Nitrate Question

[sallen]

I have a 4ft 120ltr tank with a aquaclear 300 waterfall type filter. I have tried water changes but cannot keep the nitrate level below 20???? Does anyone have any ideas??? There are only four small fish in the tank and I feed tham mostly brine shrimp. Would clowns and inverts survive at that level??? :help:
Thanks
sallen

 

[flpriest]

Hi,
I have heard that if you have crushed coral for substraight it can keep your nitrates elevated over sand or live sand due to the fact that stuff gets trapped easier in it. If you do have CC, you might try to vacuuming the substraight when you do your water changes.

 

[joe 09]

you should not feed brine to your fish,it has no nutritional value.i feed my fish mysis shrimp,ocean nutrition,formula 2, brine shrimp plus.the last two are flakes.i feed them 3 small amounts every other day.rates of 20 are not that bad.make sure you do your water changes and a skimmer will help.

 

[santi2]

Your fishes and inverts should not have any problem with that level, although it really depends on what inverts you have. Make sure you have a good skimmer, do not overfeed, do bi-weekly water change, and make sure you use ro or ro/di water only. Oh and a dsb might help reduce nitrate if you don't have one. good luck!

 

[santi2]

Also, your aquaclear might be the source of the problem, are you cleaning it out everytime you do water change? Do you have enough live rocks in your tank?

 

[sallen]

I clean the sponge out every couple of weeks if required. Whats dsb??? How will a skimmer help i dont know much about them???

 

[sallen]

I do fortnightly water changes. I have mysis shrimp 2 but the juvy clowns dont seem to like it??? Ive heard of a skimmer but what does it actually do???

 

[mikeyjer]

First, what type of substrate do you have? Skimmer removes protein waste within your water column. If you want your clowns to eat better, feed'em frozen bar cyclopeeze. DSB-Deep Sand Bed, it does the denitrification process turning your nitrate to nitrogen gas, they say it takes 4"+ sandbed for it to occur where the aerobic bacteria lives within your sandbed to convert nitrate into nitrogen gas. But I keep 2" in some area and 3" in other areas and I have the samething happening in my tank... :happyfish

 

[sallen]

wow man now i realy confused and dont have a clue. I have never heard of cyclopeeze wtf???and DSB does it mean just having sand on the bottom of the tank. I have abit of sand and crushed shells in mine. Is a skimmer needed for all marine tanks???I dont know if I need one how would it help me????

 

[mrdc]

Originally Posted by sallen
wow man now i realy confused and dont have a clue. I have never heard of cyclopeeze wtf???and DSB does it mean just having sand on the bottom of the tank. I have abit of sand and crushed shells in mine. Is a skimmer needed for all marine tanks???I dont know if I need one how would it help me????

Cyclopeeze bio-engineered micro-crustaceans that are very nutritious for everything in your tank. In other words, it's food.
DSB is roughly a 4"+ thick sand bed on the bottom of the tank.
I would get a skimmer. You wouldn't believe the nasty stuff it will pull from the water.

 

[stanlalee]

how long has the tank been up and do you have liverock and how much? might take a while for the biological filter to establish itself to the point where your nitrates are lower especially if you have little or no liverock or the tank is recently cycled/set up. I would ditch the aquaclear altogether. I dont believe hang on filters are adequate for large tanks like yours. you should be able to get by with a good protein skimmer and plenty of liverock for biological filtration. Protein skimmer removes desolved organics before they break down and elevate nitrates. Pretty much standard protocol for saltwater tanks now. You dont want any less than about 120lbs of liverock. You can search liverock and curing it if your unsure what it is. So with a decent protien skimmer, at least 1lb per gallon of liverock and time your nitrates should remain low with regular water changes. In the mean time 20ppm isn't anything to worry about. Start becoming concerned when they reach 40ppm (but not overly) and cut back feeding and/or increase water changes/volume as neccessary to keep it from going higher. If you have fish like clowns, damsels, grammas (hardy and aggressive eaters) you probably dont need to feed them anymore than once every other day or every two days. If you have any slow or lackadasical eaters like many gobies you may need to feed daily. I too like Ocean Nutritions formula one and formula two as staple foods. You dont NEED a deep sand bed for a fish only tank and especially with 4 small fish in a 120 gallon. Its main purpose is cultivating natural food sources for reef tanks via critters and critter larvae not nitrate reduction.
edit just realized you said you have a 120ltr tank which is what 30 gallons? I'm confused, you have a 4ft 30 gallon (unsual demensions to say the least, longs are 3ft and talls are shorter) or do you have a 120gallon? anyway same princibles apply minus the 120lbs of liverock. Still not a fan of cartridge filters unless they are used just to run carbon.

 

[ryanhayes9]

also if u run a ugf also get rid of it!

 

[sallen]

It would be about 6weeks since the cycle. There is no live rock in the tank.I did not know that live rock was required. My sand bed is only about 1" thick but the tank is mostly broken shells.Now that i have gone through a cycle would i be able to get rid of the aquaclear and replace it with a skimmer and chuck some live rock in the tank??? THANKS ALL FOR YOUR INFOITS APPRECIATED.

 

[sallen]

Originally Posted by sallen
It would be about 6weeks since the cycle. There is no live rock in the tank.I did not know that live rock was required. My sand bed is only about 1" thick but the tank is mostly broken shells.Now that i have gone through a cycle would i be able to get rid of the aquaclear and replace it with a skimmer and chuck some live rock in the tank???

THANKS ALL FOR YOUR INFOITS APPRECIATED.

Sorry I took so long to reply and have been fishing in a comp

 

[stanlalee]

Originally Posted by sallen
It would be about 6weeks since the cycle. There is no live rock in the tank.I did not know that live rock was required. My sand bed is only about 1" thick but the tank is mostly broken shells.Now that i have gone through a cycle would i be able to get rid of the aquaclear and replace it with a skimmer and chuck some live rock in the tank??? THANKS ALL FOR YOUR INFOITS APPRECIATED.
Just make sure the liverock is cured before adding it to the tank otherwise it could cause an ammonia spike which could kill the fish. I dont really think the filter is the source of nitrates, just the fact the tank is fairly new and doesn't have liverock. I would get some liverock in there before removing the filter since a good portion of your current biological filter is probably attached to the filter media. You can add a protien skimmer at any time You could keep the filter too just ditch the foam media/cartridge or begin replacing it frequently (like every few weeks). you can still run carbon and other water treatment thru it you'll just have to get some of media bags to put it in.