Nitrate Problem

[bailey52]

What a lot of people do (i did not read about which type of filtration you have) but say you have a sump (or however your water comes before it hits your pump) before feeding, pit a piece of panty hose on the end, and leave on while the excess food is sucked up, then you can remove this.... if you did not do this, the food would get cause in whatever other media you are using, and will deteriorate, and eventually produce lots of nitrate

 

[loodachris]

Thats a great idea thanks, that might be a main cause of it, because i have very powerful filtration for such a little tank so there is no doubt in my mind that a lot of it get stuck in my filter media. Although they are powerfilters not a sump so im not too sure how i could work that.

 

[bailey52]

well whatever is it you use to catch the waste and extra food and debris, i would recomend replacing that, and then, after you feed, and every day or two rinse it out very good. Also i would highly recomend a in tank refugium, besides providing to rid the tank of nitrates, it will also provide a nutritious snack for any herbavours (spelling) fish you may have in your tank when you cut them after they grow

 

[jn85cm]

Check out cleaner clams on this site. They lower nitrates. Someone had a good thread on where he got his. Also, I discovered the water I was using had high nitrates. If you are using your own tap water you might want to check that.

 

[bailey52]

looda.... if you do get a clam.. make sure you check the light requirments.. most clams require extensive lighting.. also.. where in NJ are you located.... It seems for some reason there are a lot of people from NJ on here

 

[jn85cm]

I dont know how to put a thread on this post. But if you look under the reef mess. look at cleaner clam question. I believe it was posted yesterday or day before. Really was alot of fun to read. Maybe that will also help you with cleaner clams to lower your nitrates. They are not anything pretty but they live in the sand so you really won't even see them.

 

[~sc~emt~]

take a powerhead and blow it through all your live rock, its amazing what you will blow out and it well help bring nitrates down. I did not believe it till I tried it.

 

[scubadoo]

Your Trigger and yellow tang are too big for a 29 gallon set-up. THey are heavy waste producers and will outgrow that 29 in no time. In fact, they are probably too big for the tank now...but just my opinion. They make look happy now but will get stressed as they grow. Also, your trigger will thank you for the clam meal should you decide to place that in your tank.
Taking your biggest measuremnt of each animal...you have 10 inches of fish and you should only have about 5-6 inches. You are close to twice your bioload capacity for a 29 gallon set-up. No hard fast rule but usually one inch fish per 5 gallons of water. You are over your max bio-load plus a Niger and yellow are heavy waste producers.
In my opinion...you have a time bomb there waiting to explode due to a heavy bioload. I beleive the bio-load is your main problem. ...with others as mentioned in previous posts.

 

[knots]

Hey Looda, it took almost 2 days for the tang police to say something about your yellow tang in a 29 gal. While I definately agree with Scuba about it being too small of a tank for them, I was wondering how long it would take for someone to say something. They caught ya.

 

[bailey52]

HAHA yea right.. I agree, but Im on the same side, I have a spacious 4ft 90 gal (haha sounds like a for rent ad) and i am going to get a tang.. and people tell me its to small, i had one before for about 2 years and gave him away when i took the tank down.. I never saw any probs.. and i bought him at about 5-6"

 

[knots]

Bailey, yours is plenty big. I say go buy one.:yes:

 

[bailey52]

finally some positive reinforcement, i mean ok, i wont go get a nurse shark.. but a yellow tang in a 4ft tank should be ok

 

[knots]

I've have seen ophiura say that she isn't against putting a tang in a tank your size as long as it is a mature tank. If she says it then I would take her advice over what alot of these other people say. She seems to always have what's best for the fish in mind. And ophiura, if I misquoted you I'm sorry.

 

[loodachris]

So do you think it would be ok to get the Niger out of there for now? Ive got a nice place to put him he would be all by himself though. But yeah i know what you mean, they do crap a lot. Im sure Im going to be upgrading my tank size soon so for now do you think that yellow tang might be alright with the clown until then? maybe a couple of months to a year.... I live in North Jersey- Morris County

 

[knots]

That last post I wrote was meant for Bailey and the 90. I should have said that. Looda, I think that a 29 is way too small even for a short time. I don't think you'll get to many people around here to say it's ok.

 

[bailey52]

YEA for me!!! I can have a tang but you cant!!

haha jk!

 

[scubadoo]

I would remove the Niger and the yellow. The Niger might hang in there for awhile but the yellow could develop stress as the tank is just too small for a medium yellow tang. No definites in this hobby so all you can do is reduce your risk of loss and stress to the animals. A tank crash can be frustrating. I had several when I first strated in the hobby over 30 years ago.
Just trying to help you avoid making the same mistkes I made years ago.

 

[babs]

hi all, i have been reading the posts and replies, i am having nitrate problems as well, i am going to follow advise as well.
thank you
one of the problems that was causing my high levels was my well water i was using to top off my tank between water changes.
So that could be a reason this other tank is to high, i have a friend whos tap water is high on nitrates and it's not well water. but mine is.
So i now will have to use bottle water to top off tank.
hope it gets better.