water help
- Thread starter hunt
- Start date
wangotango
Active Member
What level were they at?
Also, what is your feeding schedule like, stock list, and skimmer?
-Justin
Also, what is your feeding schedule like, stock list, and skimmer?
-Justin
hunt
Active Member
The Nitrates were somewere between 80-160ppm, i have test strips, and they are now around 80ppm, they are lowering just slowly, I have a valentini puffer and two false percula clowns, one black one orange, in a 29 gallon tank. as far as feeding i feed twice a day with a pinch ocean nutrition prime reef flakes and about 1/4 of a cube of mysis shrimp at each feeding.
flower
Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Hunt
http:///forum/post/3220083
The Nitrates were somewere between 80-160ppm, i have test strips, and they are now around 80ppm, they are lowering just slowly, I have a valentini puffer and two false percula clowns, one black one orange, in a 29 gallon tank. as far as feeding i feed twice a day with a pinch ocean nutrition prime reef flakes and about 1/4 of a cube of mysis shrimp at each feeding.
Nitrates at those levels won't hurt your fish at all. Inverts and coral need below 40. You can't trust test strips at all. They will tell you if something is off, but you need a marine test kit to determine exact numbers.
hunt
Active Member
i have two purple shrooms in my tank and they look fine,(except the fact that they are not really growing, also they dont split or multiply) i also hear that sea urchins a real sensitive to that kind of stuff, i have one in my tank.
Does that mean my test strips are wrong about them being so high, what tests do you use
Does that mean my test strips are wrong about them being so high, what tests do you use
beazalbob69
Member
I would chuck the test strips and get a decent liquid test. The strips dont seem to work that well. Also as for the nitrates not going down too much look at it this way.
Lets say you have 100ppm and you change 25% of your water that will bring it down to 75ppm right. So now you have 75ppm and do another 25% water change now you are down to 56.25ppm. 25% more and you got 42ppm etc. You see where this is going? It will take forever to get your nitrates down to something reasonable doing only 25% water changes.
If you want them down fast you need to do like a 75% water change which will get you from 100ppm down to 25ppm then do another 75% water change which will get you to 6.25ppm. Then you should be able to keep it under control by doing 10% - 20% water changes weekly plus some other nutrient export.
Lets say you have 100ppm and you change 25% of your water that will bring it down to 75ppm right. So now you have 75ppm and do another 25% water change now you are down to 56.25ppm. 25% more and you got 42ppm etc. You see where this is going? It will take forever to get your nitrates down to something reasonable doing only 25% water changes.
If you want them down fast you need to do like a 75% water change which will get you from 100ppm down to 25ppm then do another 75% water change which will get you to 6.25ppm. Then you should be able to keep it under control by doing 10% - 20% water changes weekly plus some other nutrient export.