Nitrates question

fish2reef

fish2reef

New Member
My tank has been up and running for 4 months. After the cycle when the nitrates went up I did my water changes to get them to come down which they never really did. I buy my water from the local LFS because I dont want to use water that isnt good for my tank. I have a 40 gal. stretch tank, everything seems to do OK in there except my brain coral which I have another thread on. I will do another water/filter change this Friday I will test again soon after and will post again what the test says. As for right now my test is normal on the PH,Ammonia,Nitrite, and Nitrate is in the 20-40 range. Please tell me anything else I might can do to get these nitrate levels down?? Oh and I have 4 fish in the tank 3 Damsels and one clown.
 
B

big911dog

Guest
maybe ur filtering system(s) or substrate have detritus in them which is creating a nitrate factory? Larger water changes more frequently. There also may be a problem with the LFS water supply. If ur on a muni system with high nitrates already in the tap, u will have high trates even with the changes.
I would suggest investing in a RODI filter. if ur buying water from a LFS, it would probably pay for itself quickly.
Good luck!
 
pyro

pyro

Active Member
On my 30 I'm planning to set up as soon as we finish removing the carpet and the such this week, I am going to have a different approach. I know water changes are necessary, but I'm going to try and keep them as small as possible. I will use the Emporer 400 filter for the main filter (can't afford to get a tank for a sump/fuge right now), and use an old HOB biofilter that my dad never used a lon gtime ago that I will modify to hold macro algae. I have a thread in progress in the Equipment forum called HOB thingy , i'm just going to take all the stuff out and use it as a hang on the back macro factory with a couple light bulbs to help the macros grow. When they grow, you cut part of them off, so they can keep growing. In theory, they use nitrates to grow, and then when you "harvest" them, you are harvesting nitrates in a solid form. It's supposed to work really well.
 
pyro

pyro

Active Member
I beleive that is only a type of fluidized bed filter. They are supposed to be great biological filters... but the nitrates will build up in the bioballs - and eventually max out without a lot of pain in the but maintenence.
 
effloresce

effloresce

Member
dont get that, that is just a fancy wet/dry filter, it will only TRAP nitrates and raise it, live rock will help, w/c and less reading will reduce it.
 
fish2reef

fish2reef

New Member
Well, after all this time I finally have my levels at a normal range! I had everything tested at LFS a few weeks ago and my phosphates were pretty high and my PH was low. My nitrates were at 20 which is normal for my tank, nitrites and ammonia at 0, Alk was Ok (they didnt give me a number) and calcium was in the OK range but upper numbers. I also bought a new test kit last week and after adding a phosphate reducer (some little bead lookng things) to my filter everything is looking great with level numbers. My nitrates are at the 10 or below range which is a first for my tank, PH is 8.2, Nitrite and Ammonia still at 0. I will be going to LFS early next week to have them test phophate again but all is looking good. Now that my levels are looking good I cant figure out why my fish keep dying!!! All the time my levels were off fish lived now they are disapearing on me........GO FIGURE. :thinking: Maybe the gobies just didnt like my tank. I know people say not to use all the addatives to help but when your levels are near a bad range and something dies (like my LT plate) and they rise causing trouble for tank you will try anything to keep from loosing all that money you have invested!
 
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