Nitrate ?'s yet again

[matt819]

So my trates are like stuck at about 25-30. I'm 4 months in...I do a 20% water change every 2 weeks using RO water. I have a 55gal tank; I run a coralife skimmer...two power filters...a cheaper one with the "bio fiber" removed, and a bio wheel marineland filter as well. I'm concerned about these filters having something to do with it and was wondering what kind of precautions I should be taking with these. I have about 80lbs of LR...50lbs of LS. 2 green chromis, 1 clown, 1 small yellow tang, some green stay polyps and a mushroom rock. I've been thinking of getting another clown and then eventually an anemone for them but I want to have the trates at zero first. Any thoughts on how to achieve this? I want to have good, well...perfect water quality.

 

[thomas712]

What and how often are you feeding?
What is your source water?
What is the bio load (fish how many of what kind)?
Determine the turnover rate of the tank.
What is your cleanup crew?
50 pound of LS gives you what about a 2 inch sand bed?
Thomas

 

[matt819]

I did list the fish...I try to feed them twice a day, they get frozen food and formula one flake which half the time I soak in garlic xtreme...sometimes they only get fed once/day. They eat everything in about a 2-3 minute period. I have about 80 large/dime sized snails in the tank; nassarius obseleta, they eat algae and detritus. I get the water from the grocery store which has an RO machine and they sell it at $.39 a gal. the sand bed is about 2.5 in....3 in some places...there's a lot of rock displacing it. The filters together do about 700 gph...skimmer's about 350...I have a powerhead that is 175gph. I could probably use one more powerhead? I still think the nitrate problem is stemming from elsewhere.

 

[jjlittle]

Cut back on feeding to every other day they do not need to be fed 2 times a day.That will really help chances are you will never reach a zero reading unless you have a refrug with macro algea to absorb it . If you keep it below 20 you will be fine. Good luck.

 

[matt819]

Wow, really? Everywhere I've looked it says to feed 1-3 times daily...it'll be ok to feed em just once every other day?

 

[matt819]

I'm going to get some kind of fuge setup soon...probably for xmas is what I'm thinkin. I just was reminded of the xmas episode of futurama...anyone else see that...hilarious.

 

[thomas712]

I don't think your overfeeding at all. I'm thinking underfiltration. Seems like with that setup there is little for nutrient export other than a bi weekly water change, plus the sand and rock.
How about that sandbed? Got plenty of pods and worms of all kinds? Do you ever take your powerhead and just blow off the rocks of any debris and detritus? How often do you run carbon and do you have a protein skimmer?
Thomas

 

[matt819]

There's carbon in both power filters, just changed out 2 of the 4 filters w/lots of new carbon...to be honest I don't see many pods or worms...I guess if I look close there's tiny critters on the rock in some places...I had sweetlips for a while and I think he may have plundered many of these tiny critters on the LR. I have a coralife protein skimmer as I previously stated as well. I haven't blown off the rocks or anything like that, no...should I be doing that?

 

[matt819]

I was thinking I could get rid of one of the power filters so I could hang a fuge there...and get a couple more powerheads...?

 

[thomas712]

Every once in a while I'll do just that before a water change, I'll attach a hose to my power head and go around the tank and blow the rocks out, any large hole I'll shoot a jet of water into it and sometimes you will see clouds of dust blow out other holes cleaning them out. Let the mechanical filtration pull it out for a few hours and then do the water change. I think it helps the rocks to breath and process water better. If your rocks are pourris then it may help you as well.
Thomas

 

[thomas712]

Oh and I had a 55 gallon tank and I used 2 double cartridge whisper filters, two maxi jet 1200's and I also had crushed coral, my nitrates were almost always throught the roof.

 

[matt819]

I'm gettin rid of the crappy regent filter and I'm gonna get an 18" hob refugium...I'll build it's own little stand from some 2x4's so the weight won't be on the glass. Then I'll get one or 2 more powerheads and I should be good, right?

 

[guppy slayer]

Originally Posted by Thomas712
Every once in a while I'll do just that before a water change, I'll attach a hose to my power head and go around the tank and blow the rocks out, any large hole I'll shoot a jet of water into it and sometimes you will see clouds of dust blow out other holes cleaning them out. Let the mechanical filtration pull it out for a few hours and then do the water change. I think it helps the rocks to breath and process water better. If your rocks are pourris then it may help you as well.
Thomas

I use a turkey baster to do the same thing

 

[thomas712]

Originally Posted by Matt819
I'm gettin rid of the crappy regent filter and I'm gonna get an 18" hob refugium...I'll build it's own little stand from some 2x4's so the weight won't be on the glass. Then I'll get one or 2 more powerheads and I should be good, right?
It can only help adding the fuge, I suggest chaetomorpha macro algae.