petenheather
In Memoriam
Is there anyway my tank may cycle agian? I have not seen any signs of this happening...we have no excess algae..hair, grass, green/red burnt algae and all parameters are fine
nitrates too high
- Thread starter petenheather
- Start date
Your tank might show ammonia if something large dies, or something similar happens. I wouldn't worry too much at this point. The smaller water changes sound ideal.
You can grow Chaetomorpha in the main tank, if you can stand the looks. It doesn't attach, so if you get tired of it, you can just pull it out. I do this, but I like macroalgae. By harvesting some of it out from time to time, it should reduce nitrate levels some or a lot.
You can grow Chaetomorpha in the main tank, if you can stand the looks. It doesn't attach, so if you get tired of it, you can just pull it out. I do this, but I like macroalgae. By harvesting some of it out from time to time, it should reduce nitrate levels some or a lot.
pvtschultz
New member
Your tank shouldn't cycle again. The bacteria lives on surfaces (substrate, LR, and all other surfaces) and only "spreads" through the water column. I will disagree with bertoni on the 600+ ppm nitrates but my disagreement is somewhat unfounded but I have read in the past about some fish and nitrate levels.
Your 100% water change isn't really a 100%. If you have 100 ppm nitrates and do a 25% water change with water having zero nitrates, your tank will be down to 75 ppm. If the water has 10 ppm nitrates, then your tank will have 85 ppm. Now, another 25% water change and your nitrates will be down to 56 ppm.
Starting 60 ppm
25% WC 45 ppm
25% WC 34 ppm
25% WC 25.5 ppm
25% WC 20 ppm
25% WC 15 ppm
Now if your tap water has nitrates in it these numbers will be more. Topping off with tap water adds nitrates as well. You should be able to add a HOT skimmer if you have about 3" of room or so behind the tank. The pump will go where your current W/D is and then the body of the skimmer hangs behind the tank. At all costs avoid the skilter, the only way it works is if you really crank on it and then they are abnoxiously noisy. I would personally try to keep nitrates below 10-20 ppm, but I do digress some, phospates are the big trigger for alga, but algea will use it as a nutrient.
ETA: Phosphates are almost always ADDED to tap water in order to precipitate out the Ca in the water in the water lines to prevent lead from leaching out and into the drinking water.
Your 100% water change isn't really a 100%. If you have 100 ppm nitrates and do a 25% water change with water having zero nitrates, your tank will be down to 75 ppm. If the water has 10 ppm nitrates, then your tank will have 85 ppm. Now, another 25% water change and your nitrates will be down to 56 ppm.
Starting 60 ppm
25% WC 45 ppm
25% WC 34 ppm
25% WC 25.5 ppm
25% WC 20 ppm
25% WC 15 ppm
Now if your tap water has nitrates in it these numbers will be more. Topping off with tap water adds nitrates as well. You should be able to add a HOT skimmer if you have about 3" of room or so behind the tank. The pump will go where your current W/D is and then the body of the skimmer hangs behind the tank. At all costs avoid the skilter, the only way it works is if you really crank on it and then they are abnoxiously noisy. I would personally try to keep nitrates below 10-20 ppm, but I do digress some, phospates are the big trigger for alga, but algea will use it as a nutrient.
ETA: Phosphates are almost always ADDED to tap water in order to precipitate out the Ca in the water in the water lines to prevent lead from leaching out and into the drinking water.
petenheather
In Memoriam
answer to pvtschultz, we are not tapping off with tap water, we got a jug from one of those grocery store machines that is I believe ro water, also our trates have been steady at 20ppm, they have never been above 50ppm, also good new to add..we just came home from the lfs, (the one we have a good relationship with since the disaster) and he thinks I can put a sump in my cabinet with a skimmer in my w/d filter, he is getting all the things together to make it work and says it will help eliminate the trate prob..gonna cost a small fortune, but well worth it in the end. thank god! I myself am not sure of the name but pete knows, but he is preoccupied right now putting the 4yr old to sleep. haha, his turn! also dont start yelling at me now,I REALLY miss my clowns!!! I got 2 mated percula clowns, they are eating well and swimming around, we usually assimilate them for about an hour & 1/2 w/lights off and take our time adding water to the bag,very slow process. seems they are very happy since they are the only fish in the tank, they should do well!! Like I said after2 1/2 hours of assimilating, we offered frozen mysid shrimp and they ate like crazy, we are watching for signs of stress of course, but all seems well in there.....now agian...no screaming at me, I could not resist them!
petenheather
In Memoriam
Chaetomorpha
Chaetomorpha
Bertoni, whaere can I get some Chaetomorpha? and can i put in my sump or does it have to be in the tank?
Chaetomorpha
Bertoni, whaere can I get some Chaetomorpha? and can i put in my sump or does it have to be in the tank?
petenheather
In Memoriam
i will check it out on the rc and check with some lfs, thnks for the input
pvtschultz
New member
It sounds like you have found a good/decent LFS that you can trust? That's good. It is a funny thing though. Once a person gets set up with their tank and live rock, buys a couple fish, a good LFS should rarely ever see that customer again. The exception being to buy salt, food, maybe lights and misc equipment if you don't get it online, and thats about it really.
What about new salt water? Are you going to be mixing your own or purchasing? LFSs around here a buckling into the RO/DI pressure and starting to offer pure water so you should be able to find some I am hoping. Otherwise your grocery store (especially if comes out of a machine and not a jug) produces RO water which has a much better taste (RO/DI water isn't good for you) and that is the next best thing to RO/DI. If you lived uh here is chilly WI I'd make up a couple 5 gallon buckets for you and you'd be set for a week or two.
Anyways, off to work now. It is a new week and it looks like it is going to be a sunny one for you.
What about new salt water? Are you going to be mixing your own or purchasing? LFSs around here a buckling into the RO/DI pressure and starting to offer pure water so you should be able to find some I am hoping. Otherwise your grocery store (especially if comes out of a machine and not a jug) produces RO water which has a much better taste (RO/DI water isn't good for you) and that is the next best thing to RO/DI. If you lived uh here is chilly WI I'd make up a couple 5 gallon buckets for you and you'd be set for a week or two.
Anyways, off to work now. It is a new week and it looks like it is going to be a sunny one for you.
petenheather
In Memoriam
hi pvtschultz, seems things are looking up in a way....last night we added 2 wild perculas(i really miss clowns), even the trates have dropped to about 10 ppm, this week we are gonna get a supm and a skimmer, it jusy needs to be all worked out....thanks agian for all your help
pvtschultz
New member
NP. Since those two are the only fish in the tank and your 'trates are lower again, I would switch to a weekly water change now of about 10% (~5 gallons for a 46 gal tank). Before you change the water, check the nitrates and record them in a little log along with SG and what ever you decide to measure that day. Just make sure to keep the feeding low especially for the first couple weeks as the clowns get used to the new food. If over the course of a couple weeks to a month you notice the nitrates start to come up, start changing more water but a 10% change weekly should prevent that. If the nitrates continue to decline over that same period, switch to 2-3 gallon changes or biweekly 10% changes.
Congrats, looks like you are well on your way again. We'll be looking out for you when/if the next problem comes along.
Congrats, looks like you are well on your way again. We'll be looking out for you when/if the next problem comes along.
