nitrates

[kamdogg]

I have had a reef tank for 1 1/2 years. And never had my nitrates stay around zero. I have always had to do a 5 gal water change a week or so. Or when it gets to 12 Any suggestions.
1 Naso tang, 2 green chromis, 2 y. tailed damsels, tomato clown, turbo snails a bunch of blue legged hermits, pom pom xenia, pulsing xenia, shrooms, green & brown buttom polyps. leathers, acropora, montipora, condleatic, flower, Green bubble tip anemones.
55 gal display tank
30 gallon sump 15 gal of it rufug. with grape caulurpa 5 inch deep sand bed.
60-70 pounds lr
3 inch ls in display tank.
skimmer rated to 180 gal tank rio 1400 pushing it.(does great job)
carbon used for 3 months with some nitrate removal, then changed.
2 = 110 watt vho

 

[bang guy]

12 isn't bad at all.
All I can think of is overfeeding or feeding frozen brine shrimp without rinsing.

 

[kamdogg]

I feed Flake, calurpa, And sea salad. I watch them eat the flake, some times frozen but not very often.
When is every body doing water changes. I think I do it to much.
12 not bad? I dont want my corals to die?

 

[bang guy]

25% a month is pretty normal. When I had a 55 I did 5 gal a week.

 

[kamdogg]

anyone else have any more.
Come on what do u do mothly. what keeps your nitrates down to 0

 

[nanosrcool]

My nitrates never change appreciably after a water change... it usually drops down a hair, but then goes back to steady state level within a couple of days. It is usually around 15 and has stayed fairly steady... I dont worry about it much

 

[marinemarty]

BangGuy, Why do you have to rinse frozen brine? Thanks
Martin

 

[jonthefb]

how much do you feed and how often? and how is your cleanup crew? that naso tang is a big wastemaker....and you do have lots of fish in there with him.....make sure your cleanup crew is adequate to deal with the waste produced by your fish!
good luck
jon

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by MarineMarty
BangGuy, Why do you have to rinse frozen brine? Thanks
Martin
Try this:
1 - take out a quart of tank water and test it for Nitrate.
2 - thaw a small piece of frozen brine shrimp and add it to the water. Test for Nitrate.
That will answer your question.
Depending on the brand they may be stored in a Nitrate solution as a preservative.

 

[beaslbob]

First of all let me echo that 12 ppm is not all that bad.
my macro algae culture tank using tap water with approximately 40 ppm nitrAtes has read 0.0 nitrates for months. (With a 2 week exception when I received some bad macros). I also found out that my test kit was too sensitive so the readings in my 55g display were too high. I think your test kit is much better as mine could not read 12ppm with any precision. But it could be your test kit. That said the nitrAtes are 0.0 because plants are all I have in the culture tank.
If your tank has no algae problems, I would not worry about it. Water changes will not get nitrAtes down to 0.0 ever. The bioload from your fish seems to be handled nicely now. You could try reducing your feeding an doing whatever you can to increase the plant life in your system. Simply increasing the plant life will reduce nitrAtes further. Or you could just leave well enough alone and enjoy your system the way it is.

 

[overanalyzer]

Originally posted by beaslbob
Water changes will not get nitrAtes down to 0.0 ever.
That's an outright lie. Water change in my 140 prior to adding any filtration just water flow and cycle - and my nitrates dropped to 0 after a 25 gallon water change. This is with one clownfish.
In my 140 I am shooting for 20-30 gallons of water changed every 5-7 weeks. (still feeling out the bigger tank)
In my 20 I change 2-4 gallons on a monthly basis.

 

[peasly1]

12 is not bad at all..i have 3 sw tanks, 1 the 10 gal is the only 1 that comes close to a 0 nitrates,the is nothin but shrooms lr,polyps,macro and a tiny brittle star...my other tanks all loaded w/ lr and ls always have nitrate of 20 and above and to me that is not bad either......because of the fish waste....

 

[kamdogg]

I have an enginer goby and 30-40 blue leg hermits and 2 red legged. 2 asteria snails 2 turbo snails. I do clean my glass eveyday with a little algea on it. I have alot of claurpa (grape, Blade) I also now have a 8" deep sand bed in my refug. And now a 30 gal tied into the 30 gal sump. There all together now. My Nitrates after changes 1 week ago, are just above 0 (yellow with a orange tint. Test water).
Everything looks good.