Im wondering what level of Nitrates do you guys live with in your tanks? What is the normal range that comes up when you test Nitrates in your tank weekly? the reason I ask is because lets say Nitrates are 0, but once you feed your anemone and he produces waist wouldnt that cause nitrates to rise? Of course a water change could bring them down but how are you guys dealing with this issue of constant nitrates being introduced during feedings?? thanks.
What is everyones Nitrates right now?
- Thread starter 5speedT
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magellan007
New member
if he produces enough waste to spike up your nitrates you're probably overfeeding it. They might eat only 10-20% of what they're fed, but that doesn't mean you should feed them alot to compensate--unless you want it to split, but even then you don't have to feed that much (but i know some people swear to feeding them big chunks everyday but that's ridiculous). I feed mine some blended shrimp/cuttlefish twice a week and it split after two months. I have pretty good bio filtration--nothing fancy as far as equipment--and my nitrates are usually around 5. I don't have my tank overstocked, either.
Mine are undetectable due to having a deep sand bed of sugar-fine aragonite. Also, skimming help remove waste before it has a chance to go through the nitrogen cycle. Water changes are important, but alone will not solve a build up of nitrates (unless you are doing huge water changes on a very regular basis).
Ophidia
New member
Undetectable due to a 6" sand bed and about 70# of LR in my 55. I also change 7 gallons of water a week (it has about 30 gallons of water volume after all of the sand and live rock).
I also have a CPR Dual-Pak on there run by a Sedra 3500 needle wheel pump (off of my currently unused Euroreef skimmer).
I feed fairly heavily, and have 5 small fish in there (royal gramma, 2 true percs, African Flameback angel, and a radiant wrasse) as well as 4 medium to large RBTA's.
DSB's work!
I also have a CPR Dual-Pak on there run by a Sedra 3500 needle wheel pump (off of my currently unused Euroreef skimmer).
I feed fairly heavily, and have 5 small fish in there (royal gramma, 2 true percs, African Flameback angel, and a radiant wrasse) as well as 4 medium to large RBTA's.
DSB's work!
BIOCUBE UNIT
New member
Mine is usually 0 if not less then 1. 2 L of Seachem Matrix Biomedia (Live rock) and CPR Aquafuge 2 MD filled with Cheato.
SNAKEMANVET
PREMIUM MEMBER
Mine is also at 0.I do 5 gallon water changes weekly on a 20L.I have 4 perculas and 5 gbtas and 3 rbtas.
Tofumushrooman
New member
never have any, i change 12 gallons a week on my 58 and its 20 gallon sump. im hopefully adding another 29 gallon to the system and dont expect any problems. i have both a GBTA which i feed once a week and a green/brown carpet who i feed maybe 3 times a week and never have readable nitrates
fishkid6692
New member
my tank is a little over stocked so my nitrates keep spiking. what can i do to keep it down? i do water changes weekly or if it's high when i test i do it twice a week. can i get that sulphur denitrifier at my lfs? are nitrates that bad? my nitrates get high a lot and it doesn't affect anything. please help. will alot of corals get my nitrates up at all?
Tofumushrooman
New member
feed less that should help. if that doesnt work then yes try getting something like that. what do you change/top off your tank with? Try RO/DI to make sure you are adding clean water to the tank with no unneeded additives. Its fairly easy to go to safeway(or whatever your supermarket may be called) and fill up with their water thats what i do and never have an issue even tho i keep lots of fish in my system
fishkid6692
New member
ok well here is my list of livestock: pair of black and white occelaris clowns, 2 leather corals, a mushroom rock, a sebae anemone, a bta( both nems are small) , 2 feather dusters, an urchin, 2 shrimp, and a very small rock of zoos, then my clean up crew. and i know this is really bad but it's all in a 14 gallon. it doesn't look crowded at all.
"it doesn't look crowded at all." It may not look it, but it is very overcrowded. The constant up and down that you describe for your nitrates is definitely not good. Animals can tolerate varying degrees of nitrates, for example your clownfish could probably tolerate 100, your sebae on the other hand might be very sensitive to almost any nitrates. The fluctuation you describe is definitely not desirable. In another post I think you said you have another tank in the process of cycling, take the fish and put them in there as soon as the cycling is finished.
fishkid6692
New member
alrite thanks but what should i do to keep them down? should i do two 50% water changes a week? is there something i can put in it to bring it down?
I can't remember if you said you have a skimmer or not, that will help by removing the waste before it has a chance to become nitrate. I think 10-20% of tank volume per week is enough as far as water changes are concerned. Chaeotomorpha reputedly sucks up alot of nitrates and phosphate if you give it the right kind of light (5000-7000K). I've already mentioned a deep sand bed, you might want to research "remote deep sand beds." I'm sure some nano keeper has a clever way to incorporate a deep sand bed into a nano. I remember reading a thread somewhere on RC about a guy that fills drinking water bottles with oolitic aragonite and puts them in his overflow. The key to a deep sand bed is that the sand is 6 or more inches deep and that the water doesn't flow through it. The denitrifying portion is deep in the sand where there is no oxygen. If the water flows through the sand then it ruins the denitrifying potential. You can research deep sand beds on RC and also on WetWebMedia.
fishkid6692
New member
ok so i am getting a protein skimmer tonight. i want to get some chaeto and i have compact lighting. i have a 24watt 10000k corallife and a 24watt actinic.
fishkid6692
New member
ok i went to the store and got some chaeto but they didn't have a protein skimmer that would fit my tank.
