Help with Nitrates

[Jasonf08]

Hi,

I would like to get an opionon on what might be the best way to lower nitrates in my fiance's nanocube. This is the 24 gallon version with the stock lights, MJ1200 return pump, heater, small sapphire aquatics skimmer, & a koralia power head.

She is consistantly having nutrient problems with really high nitrates. I think i have her trained now to feed less and turn of filtration while feeding. However, i need to lower her nitrate levels. So really i have 2 questions.

1. whats the best way to lower nitrated from 50?
2. whats the best way to keep them low in this small tank?

I was going to suggest to her to 1st do a massive water change to lower nitrates, then rip off the hood and replace the skimmer with a Remora Nano, & upgrade lights to a sunpod.

Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[cmador]

I do 10-20% weekly water changes and feed only once every other day or two on my nano.

 

[Jasonf08]

ok, what are you using equipment wise to keep your nitrates low ?

 

[cmador]

I'm using a bak-pak skimmer and an aquaclear filled with cheato.

 

[Jasonf08]

How do you like the skimmer? Im looking for something that works well, but isnt too noisy.

 

[Murphs205]

water change , water change , water change ,,,alllllllll the time ,,,,,,,,,,

will help big time ,,

 

[cmador]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12711414#post12711414 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jasonf08
How do you like the skimmer? Im looking for something that works well, but isnt too noisy.

Then you should probably pass on the bak-pak as it is loud. It works well, though.

 

[Jasonf08]

She usually does about 4 gallons every other weekend, but seems to not be enough to keep up with the amount of nitrates being inputed.

I was hoping that after things were righted a large skimmer may be the trick to keep things low between water changes.

 

[osu133lbs]

Feed less, do water changes more often!!! Best thing I have found to work!

 

[oldreefer76]

As for a skimmer if it fits the Tunze Nano would be your best bet and will out perform the Remora Nano

 

[adamwarlock13]

What does she have in it? fish wise?

 

[Jasonf08]

unfortunately now, everything died because her nitrates went 50+. She did have one damsel & two clown gobies in there though.

We plan on doing massive water changes to fix things before adding any future fish. Were also seriously considering adding a better skimmer. Her current skimmer produces maybe 4oz of faintly yellow water over a 5 day period. Even one of those crappy seaclone or prism skimmers produces more skimmate than that thing. I think its two problems too much food & not enough skimming.

oldreefer: I think your right that the tunze would probably skim out more, but i have one now in my tank & can tell you its a great skimmer if and only if your water level is very stable. Mine took forever to break in and didnt work well until i put a ato (osmolator) on my tank. - have you used the remora nano? - thanks for the feedback

 

[useskaforevil]

things probably didnt die because of the nitrates. i had nitrates of over 180ppm without losing anything but 1 sps frag (2 other sps corals survived) if you do have a skimmer you could try sugar, thats what worked for me.

 

[GSMguy]

dude i run 15-20ppm trates on my SPS tank on purpose , fish cant die from 50ppm nitrate,

what is the PH in the AM before lights on? is the tank experiencing heat swings? how much?

what is the phosphate level?

 

[Dtip]

I'd recommend the DIY aquaclear fuge for a nano if you can fit it in. With the largest size aquaclear modded into a fuge, you can grow a decently sufficient level of macro for nutrient export on a 24gal. If you are willing to add a shielded light devoted to the fuge, you can even pull the reverse lighting trick to stabilize the Ph, which is definitely useful in smaller setups.

Very little other than large water changes can really bring down nitrates, but a large enough macro-type fuge system and a great skimmer are what will keep them low.

Ditto on the fish: 50ppm should not be lethal to fish, especially those fish. Some delicate inverts like snails and especially non-brittle seastars may suffer and slowly weaken at these levels, but fish, especially damsels, shrug off that level of nitrates all the time. In fact, many fish only tanks hover around that level (because of lots of extra feeding) with no ill effects. Ammonia is the fish killer. The only likely scenario for high nitrates being in any way responsible for killing your fish is that they could have helped (but probably not directly or immediately caused) caused a large invert (snail) to die unseen, and its decay then spiked the ammonia levels.

 

[boozerell]

useskaforevil,

What does sugar do? Sorry to jump in on this, but I have the same problem in my 30 gallon. I have a remora skimmer, but don't get a whole lot out of it.

Jasonf08,
Let us know how it does.

 

[Conky]

I think it's most probable that something died in the tank that was not recognized.

As far as people saying "I had 1000ppm nitrates in my tank and nothing died"...it depends on what you're measuring. Most likely, you're measuring 50ppm NO3-N...which translates to 240ppm NO3. I imagine most corals and other non-motile invertebrates (sponges in particular) would die under those circumstances, releasing a foul soup that would/could kill most fishes.

As a side note many large shark exhibits (complete with fish) run nitrates at a level higher than 500ppm.

 

[Conky]

boozerell,

I think sugar is basically the same thing as adding vodka to your tank.