Nitrate Problem

[loodachris]

HI, Ive got a problem with my nitrates. I cant seem to get it any lower than about 40. Ive got a 29 gal that has been set up since Dec '04. all my other levels are perfect and have been for weeks, except my nitrates. I have an emperor 280 and an aquaclear 70 (or 300), along with a 180 gal protein skimmer that works perfectly. In the tank I have a 2-3 inch Niger Trigger, a 3-4 inch Yellow Tang, a 2-3 Percula, large green L.T.A, Choc. chip star, and a hawaiian zebra hermit. Also about 10-15 lbs of Live rock and very little substrate. I change about 6-8 gal a week. Should I just do one good 10-12 Gal Change and then stay up with my reg changes. I think since im not changing more than that im just staying at 40?? I don't know. Please help!!

 

[unleashed]

how much is very little substrate? your tank sould have about 2-3 inches of substrate substrate is use to help nutrilize harmfull nitrates.but yes i would keep doing water changes untill you reach 0-10 on nitrates depending on your test kit

 

[loodachris]

Thanks Unleashed, Ive got about an inch down there I had about 2-3 inches originally but when i started putting live rock in i pulled some out so i can stick the rock on bare glass so food and such doent get caught underneath it. do you think i should change the substrate? its the same live sand/crushed coral mix i started the tank with. right before i took about 20 lbs. of the substrate out my nitrates were at about 80 after that it dropped to 40.

 

[loodachris]

Does anybody else have anything they might be able to add. I clean out/change the filter media every month or so. I do not overfeed i have no idea what it could be???

 

[unleashed]

im not sure why your particular mixure of substrate would have made such an impact on your nitrate level unless when doing water changes your not syphoning your substrate.your tank is fairly new the old sand should be sufficiant try rinsing it before placing it back into the tank.i have very mixed feeling about cc vs sand i have 2 tanks set up one with cc other with sand i personally found the cc to be easier to keep clean .as far as nutrilizing the nitrates you can use a product called pime it will at least detoxify the amonia and nitrates but i would continue to do water changes also concentrating on the substrate level of the tank.

 

[loodachris]

Thanks again. Yeah I have no idea. Like i said i have very little substrate in there, meaning not quite an inch and maybe not even 10 lbs. there is nothing but glass under the rock so i know nothing is stuck underneath. But since there is not a lot to vacuum i am able to go over the substrate twice and thoroughly when i change water. So 6-7 gallons later, there is usually a lot of particles in my bucket of removed water. Do you think it would be a good idea to do that 6 gal. vacuuming the bootom like usual, and then do another 6 gal of just water without vacuuming the bottom ( same day)?? Im just concerned about getting that Nitrate level down. I feel as though i do a water change every week just to keep it at 40. I just hate sticking my arm in there and doing this to the fish every single week.

 

[unleashed]

the problem as it seams you have nothing in the tank to help reduce the nitrates that realy is the job of your substrates.your basicly lacking the biofiltration .once you get it going good you shouldnt have to do it weekly.I personaly preffer cc over sand i find it easier to clean.although sand is suposed to be a better substrate .at this point I would recommend an up to 50% water change add the sand back to the tank and keep a close on on your parmeters this long time exposer to high nitrates is not good for your fish

 

[loodachris]

Yeah that seems to be the most reasonable thing to do im not really too sure how much more bio-filtration i can add on, I have the Aquaclear 70 with the foam cartige, activated carbon insert, and the bag of BioMax, along with an Emperor 280 with the Bio-Wheel and Filtration cartige with carbon and another basket of BioMax. And it is only a 29 gal... And again thatnk you for your help i really appreciate it.

 

[unleashed]

not a problem at all.yeh even with just your aquaclear going it sould be sufficiant filtering im running 2 aquaclear 300's and an aquaclear 2000 powerhed on my 125 and i dont realy have an issue with nitrates.do have a pic of your tank

 

[loodachris]

Not at the moment, no Pics. I just dont get it. the fish look amazingly healty and happy, the water is clear as can be, and all the other levels are perfect and stable. Ive got stuff growing out of my live rock, in my opinion this setup is looking really successful... except those damn nitrates!!

 

[bailey52]

Maybe you should try a small refug. Maybe an intank one with a bunch of macro algea that will feed on the nitrates...

 

[loodachris]

Thats not a bad idea how big are those? Right now my skimmer is in tank and very annoying to look at, but if thats going to get the job done...

 

[unleashed]

not a bad idea at al

 

[bailey52]

Do a search for refugiums on here, there are TONS of info!!! so much info.. anyway they are usually under the tank in a sump or seperate usually small 10-20 gal tank (some are huge! 100 gal +) but anyway you could do just a small intank hang on refugium

 

[loodachris]

OK thanks a lot I appreciate it. Thats whats great about these forums, so much different advice in so little time! thanks

 

[knots]

You might want to cut down on feeding a little bit. My nitrates were always around 30 to 40 and I cut down on feeding and they went to about 10 to 20. The stupid directions said to feed twice a day and so when I cut back to once a day and it took care of the problem. That's what I get for reading directions.

 

[loodachris]

Thanks Knots, I dont really feed a lot. I usually only feed them a cube of mysis shrimp every other day and the in between days about a 1/4 a cube of Formula 2 at night and a tiny pinch of flake in the morning (but not on the days i feed shrimp). I soak the food in Zoe vitamins, and i usually use a decent amount to make sure the food is completely soaked

 

[bailey52]

Remeber, unused food will go through the nitrogen cycle, and eventually become nitrate.. things like cloth filters will acumulate nitrate, you should rinse these, or dont use them at all, only whey feeding, so it will catch the excess food, then you can remove it, so the food does not break down.

 

[loodachris]

If i remove them, what filtration media should i use? i have the foam block in the aquaclear but the emperor has the cloth-type one with the carbon inside it. I just changed my foam block on the aquaclear on saturday and then sunday re-tested the nitrates and it didnt move at all.

 

[schadiest1]

you should never mixed crushed coral with live sand. i thought that was ok at first too, but received much better advice on the subject after the fact. the crushed coral acutally traps detritus in your substrate. you should choose one or the other. a pain in the you know what! I just did mine 2 days ago, seperating the cc/live sand took 2 hours.