Newbie question for a 4 year hobbyist regarding tank maintenance

[gtdarock]

Hey guys ! I've been in this great hobby for 4 years. And a lot of the credit goes to everyone on this site who is always there to give great advice. You guys know who you are

So I have my 220 for about a year now. I've always had a problem of high nitrates, sometimes its at 60 ppm. But for the past few weeks, I've been doing a 30 gallon water change every week, and now its down to 40ppm.What a basically do during a water change, I usually use a Mag float and Algae scrubber to clean around the glass, them I siphon out 30 gallons of water and replace. And every month I change the filter pads. But I was wondering if I should ever stir up the sand -? I never ever did so. The sandbed is about an 1in to an 1 1/2 in. And I have DSB of 6in in my refugium. So guys, should I ever stir up the sand -? I'm thinking if I don't, then the Nitrates get stuck in the sandbed, since I don't stir it up
Thanks

 

[fraggle rock]

you really should not stir the sand, do you have any sifting criters in your CUC? If you stir your sand you end up releasing all the toxins into your water yourself, where members of your CUC sift it slowly while feeding and moving.

 

[spanko]

IMO;
When you do the water chang continue to clean the glass before hand but also use a turkey baster to blow on the rocks. You will be surprised at how much detritus comes up.
The cleaning of the once a month is not sufficient. They should be cleaned every week with the water change. Also if you could replace the pads with just some floss you could change that out every day or so. Stuff is really inexpensive at a craft store. It is called polyester fiber fill and is used to stuff pillows etc.
Again JMO.

 

[fau8]

What type of filter system do you have? A 220 should not have any nitrate issues as it is a very stable environment. A sump with a refugium should solve this issue. Please provide your fish stocking list and feeding schedule.

 

[florida joe]

A 220 should not have any nitrate issues as it is a very stable environment. A sump with a refugium should solve this issue
The size of the tank or refug in no way guarantee you will not have a nitrate problem. As far as stirring up your substraight do a small section at a time and monitor you water frequently a 1 inch sand bed in a tank of your size IMO is not giving you ample di-nitrification. How many gallons and what do you have in your refug

 

[rcreations]

When I do my weekly water change, I use a turkey baster to blow on the rocks, I then clean the glass and the sump. I use a turkey baster to blow at the bottom of the sump and refugium, to get anything that might have gotten stuck between the rocks. I also have a cleanup crew in the refugium. Another thing I do is rinse the chaeto with old tank water from the water change. I don't have any filter pads or carbon, so nothing there to rinse. I also use a turkey baster to blow at the sand, but not to create a sand storm and I do it in sections, like I do the left side this week, middle next week and so on. With all this I manage to always keep the nitrates at 20 or lower.

 

[fau8]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/3141147
The size of the tank or refug in no way guarantee you will not have a nitrate problem. As far as stirring up your substraight do a small section at a time and monitor you water frequently a 1 inch sand bed in a tank of your size IMO is not giving you ample di-nitrification. How many gallons and what do you have in your refug
Joe, what I am saying is there has to be be a root cause to have high nitrates in a tank that size. I can see nitrates reaching 20 40 60... in a smaller tank. But if you starting at zero its going to take some time to to reach that in a 220.
So I am still thinking the cause is over feeding or dead spots from weak filtration.

 

[gtdarock]

Hey guys ! Fraggle, I just picked up some a CUC about 40 hermits and 6 super size hermits.Spanko, I picked up a turkey baster today, and I'm ready for my water change, thanks. About the pads, I have the Pura Large ones, so I usually change them ever month. So you're saying to use the polyester fiber fill, and change them every week. No more pads anymore-? Hey Fau8 ! I have a 55 gal refugium with a DSB of 6in,10 long stems of mangroves I have about a month now,Bermuda BPS-3C Skimmer. Capacity- 100-300, Gallons/HR - 300, 12x Turbo Twist UV, and a Lifetech 5800 Main pump.Current stocklist - 3 tangs- yellow,purple and blue- 4 inches, humu trigger- 3inches and a adult emperor- 6inches. I have a Gold Puffer coming in tomorrow and a Queen Angel in the QT. That should be it for me. I feed once a day in the night time, some Spectrum Pellets, Spurlinia Flakes and Mysis Shrimp, soaked in vitamins. Hey Florida joe, so your saying I don't have enough live sand in the DT-? Should I add more. Or by having a DSB of 6in in the 55 gal refugium will make up for the sand in the DT -? I like your schedule Pete. So no pads in the refugium -? WOW I just put some hermits in the refugium. And I'm gonna follow your cleanup method right now. Thanks . I have 6 powerheads in the tank. One Tunze on the left side on the top of the tank,pushing towards the opposite side, then a Koralia right next to it pushing against the front glass, and I have a dual powerhead set in the middle of the tank pushing across. On the right side of the tank, its the same setup.

 

[gtdarock]

 

[fau8]

IMHO I would add more sand at least another 1". Also more live rock. What size is your sump?

 

[gwhunter]

When your doing your water changes are you vacumning the sand at all? I'm not a huge fan of sand since it's tough to get clean. I understand the CUC will help with that. Your skimmer looks kind of small for a 210. Is it possible your overfeeding?
Matt

 

[gtdarock]

Hey fau8. My sump is 55 gal with a DSB of 6in. How much more rock should I get-? Any choices on where to buy- ? Hey GW. The skimmer is rated for a 300 gallon .So I think I'm good. I only feed one large amount in the evening, so nope, no overfeeding.
I'm thinking about dosing with Vodka. I'm reading the article right now

 

[gtdarock]

 

[fau8]

With that size sump you should be fine. It looked smaller than that. I don't even think adding more sand would be the answer at this point. I forget the pound per gallon ratio for live rock. But with your stck list I would think 100-150 pounds would be the goal that includes what you have in the sump.
I still bet the issue is over feeding. I would feed every third day, and put algea sheets in daily.
Also have you tested the water for nitrates before you put it into your tank?
What kind of test kit are you using?

 

[fau8]

Question, for a tank that has been up over a year why is there no coraline growth on the back glass? Are you cleaning it off? About 3 months ago I transitioned from a 75 to a 125 and I already have about 25% of my rear glass covered.