Nitrate Question

[surfjnkie9]

My nitrates are way out of control..like around 60-80

I've been doing weekly water changes to try and get the number down..Is it possible to do daily or every other day changes to bring the number down quicker? Thanks.

 

[jjlittle]

Some thing is the cause of high nitrate are you over feeding even teh water you are doing water changes with could be the cause. How long has the tank been up and running?

 

[tuningvis]

yea but there is a factor that is making this happen...
whats your bio-load
whats your filtration
andwhat size tank

 

[surfjnkie9]

16gallon tank.
2 Clowns, 1 fireshrimp, 1 peppermint shrimp
Assorted crabs, snails
Aquaclear 200 filter
2 powerheads
8lbs. or so of live rock
The tank has been up for about 9 months. Don't think I'm over feeding..usually feed about once a day. And there isn't usually excess food leftover. If there is the shrimp take care of it. Not sure why the levels are so high.
ANd I'm using Ro/Di water for all my changes/ top offs

 

[tuningvis]

take out all media from your filter and add 20 more LBS of LR

 

[surfjnkie9]

What will taking out the media do?
And I also have a lot of rock in there besides the original live rock. The other rock is now "alive" I guess you could say.
Just bought a Protein SKimmer that should be here in about 2 weeks.

 

[trainfever]

If you have bio-media in your filter, it will create excess nitrates. You have enough bio-media with the live rock.

 

[gfk]

i have a hang on back filter in my 20 gallon with about 24lbs of live rock should i take out the carbon bag and sponge thing? or just leave them in? im not having a problem with nitrates, but how else should i/he filter water then? i understand the live rock does it but still...

 

[mudplayerx]

That protein skimmer will help out a BUNCH.

 

[trainfever]

some people have bio balls and/or ceramic rings in their HOB filters. That is what I mean by Bio-media, not your filter cartridge.

 

[pelena]

I wanted to understand more about the removing bio media thing so I started a new thread to see what others have to say about it. Check it out, imput, thanks