Nitrates

[lifesworksataol]

How do you all keep your nitrates down, besides using a skimmer or water changes? i used the denitrate stuff and that brought it down just a little bit. i have heard of using mangroves, cheato and clams. anything else? i am doing a experiment on a empty 90 gal tank that used to house my eels. i have no lights on that tank and was letting the 400 lbs of live rock and sand try to cleanse the water, but it never went down even a little bit.

also has anyone seen how fast cheato or mangroves have brought the nitrates down?

 

[lifesworksataol]

i have heard that you can but clams from the fresh sea food department and put them into your tank and they will filter out nitrates. i wonder how many to buy and what kind.

 

[cowboyswife]

They sell them on saltwaterfish.com

 

[skinnyjoe1976]

Re: Nitrates

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10946916#post10946916 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lifesworksataol
How do you all keep your nitrates down, besides using a skimmer or water changes? i used the denitrate stuff and that brought it down just a little bit. i have heard of using mangroves, cheato and clams. anything else? i am doing a experiment on a empty 90 gal tank that used to house my eels. i have no lights on that tank and was letting the 400 lbs of live rock and sand try to cleanse the water, but it never went down even a little bit.

also has anyone seen how fast cheato or mangroves have brought the nitrates down?

first off what test kit are you using? second what are you nitates at? mangroves will take down nitrates. it drop mine 40 points in 3 days on my 20 with 4 mangroves. if you need some let me know. major water changes will need to be done to reduce the nitrates. i think it's like 50% water change will only bring the nitrates down 25% or something like that. so if you do a 45 gallon water change on a 90 (of course depends on the amount of rock that takes up the water) and your nitrates are at 100 that would reduce them down to 75. i'll talk to george and find out if i'm correct on that. most people over feed and have to large of a bioload. if the issue you had was with the eels that's the answer. large fish and you have to feed well. i know when i had mine i had a 24" Zebra eel, large Jeweled eel , large Tessalata eel, small snowflake and small wolf in a 75 and i could not keep my nitrates below 100 with 100 lbs of rock and a skimmer that was rated for a 250 gallon. i feed with fresh shrimp from publix and scallops every other day. when i was feeding with those nasty silverslides the readings were off the charts. do a few major water changes and stop feeding so much and you should be able to manage them at a low state. good luck and let me know about the mangroves

 

[rdmpe]

Using a refugium with lots of macro algae, chaeto is great, and a reasonable bioload, you should be able to keep your nitrates at zero/undetectable. I have a DSB also, not sure how big of a role that plays.

 

[lifesworksataol]

the eels have been out of there for like 3 weeks or something like that. i am just trying to find what works best. the nitrates i think are at 100. i am using a few different test kits (3). my eels are up at reefworks, he is still trying to get rid of them for me. i am surprised more people dont want eels. i do want to do mangroves. i meant to ask you to bring some for me at the last meeting and forgot. then chad was going to give me some of the ones you gave him and i forgot to do that as well.

 

[lusenut2]

I still have them, you can come get them if you want. There starting to grow leaves now. So its not so boring to look at. lol

 

[lifesworksataol]

wow already starting to grow leaves - thats awesome. i think joe is closer to me then you are, but i might hit you up on the offer if i dont take a ride out there. i am going to try the fresh clams today i think. publix didnt have any lastnight.

 

[triggerfish1976]

What is your current bioload?

What type of filtration are you running?

Do you have a DSB?

What are you using for flow?

How often do you change your water?

 

[lifesworksataol]

no bioload - i took the filter sock and skimmer out. i do have a dsb. seio 1100 and a small rio 2500 return pump. the experiment is to not change the water and lower the nitrates threw a natural way.

 

[triggerfish1976]

The nitrates will not go down if you are not running a skimmer because even though the bacteria in the live rock and sand are breaking down the ammonia there is nothing exporting the nitrates out of the tank. Some of your bacteria will also eventually starve and die due to a lack of nutrient import which in turn will also cause a nitrate spike. I would recommend putting a small amount of food in the tank to keep the bacteria going.
If you're set on trying to filter naturally you will need several mangroves (at least 8) or a refugium of around 90 gallons or more in order to keep enough macro algae to make a difference.

 

[chrisstie]

Triggerfish makes a really good point- and one I'd like to build on.

When you do water changes you can make a bigger impact by taking a turkey baster and dusting off your rock- little particles that almost look like sand will fly out - but its only sand if it sinks to the bottom- the other bits that are fish waste and other detritus will usually float around and stay suspended. If you can siphon all THIS stuff out with the water during a water change you're taking out a lot of the stuff that sits around and adds nitrates to your water.

Normally a clean up crew should be eating this stuff but it will get trapped into every nook and cranny in really porous rock. For me its just regular maintainance doing what strong ocean currents or crashing waves would be doing out in the ocean

 

[mflamb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10948477#post10948477 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rdmpe
Using a refugium with lots of macro algae, chaeto is great, and a reasonable bioload, you should be able to keep your nitrates at zero/undetectable. I have a DSB also, not sure how big of a role that plays.

DSB plays a HUGE role in denitrification.
My DSB is between 5 and 9 inches on the 390 I'm setting up.

The refugium now has 5 species of algae and mangroves.

 

[skinnyjoe1976]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10948854#post10948854 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lifesworksataol
wow already starting to grow leaves - thats awesome. i think joe is closer to me then you are, but i might hit you up on the offer if i dont take a ride out there. i am going to try the fresh clams today i think. publix didnt have any lastnight.

i only give away the finest around :lol: we have so many we can't get rid of them. let me know how much you want and what length. why don't you want to do water changes? the mangroves will remove nitrates but not as quick as a water change. there are some many ways to do it (just do what works best for you) copyrighted by the way.:lol: so when am i plumbing your tank for you? or should i say tanks:eek1:

 

[lifesworksataol]

whenever your ready - i need a bunch of them - probably like 60 of them and as big of ones as you got. i need to talk to you, cause i want to replumb all my tanks with bigger pumps and t them all off to chillers and everything else i have.

 

[skinnyjoe1976]

not a problem. give me a call. 321-266-8564

 

[lifesworksataol]

well i got some clams today- but they are small i am going out tomorrow to find bigger ones - i will be giving you a call- what program do people use to draw what they are doing? it would help if you could see what i want to do.