Still high nitrates

[refonpit]

I got a REAL problem with nitrates. It's is always detectable. I have a 72 gal bowfront with a 20 gal.sump, a nice red sea skimmer that was rated for a 100 gal. tank. I have 75 PBS of live rock and 2-3in. of live sand. I do weekly water changes. (sometimes 10 sometimes 20%) with distilled water. Was thinking I may need a refiguim(?) or maybe I have overstocked my tank with fish. I have 2 damsels 2 clowns,1 tang, 1 dwarf lion, and a triiggerfish that needs a home. Also the damsels seem to constantly be digging up the subtrait. Could that be a reason? Any help would be appreciated!!!
Also need to move the tank tomorrow. Got a new stand! Any advice on how much water is too much warter to change out?

 

[ktnjer]

I change out 5 gallons per week in my 55 and my nitrates are at 5ppm now and usually raise to 10 at the most. I have a DI tank setup that i use on my tap water to filter that. When I had high nitrates, I would test my changeout water, after I added the salt to the bucket, for nitrates. This way I knew if there was a problem before i changed out my water weekly.

Only thing I would suggest is get a nice size ball of Chaeto for your sump and put some live rock rubble in it.

 

[ade]

Re: Still high nitrates

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13955578#post13955578 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by refonpit
I got a REAL problem with nitrates. have a 72 gal bowfront with a 20 gal.sump, a nice red sea skimmer that was rated for a 100 gal. tank. I have 75 PBS of live rock and 2-3in. of live sand Was thinking I may need a refiguim(?) or maybe I have overstocked my tank with fish. I have 2 damsels 2 clowns,1 tang, 1 dwarf lion, and a triiggerfish that needs a home.

Hey Deb sorry that I didn't return your call, with your work and my new kid it is going to be hard to get a good time for both.
A fuge would help reduce your nitrates and reducing your bio load/fish would also help. IMO yuor skimmer is undersized they sate that they are good for 100gal but in the real world that is at best good for 50gallon with a light load. sjdyer stated in your earlier post that he would take the trigger if you are looking for a home for it. If you are moving your tank I would replace your sand bed and you do not need to go anything over 2" unless you want to go with a deep sand bed, then you are looking at 4-6" and I think tha it look bad in a small system. I would like to come by and take a look at your tank but the time thing is going to be hard.

 

[refonpit]

Thanks guys for the advice. Had no idea that the skimmer was too small. (whine). When I make water changes I do test what I'm putting in. I always buy water, which is beginning to be a pain in the you know what. Tooling around Walmart with a buggy of gallon jugs----- its a mental picture.
When doing water changes, nitrayes are usually not that high around 5-10 ppm. After a day or so the creep back up to 20ppm and by the end of the week its 80 or so. they are at 20 now. The corals seem to be doing well in there. Anenomes are getting huge and the few leathers I have are doing ok.
Is high nitrate the reason for slow coraline growth? The tank has been running now for 8 mo. and only spotty coraline. Is that normal. There are places with that awful green hair alge.
Finally, why would I need to replace the sand bed ? Im just moving the tank from one stand to another. Is this another reson for the high nitrated? If so should I get fine sand or the crushed? Or a mixture?
Ade, is that new baby you are talking about? Congratulations!!!!! Off to the wonderful post office, ya gotta love Christmas

 

[ade]

Doesn't seem right for you nitrates to have a swing like that. I would try another test kit or see if you can use another brand. Yes nitrates will slow down coraline growth but there are also others things to test for PH Alk Mag and Cal.
I can not see you moving a 72 gallon tank from one stand to the next without disturbing your sand bed, in the past when ever I have moved my tank or freinds tanks and not replaced the sand bed there have always been issues. Also try not feeding your fish for a week and test, with a bloom of hair algae on the horizon sound like you might be feeding a little heavy. Just a thought.

 

[Saboral]

YOu could also go to the DIY forum and look for the plans for a sulfur denitrater which I've heard good things about.

 

[J. Montgomery]

I'm a big proponent of buying a RO/DI water filter, it'll save you money in the long run. It'll also save you time and you'll have more control over where your water is coming from.

How big is the trigger? Between the tang (what kind?), lionfish, and triggerfish, thats a lot of fish poop. What kind of sand do you have? Is it fine sand, pebbles, etc . . . ?

Do you have a picture of your setup? Like ade was alluding to, your bioload is the source of your nitrates. The question is how you want to go about reducing them.
- You can lower the bioload.
- You can get a more powerful skimmer.
- You can add a refugium.
- You can increase flow in the tank to keep poop stirred up so that the skimmer can remove it.

Coralline needs the same things to grow as corals: lots of light, calcium levels >400ppm, appropriate levels of Alk, and magnesium.

 

[refonpit]

Im definitely adding a refug. After Xmas. The sand is fine. I hate to buy another skimmer cause I put $$$ on this one a month ago. Wish I could put a pic of setup but pretty ignorant with puters. I've thought slot about a RO. I don't think my well could handle this right now. From what I hear, for every gallon of purified you have x amount of waste. I would have to redirect the water for household use somehow.
I have tried not feeding the fish as much but when I walk up to the tank, they all gather around. They actually follow me when I walk back and forth. I gave.
Already got a 10 gal. Tank for a refug. Think that is big enough? Where do you guys get the cheato( not sure how to spell it)?
Will definitely be getting rid of trigger when I can find sometime.
One other question ------ after I get my nitrates under control, need to upgrade lighting. I have compact flouricents now. I've heard t5 are the way to go for cost, but I would rather have the MH.

 

[ade]

sjdyer, the guy that wanted to give your trigger a new home has a 33 gal fuge and he can spare you some cheato I am sure. 10 gal will be fine the bigger the better but 10 is better than nothing at all. Lighting all depends on what you want to place in your tank. Then there is a heat issue and cooling your tank and evap.
I would say that MH are the way to go if you want to do more in the way of sps. Why wait to get your nitrates down before you upgrade your lights.
You could go with a whole house water filter in a gang, first a 1 mic pre filter then a total carbon block and then a DI chamber, I did that for the longest time. Depending on what you TDS is out of your well will depend how fast you go through resin.

 

[J. Montgomery]

From what I've seen, MH and T5 are comparable in their end results, IMHO. The most obvious difference to me is that MH will give you shimmer lines.

 

[Saboral]

My advice is RO filter!!! If water waste is a concern get a second RO membrane unit and attach it to the waste port of the first. (Make sure you have 65psi at the input of the first membrane). This will effectively cut the water waste down by 50%. You should be able to get 1 gallon to every 2 wasted with a setup like this. If that is still an issue I would look into getting a tank from tractor supply with a float cut off in it. Let the waste go into this and then use it to run your washing machine which will work if you put the tank higher than the machine and plumb it in.

I am actually building an above ground koi pond at my new place in Suffolk and I will let all my waste water go into toping that off since Koi are pretty hardy.

 

[merlin33bc]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13961858#post13961858 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by refonpit
I always buy water, which is beginning to be a pain in the you know what. Tooling around Walmart with a buggy of gallon jugs----- its a mental picture.

I know how that goes. when i was setting up my 125 i got my brother to help me buy 60 gallons from walmart in two carts. That was fun to push around. I got asked by 3 people if we were "gonna drink all that?".
anyway, good luck with the nitrates

Robert:strooper: