Nitrite is high

[cbdrako99]

Hello all,
I need some advice on how to get my nitrates lower. They are consistently testing at the 40ppm range. The other test form ammonia, PH and Nitrite are perfect. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[squidd]

The quick and easy solution to pollution is dilution...ie: a number of partial water changes will "dilute" the nitrAtes and lower your total...Temporarily...
The real question is not so much how to lower them, but where are they coming from...
Over feeding, dirty filters and lack of nutrient export or nitrate reducing bacteria are the most common causes, along with using tap water which may contain nitrates...
Can you share a bit about how your tank is set up...Filters used, amount of LR/LS, sump/fuge, skimmer,number of fish/inhabitants, feeding habits/schedule, water change/maintenance schedule, etc...?

 

[cbdrako99]

No Problem...

I am new to the game (8 Months) and have a 58 Gal with the following:
2 inch bed of LS
1 Penguin 170
1 Emperor Bio-Wheel
Penguin 1170 Powerhead
Coralife 50/50 40Watt
1 True Percula Clown
1 Yellow Tang
1 Blue Damsel
1 Green Chromis
1 Firetail Gobie
1 Flame Angel
1 B/W Damsel
1 Condylactus
1 Serpinitine Starfish
1 Emerald Crab
1 Sally Lightfoot
1 unknown crab that just appeared (Very Small
8 Tiny blue legged hermits
10 (mix) of Nassarius - Turbo/Astrea
All of the fish are very small except for the Yellow Tang. That one is about 2 inches.
I have some pics that you can see at:
These are a little older pics though. I have added some more rock work and a solid dark blue back drop. (sure brings out the fish and looks a lot better) Hopefully I am not overloading the tank. I do frequent water changes and change the filters at least once a month. I would appreciate any info that you have to give. I will be posting more and better pics to the above link in just a few days if you are interested in seeing the new additions.

 

[mujtba]

so you dont have a protein skimmer?
how many LBS of LR??
you dont have a wet/dry?
im fairly new at this. I got a 55G tank. its in the 6th day cycle. i just got a whisper 300GPH HOB filter. Two 300GPH PHs. about 80lbs of LR and 50lbs of LS. thats all.. about to get a skimmer.
you did well with your HOBs for the past 8 months?? any idea where to get cheap lighting?
the corals and LR in your pics look fake.. do you have a fish only tank?

 

[sly]

Either remove some of your sand or add more. 2 inches of depth is not deep enough for a DSB but is too deep for a SSB. If you want a DSB at 4 inches, then don't stir the sand at all. This way it will acquire the bacteria necessary to remove nitrates.
If you go for a SSB then set your sand depth at about 1 inch. Stir and vacuum the sand once every other week to remove any built up debris.
It is likely that you have too many fish in your tank. A simple bio wheel is usually not enough for saltwater. Your penguin is rated for 170 gal/hr. Most hobiests recommend around 10X turn over per hour. So for your tank that would be 550gal/hr minumum. A wet/dry filter can provide this. You may want to consider getting a protein skimmer also.
Also try to add more LR; somewhere around 1lb per gallon at least. Do this especially if you go for the SSB (shallow sand bed).
If you can't do these things soon, then you may want to take some of your fish back to the LFS.

 

[cbdrako99]

Thanks for the advise Sly.

The filtration is about 450gal Per Hour with the Penguin and the Emperor. I guess that my sand bed is in between the SSB and DSB at around 2 - 2 1/2 inches. I do not clean the sand bed.
The pictures that you saw were a few weeks old. The tank looks much better now. Most all of the rock is NOT LR, it is a limestone base. I have just purchased some LR from my LFS. (about 5 LBS to get started). In a few weeks I will be getting the Protein Skimmer. At that time I will start getting the rest of the LR.
I will be posting the new pics today or tomorrow.
Sly -
How hard is it in your opinion to switch over to a wet/dry since I have a 58 Gal Oceanic?

 

[msd2]

Welcome to the hobby, its kinda addicting
After quickly looking at your pics I would highly suggest more live rock for the tang, they love to play/hide in the rocks. This also will help you process nitrates as well. You could also start with weekly water changes until they get under control. You may also think of adding some plants, they are great at removing nitrates.
What skimmer are u getting? I upgraded to Euroreef, a bit pricey but very easy to use and works great! Id say with a lot more live rock and the skimmer you will have a great start to your tank!!

 

[cbdrako99]

You are right - it is very addicting!!! :joy:
I am not sure what skimmer I am going to get. I have been looking at the SeaCone and the Red Sea Berlin Hang-On types. The problem is that my wife won't let me get one yet. I have a feeling it is because she wants to get me one for my b-day in 2 weeks. (COOL!!) Anyway once I get one I will add to my current base stock and 5 LBS of LR.
What kind of plants do you suggest and where can you get them. I haven't seen any at the LFS around town?
Well here are some recent pics of my tank. I just took them a few minutes ago. Hope you enjoy. Please let me know of anymore suggestions that you have.

 

[sly]

You probably won't be able to keep any plants in there with the tangs. They will eat the plants faster than they can grow. I have 10 mangrove plants in my refugium. Maybe you can add a fuge. I have an in sump skimmer, but if I were going to get a HOB skimmer, I would get the Remora. They seem to be one of the best skimmers for the money.

 

[sly]

Adding a wet/dry shouldn't be that hard. All you need is a way for the water to get there. Some people drill holes in their glass with a dremil and they attach a hose to it to let the water gravity feed to their wet/dry. Others attach a U shaped siphon tube at the top to draw the water into a HOB refugium, which then gravity feeds into the wet/dry. Then all you need is a good pump to return the water to the tank. Basically stay away from Rio pumps and you should be ok. I have an Iwaki on mine, although Mag drives also rock.

 

[cbdrako99]

Thanks for the advice. I will start researching that.

 

[sly]

Here's some pics that may give you some ideas on how to set yours up. This is my tank. I have 2 power heads on either side circulating water. Water spills over the black plastic dam on the left corner. Then it goes through a foam filter and then the drain, into the filter system. The system return is at the top left, but is not visible.

 

[sly]

Here is the back view of the dam. The pvc is the return line, and the foam prefilter is at the bottom. I rinse out my filter once every 2 weeks or whenever I clean my CC substrate.

 

[cbdrako99]

Thanks for the ideas. I am just afraid to cut my Glass tank. I think what I will do is get a pump to siphon out the water and then one to pump it back into the tank.

 

[sly]

The water then travels to both my trickle (wet/dry) and my fuge through a Tee. I control the water flow with a plastic pill bottle cap that I put in the hose. I just stick a needle through the hose and press on the cap. It causes the cap to rotate some to close off the water flow and it dirrects more to my fuge. Before I added the cap, the water would mostly go to my trickle filter and very little would go to my fuge. Now the flow is pretty even.

 

[cbdrako99]

That is a great setup. Do you think that I would have any problems recreating that with a pump to siphon the water out of the tank instead of using gravity fed draining?

 

[sly]

Here is my fuge. I have 10 mangroves in it floating with a styrofoam block. The water spills into the chamber on the right and flows over a clear plexiglass plate I just added a few days ago. Then the water spills down into the mangrove chamber and out a tube, into the sump return.
I added the plexiglass plate to encourage micro algae to grow. It sits under a regular flourescent grow light for 12 hours a day. In a few weeks I hope to have algae all over it, and less in my tank. I added one lone turbo snail that had a little hair algae growing on it, hoping that would seed my algae culture. I also keep my heater and my thermometer in there, but in separate chambers.
[edit] the red arrow points to the plexiglass algae scrubber plate.

 

[sly]

Originally posted by cbdrako99
That is a great setup. Do you think that I would have any problems recreating that with a pump to siphon the water out of the tank instead of using gravity fed draining?
You can only have one pump in the setup. If you try to have one pump pumping water out of the tank and another pumping water back in after it's been filtered, they will never sync up. You will always have one pump pumping more than the other and will either overflow your tank, or your wet/dry. I'll show you some more in a minute on how to get the water out.

 

[sly]

After some of the water goes through the trickle and some through the fuge, then it all joins in the middle to be skimmed. I use a Kent Nautalus TE skimmer with a Sander 25mg/hr ozone unit. The ozone adds more oxygen to the water and breaks apart dissolved polutants to be skimmed out better. Once I added the ozone, my water became completely clear.
In the sump return I have the skimmer with pump, and I also have my main system pump. It's pretty crowded in there. I have a foam filter covering the end of my Iwaki system pump, but you can' t see it in the picture. I also clean it out every now and then so that it won't add nitrates to my tank. The ozone unit is the greenish box looking thing. It produces ozone and the skimmer draws it in through the venturi and into the skimmer. Some people use air pumps to help it force air into the skimmer, but I felt I didn't need to.
[edit] the yellow cup is to prevent the water from splashing out from my skimmer.

 

[sly]

Here's my two clownies and a blurry green chromis. I just got their new anemone a few days ago when my last one got sucked against a power head.

It's already getting darker in color. It was whitish yellow, and now it's turning more tan in color. I have 390 watts of PC lighting.
The clownies are Milo and Chloe. While the green chromis is Snoopy. I also have Gra, a panther grouper who is going in his own tank soon.