High Nitrates

[bighead]

I have a 12 Gal Aquapod tank wich has been up and running for a long time over a year right noe paramaters are
ph 8.2
alk 9-10 dkh
cal 450 - 475
nitrites 0
amm 0
nitrates 10 ppm
what do I do to get them dowm
I have mostly mushrooms and 2 soft brains dnt know the real name
have some hermits about 3-4
one sand sifting star one serpintine star and a pepermint shrimp I do not use a skimmer on that tank I cant get one to fit under the hood properly I have o fish and I use the filter the tank came with the blue sponge wich I clean every couple of months I also do a one Gal warer change about one a month what do you think the problem is
oh yea I use a salifert tedt kit and I also use some junki cheap kit I do come up with the same results

 

[sir_dudeguy]

well 10 nitrates isnt really bad so i wouldnt worry about it to be honest. Once it starts getting close to 20 is when i'd get a bit worried.

But a couple things you can do is:

do more water changes...once a week or bi-weekly would be better than once a month.

you could also (and probably should) take that blue sponge out of the filter. Its not doing anything and its just gonna cause a bit of nitrates possibly.

what water are you using? Are you using RO water or tap? If you're using tap, then thats likely the cause right there.

 

[bighead]

I use ro/di wich I tested and is at 0 and whaat do I replace the blue filter with

 

[sjm1978]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8610889#post8610889 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bighead
I use ro/di wich I tested and is at 0 and whaat do I replace the blue filter with

some live rock rubble. i have a 24g aquapod i took out all the media that came with it the sponges/ceramic rings/bio balls and filled the chamber with LR rubble and put floss ontop of the rock that i change out about once a week.

 

[Bluemorningwind]

Removing detritus may help, too. Honestly, 10 ppm is nothing to worry about, though.

 

[bighead]

thanx I will replace filter with some rock I have some small peices in my other tank