Overstocked, Under filtered 55?

[amphiprion]

Here's another opinion, which basically agrees with what others have stated.
1.Your tank is overstocked
2.Your CPR BakPak skimmer may be rated to 60 gallons, but this skimmer IMO shouldn't be put on anything larger than a 40 gallon tank. It is way to underpowered for an overstocked 55g tank
3. You have a crushed coral substrate
All three of these things are causing you to have elevated nitrates. Unless you fix the problem, you will always have elevated nitrates.
Solutions:
Switch cc substrate to a deep sand bed
Get rid of the tang - they get too big for a 50 gallon tank anyway - in too small of a tank they are just ich problems waiting to happen.
Get some type of mechanical filtration if you can't afford to get at least 75 more lbs of live rock. The eel in your tank demands heavy duty filtration.
And I would personally ditch the CPR and get a much higher rated skimmer.

 

[kris walker]

Okay, I have two questions based on the above messages:
1. What in live sand helps to remove nitrates (e.g. stated by Reefman52)?
2. How does live rock remove the requirement for mechanical filtration (e.g. stated by Amphiprion)?
cheers,
sam

 

[@knight]

What in live sand helps to remove nitrates (e.g. stated by Reefman52)?
Anerobic bacteria colonizes in the DSB and consumes the nitrates.
How does live rock remove the requirement for mechanical filtration (e.g. stated by Amphiprion)?
It does and it doesn't it is a good idea to have backup mech. filtration, but the way LR works you need little more than water circulation to filter the tank. A skimmer can come in handy to remove excess organics, so a mech filter usually only sits there and creates nitrates (cannister, wet-dry; trickle filter)
Personally, I have an emp400 running and it does little more than circulate the water. I have removed the carbon and biowheels, as they tend to cause more problems than they are worth.

 

[kris walker]

That is really neat! I didn't know such nitrate-consuming bacteria exist! Since they colonize a dsb, do you need an undergravel filter to circulate water through it? I am guessing not, since I've heard most people don't use undergravel filters anymore.
I will try this out if my nitrates start to rise.
Thanks!
sam

 

[@knight]

do a search on DSB's before you do it, because if you dont it will not work. You cannot use a UG filter with LS. Additionally, Wter flowing thru the sand will make it not work. The deep sand bed needs to be anerobic (without oxygen) and your water has oxygen in it.

 

[kris walker]

Thanks @knight, I'll do a search to learn more about it.
cheers,
sam