nitrates

[marshall]

i have a 75 gallon fowlr and have a constant reading of 40 ppm from my nitrates. i have had this tank running for about 6 months now and my nitrites have been 40 the whole time. The tank is very healthy and shows no signs of stress but i can't figure out how to lower the nitrates. All other levels in the tank are right on target. The test i use is a all in one strip test made by Jungle, is this a good test? or inacurate. Yes the tank has cycled and all levels are good exept nitrates. The tank has 55lbs of Figi rock, and 90lbs of live sand. The live stock includes 6 turbo's, 4 hermits, 2 cleaner shrimp(which rock!!!) one yellow tang, one ebli angel, one maroon clown with his sabea anemone, one electric clam, and one general star. I feed the tank two times a day and i am carefull not to overfeed. I run the compact halogen ligts 8 hours a day for my anemone. I have been doing a 15 gallon water change every Friday trying to get the nitrates down but no luck. I get the RO water from my LFS with salt allready added. Do i really have a problem at all? Suggestions please? :happy:

 

[marshall]

oh yes, i almost forgot. I have a penguin 400 duel bio wheel, and a prism skimmer(i know most of you hate it, but it was an impulse buy) and 3 power heads. :jumping:

 

[joker_ca]

have you tested the water from your LFS? make sure it contains no nitrates. Also bio-wheels or any kind of bio-media are know to be nitrate factory's so i suggest removing them and see if that brings down your nitrates

 

[marshall]

you mean remove the spinning wheels? if i do this the unit makes alot of noise. The fish tank is in my living room. I will give the lfs's water a test next time.

 

[marshall]

Also, is 40ppm dangerous?

 

[jjlittle]

I would do a LARGE water change and also remove the bio wheel as stated in the last post .for they do act as a factory for nitrates. 40 is high though I would try other test I dont use the test strips I love Salifer test seem to be what every one loves to use and most accurate.I to had high nitrateS when I use to feed 2 times a day I cut back to once every other day nitrates dropped from 30 to 5 so I would also cut back on your feedinG you wont be starving your fish dont worry.

 

[marshall]

i will change tests and see what that does, when you guys say remove the bio wheel, do you mean romove the spinning wheels? or can the whole unit?

 

[lillibirdy]

I just read about this somewhere, the Nitrate factory thing. Isn't that only when the bio wheels, or balls are covered with Dissolved organics that it might happen? Cause I am in the same situation, but my bio media are not dirty in the least...?
KathyW

 

[jjlittle]

marshal how much live rock do you have? If you have enough live rock that is all you need and just lots of water movement.And then you could remove the wheel from what I have read bio wheels are great for fresh water tanks and not good for salt.

 

[1journeyman]

You would need a TON of live rock to complete the nitrogen cycle. Nitrates build up because there is not enough anearobic bacteria in live rock (there is some, but not enough for a stocked aquarum, imho)
How deep is your sand bed? Do you have good flow across it? Do you have plenty of critters in it to keep it clean?

 

[joker_ca]

fish can tolerate high levels of nitrate 40ppm should not be a problem for them but inverts will not tolerate levels around 10ppm

 

[marshall]

if i ditch the bio wheel, what kinda filtration system should i get?