nitrates....

hariii2

hariii2

Member
How do I get rid of Nitrates? I do regular water changes and all my other chemistry is great, but I cannot get Nitrates down. I am starting to build my live rock up, I actually only have about 5 pounds now, found it all myself in Mexico. I have a 2-3 inch crushed coral bed and a protein skimmer and a boiwheel filter. Any help please.......
Oh, I have a light bio load (I think). I have two clowns, a mandarin goby, two yellow tailed damsels, a cleaner shrimp, a snail, and six crabs (although I can only account for 4 of them), and a Florida Condi Anenome. I had a yellow tang but he died in quarantine. I have had the tank this way for about six months.
 
zanemoseley

zanemoseley

Active Member
First off get rid of the crushed coral, it traps detrius and rises nitrates. Also do you have a good skimmer or a cheap one, a good skimmer will help greatly, you're not overstocked but definately not what I'd consider a light bioload. You can also cut back on feeding to once every two days. It was a mistake of you to get a mandarin goby in a 55 with only 5lb of live rock, they only eat pods most of the time which live on or around live rock.
 
footbag

footbag

Active Member
A few things...
First of all, you will need more Live Rock. It would be better to add it all at once, and you should only use cured Live Rock since your tank is already stocked. Adding directly from the ocean isn't a great idea. It only takes one hitchiking parasite to ruin your fun.
Also, your crushed coral is a major cause of nitrates and 2-3 inches is TOO MUCH. Most on this board use Live Sand or Barbottoms. We all avoid crushed coral like the plague.
Your yellow tang died in quaranteen? They usually need 75g tanks or larger, nuff said.
The mandarin also requires special care. Do you have many pods? If not, consider a refugium. Without live pods mandarins don't last long, either.
Sorry if it seems like a flame, just trying to help. Finding this site is half the battle.
 
hariii2

hariii2

Member
No flames taken. THanks for the comments. The guy at the LFS said that the mandarin would eat brine shrimp? That is what I feed him and he looks great. He comes out when I go near the tank, maybe he needs more food. I will talk to that LFS guy.
So, 5 small fish in a 55 gallon tank is not a light bioload? ONce again, the guy at the LFS said that I could have 27 inches of fish in that size tank, he did say after it was established. No good? I really wanted more than 5 small fish. :notsure:
I am not sure if my skimmer is good or not. I bought it from here. I empty out about 4 ounces of green watery foam every other day. I think it is great.
Thanks again for any comments. I will take them like a man. :confused:
 
zanemoseley

zanemoseley

Active Member
No way can you have 27in of fish in a 55, a general rule of thumb for saltwater is 1in of fish for every 5 gallons. So do you have an ETSS skimmer, I think thats what this site sells. If your mandarin eats brine thats great for you, some will even eat frozen food.
 
footbag

footbag

Active Member
I agree with Zane that you don't have a light Bioload, but also not a heavy. Just add fish slowly. The 1" per 5g is a rule of thumb that is better not bent without a good amount of experience. You will be able to ask others on this site about fish compatability. The more you know, the healthier your tank will be.
Your substrate will become a big problem for you, though. You are getting high nitrates with a medium bioload. Your crushed coral is probably holding too much waste. As the bioload increases, so will your nitrates. Why not try syphoning out as much as possible during water changes. Eventually, you will have a bare bottom. If you chose you can add sand.
 
saltwaterbob

saltwaterbob

Member
I changed to sand from gravel on a 55 gal reef. It took 3 times. Wash the sand really good until it loses its milky color. Take a clean dust pan and shovel out the gravel 1/3rd. Then place the sand in the tank. Start a one end then the middle, then the last end. Wait about 2 weeks to start the other removal. 6 weeks total. The water will look like a storm hit it. Use fliter sheet to catch small particles. The protein skimmer will go nut with the sand added. Also keep your eye on the saltinity it goes up.The storm will end about 3 to 4 hrs or so.. Nothing will die, even though you wonder how they can breath. Try Nitrate Sponge it helps over a period of time.
 
footbag

footbag

Active Member
Adding "dead" sand will likely cause a cycle, and I wouldn't recommend that. I would suggest using live sand. It will also add to your biodiversity and put a smile on your fishes faces. Can a mandarin smile?:notsure:
 
zanemoseley

zanemoseley

Active Member
Adding dead sand won't cause a cycle. By dead sand I assume you just mean dry aragonite sand right? The only way it would cause a cycle is if it had organics left in the sand. Live sand is better but is a lot more expensive, a cheaper way to go would be to get dry sand and add a small amount of live sand to help activate the dry sand. I started my 75 with all dry sand and half dry rock and half live rock, bacteria and organisms will move to the sand and dry rock. Any way you look at it you gotta remove the crushed coral or vacuum it weekly, vacuuming it shouldn't remove any of the CC since its heavy.
 
hariii2

hariii2

Member
Well, thanks again. I do vacuum with every water change but I guess that the consensus is that I need sand and get the coral out. Is sand from the beach out of the question? Freshwater beach that is. Any body need about 50 pounds of crushed coral......?
 
zanemoseley

zanemoseley

Active Member
You don't HAVE to get rid of the CC but if you keep it you need to do a good job of vacuuming it every week. The problem with getting the sand from a freshwater beach is you don't know if its aragonite based and if its not than it could cause an increase in algae growth, also it would probably be contaminated if its at a public lake beach or something. I'd reccomend just getting 1"-2" of Caribasea dry aragonite sand.
 
footbag

footbag

Active Member
I think that you will have to cure the sand then before you put it into the tank. It may not cause a cycle, but it would be bad for the tank inhabitants, anyhow.
You can search for "curing sand" on this board. Also
"southdown sand" might be of interest to you. I think that you can cure it in a bucket with a powerhead and some old tank water.
 
zanemoseley

zanemoseley

Active Member
Footbag who told you that you gotta cure dry sand? It is beneficial to get bacteria growing in the sand before adding but definately not necessary. You may need to rinse Southdown if thats what you use to remove the fine particles.
 
footbag

footbag

Active Member
Kipass4130
adding dry sand to your tank can/will mess up your water chemistry.... it can coat your tank, rock, equipment in chalk that can be tough to remove... i say play it safe and culture the sand first.

Bang Guy
Curing does two things.
1 - Prevents the CaCO3 crystals from precipitating Calcium, Carbonate, and Magnesium from your water.
2 - Provides a bacterial coating on the individual sand grains so the clouding will dissipate in a few hours instead of a few days.

This is from a discussion between Bang & Kip on a website, that I don't think I can post.
 
hariii2

hariii2

Member
HEy, thanks everyone. I will be getting live sand soon. I hope. The wife isn't very happy about it. My list of things that I need/want to get keeps getting bigger. How often do you change the water with live sand vs. crushed coral? I told her that the sand would pay for itself in no time because I would have to do less water changes......... Yes or No? I hope so.......
 
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