nitrate problems

keaton

Actually keaton's mom
I have a 55 gallon reef tank which I just outfitted it with a t5 light system. I somewhat neglected the tank due to school, but now I am REALLY wanting to turn it into a reef tank. Before I went out and bought livestock I tested the water and found that my nitrate was through the roof. The past three days I have been doing 10% water changes and dosing with amquil. The nitrate level is down to around 80 ppm. How long should this take? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks, Keaton
 
DOWN to 80? Geez, what was it before? You need to be thinking about long term maintenance of low nitrates levels, and water changes alone is not a practical way. Please tell us more about your system?

Live rock? How many pounds?
Skimmer? What kind?
Sand bed? How deep?
Sump? With refugium?
How much livestock right now?
How often do you feed, and what food and how much food?

With more specific details we can advice you how to re-outfit your tank to get nitrates low and KEEP them low.
Neuro
 
It was around 120 before. yea I know outrageous! like I said there was allot of neglect.

Live rock- 70 lbs total (40 lbs tufa, 20 lbs antique rock, & approx 10 lbs live)
Skimmer- none, looking into one
Sand bed- approx 2&1/2 inches
Sump- none, hang on back filter (it has bio balls, charcoal & sponge) just changed sponge yesterday
How much livestock right now- 2 engineer gobies, several snails, several blue leg hermit crabs
How often do you feed, and what food and how much food- feed daily, sera granulated food, a pinch?
 
First, I would get more live rock, at least another 30 - 40 lbs... it will give you more surface area for denitrification and provide more area for coral to grow as well. Next, a really good skimmer is key. Several of us can recommend skimmers for your size tank that would do the job nicely. I've got a Aqua C Urchin Pro in my sump... oh yeah, I'd recommend a sump with a section to grow some marine macroalgae (like Chaetomorpha)... nitrates and phosphates are taken up by the macroalgae as it grows, continually reducing nitrates and phosphates in your tank. until you get a sump, you can take all of the bio balls, charcoal, and sponge out of your hang on filter and put in some chaetomorpha (i have some i can give you) as a temporary "poor man's refugium". The bioballs provide lots of surface area for bacteria to turn ammonia into nitrites, and nitrites into nitrates... but then you have a high build up of nitrates. Bioballs don't provide living area for the anaerobic bacteria that turn nitrates into nitrogen gas (that's what the sand bed and live rock are for).

If you go to the main Reef Central forum and look until the Reef Chemistry forum, and look at the chemistry articles, you can learn more about getting your nitrates down to zero and keeping them there.
 
the ph, nitrite and ammonia are all good.

Does it not count that i have had the tufa rock in the tank for about 8 or 9 months and most of it is covered in coriline?

In the hang on back filter i don't need anything but the algae?
 
One more thing-

can you recommend a good, cheap protein skimmer

(I don't have a consistent job so I am kinda nickel and diming everything)
 
I would recommend a Coralife Superskimmer if you are looking for a reasonable price. They are a needlewheel and I was very impressed with the one that I had. I got rid of it because I got a larger tank. I would go with the largest model that you can afford.
 
I don’t know what your budget is or how long it will take you to get the right skimmer for your tank, but I have a Seaclone that you can have. As many people will tell you it is not the best one on the market. But it pulls out more crud out of your tank then not having one at all.

Many people in this club have helped me out with things, this gives me the opportunity to give something thing back.

Let me know if you are interested.
 
Neuroslicer's advice with the live rock and HOB filter is good. I like to keep a lil live rock rubble in there too but that is just personal preference and some people say it doesnt really help that much. The big thing to watch about keeping chaeto in a HOB filter is keeping a light over it and the water flow low enough so that the chaeto doesnt wash out into your tank. Then patients and time.
 
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