Nitrates

[deblin2]

I have a 25 gallon eclipse. It has always had a little problem with nitrates. I had about 1 1/2 " sand bed and about 20 lbs of live rock. I had huge fireworms come from some live rock I had added. They were about 8" long and about the size of the end of my pinky finger. I killed them by taking out most of the water and increasing the salinity of the water enough that it would kill them. I then added fresh water to make the salinity right. The nitrates are still about 40. I decided to help this problem by making a deep sand bed. It is now about 4" It is still about 40 after a week and a half. I know this is not really that high but I was wanting to put sea horses in it so it is too high. Do I do a huge water change and replace as much water as possible in the tank or do I leave it alone and the deep sand bed will take care of it. If the sand bed will take care of it, how long will it take. Ammonia and nitrite are 0. Salinity is 1.23 It has been set up for at least 1 1/2 years maybe 2 yrs. I tried to find a protein skimmer to fit it, but that seems very hard to do with an eclipse. I thought that much live rock and sand would help. Thank you for your help.

 

[drose]

I have trouble with nitrates too and am interested in hearing a good answer. I have a 44 gallon with over 100 lbs of LR and a 4" DSB. The tank is 7 mos old and has only 20 hermit crabs (they killed all my snails) and one damselfish (the other was moved as he was too aggressive). I do have a protein skimmer, 3 powerheads and a biowheel. I've never gotten my trates down to 0, they range between 5-20. Trites are 0, amm-0.2, pH 8.3.
I had been using deionized water but have just purchased an R.O. unit so today began water changes with R.O./deionized. Thought maybe the quality of water was causing the problem. What kind of water do you use? Perhaps, I'll see a change soon. Anyone out there have advice?

 

[deblin2]

There are no live animals in the tank so I am free to make any kind of changes.

 

[deblin2]

Well, I never got an answer so I did a very large water change. Almost all of the water. The nitrates are now under control although I don't know what will happen when I put something alive in there. I know. Now I will get an answer saying that I totally messed up. Nothing new - I usally do. I am hoping for the best though.

 

[oceanists]

the archives is a nice place to check for nitrate answers

 

[happyvac]

You should also do a good deal of research on the DSB if you haven't already. A great deal of DSB tanks don't seem to be set up correctly and the bed, ironically, ends up being a huge source of nitrates.
The ways I would choose would be to ease up on feeding, do some water changes, and use RO.

 

[joe 09]

your nitrates at 20 are not bad,if it is a fo tank.i tried everything to get my rates down.i have a 175 gal. tank .i do weekly water changes about 15 gal. have chaeto in my sump,dsb.and my rates are still 40-50.i tried a product called az-n03 and the rates are down to less than 10.