additives. Only add to the water what you test for. Most of the time a tank will do just fine without adding anything to it whatsoever.

 

[alfieferenzo84]

added 40lb of live sand nitrates tested 40-60 today changed 20 gal
I cant do this anymore i think its time to get ro/di
As much salt as i am using the ro/di will pay for itself after 1-2mo if you think about it 20-50gal a week

 

[alfieferenzo84]

seabe
dont they die i heard they where cold water and short lived?

 

[sly]

They require extremely high quality tank water. Not recommended until your nitrates are at 0 ppm. They also need a lot of lighting.

 

[alfieferenzo84]

well i added 40lb of live sand and everyday without changing water my nitrates are going down! I started at 60 and now i am at 15 what do you all think about that? Should i add more? I only have about 4inch now! Thanks

 

[sly]

Look around for info on keeping a deep sand bed. You have to be carefull not to stir it in the future or your tank will crash. 4-6 inches is usually good enough.

 

[1journeyman]

How are you testing for nitrate? Something seems to be wrong with the figures...
If you do a 20% water change of water at let's say 80ppm with water at 10ppm your nitrates will be around 66ppm.

 

[alfieferenzo84]

about stiring it up thats funny cuz the guy at the store said i should give it a little stir like 1/2 into the sand and just like stir with my finger hear n there and he has his own store with stuff that is amazing!

 

[sly]

Light vacuuming is ok as well as stirring to get up any loose detrius as long as you go about 1/2 inch deep like he said... I was referring to stirring the whole substrate down to the glass... The bottom layers of sand NEVER need to be exposed to the oxygen rich water on the surface or else you will kill the bacteria in your biological system you can crash the tank.

 

[alfieferenzo84]

nitrates are holding at 20 not falling anymore should i add more sand maybe just so its more closer to 4-5 or just leave it?