High Nitrates
- Thread starter Fishead77
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Krish
RF STAFF
Definately! You'll be surprised what a good skimmer can pull out of your water! Either that or something to use up the excess nitrates like an algae (like chaeto) put in a fuge. Some people use both...Sorry to hear about the nitrate issues man...I'd do a pretty nice sized water change with ro/di water warmed or cooled to the exact same temperature as your tank, as well as same ph, salinity etc to flush/dilute some of the nitrates out and see if you can find the source of your nitrates. If you don't have an efficient skimmer or some means of exporting the nitrates, then there is probably where your problem lies. Also, check the date on your test kit as well to be sure. I wish you the best
james734
Well-known member
Skimmer will not remove the nitrates. The skimmer will help in reducing the organics from the water that in the end will produce Nitrates. But since you have no fish just softies that wouldn't create much of Bio-load.
so..
Do you RO/Di water?
When was the last time you did a Part. Water Change?
What does you fresh or newly created SW test @?
What other kind of filtration do you have?
so..
Do you RO/Di water?
When was the last time you did a Part. Water Change?
What does you fresh or newly created SW test @?
What other kind of filtration do you have?
Krish
RF STAFF
Good point James...I must have missed that
On that note then and to add what James asked, I'd check what you are feeding your corals as well to see if they are spiking your nitrates. Some foods cause more harm that good when added to the tank in the wrong way. Also, I'm just curious as to how old your tank is?james734
Well-known member
krish75 said:
Yeah, What Krish say's also..
twilliard
What next?
Also I would have to ask what do you use for filtration? Some can be nitrate factories.
joshinjosh
Cnidarian
anything alive produces waste. pretty normal to just have nitrates, the end product of the cylce probably from live rock, if you have any? only way i know of removing them is through the old fashion water change (like krish suggested), algea exporter, or by denitriying bacteria. yeah, nitrates arent organic so i dont think a skimmer will do anything.
josh
josh
joshinjosh
Cnidarian
oh yea, forgot to mention a giant clam
Krish
RF STAFF
Josh...Your signature says click banner...Is it a trick or am I just retarded?
james734
Well-known member
That's true Josh, Chances are you're going to have some Nitrates.
I guess the next question to ask is:
What exactly is the Sky High Level?
I guess the next question to ask is:
What exactly is the Sky High Level?
I am using ro/di water but it had been a couple of weeks since a water change. I did a 20% water change today and will continue until the level is down. I have never tested the replacement water for nitrates, maybe I'll have to do that. I would assume it would be zero.james734 said:
I'm feeding my softies every other day a mix of bioplankton, marine snow and a little water from thawed mysis shrimp (the shrimp go in the other tank with the fish). The only place I can figure the high level of nitrates are coming from is me feeding too much. Is twice a week plenty?krish75 said:Good point James...I must have missed that
liveforphysics
Banned
Firstly, T5's can support any type of clam if setup in a semi-decent mannor.
I belive the problem is inadquate lighting on the chaeto, and possibily inadquate circulation on the chaeto as well.
Get the homedepot 2.7kK spiral CF floodlamps (23watts each, 4 for 19.99) over that chaeto. I would imagine the nitrates and phosphates will drop straight to zero as soon as the problem with the chaeto growth is solved.
Healthy chaeto should be doubleing at minimum every 2 weeks. In a tank with high nitrates, it should be trippling in size every week. If its not rapidly growing, its not functioning as a nutrient lock, and hence useless.
A skimmer will do nothing for the existing NO3 and PO4 compounds. In fact, the last gross looking skimmate I tested from a friends tank measured undectably low for N and P. It also had that classic skimmate brown/dark green look to it... That green tint is the tanks feeble attempt at makeing phytoplankton (the base of the food chain for about 98% of all life in a natural reef).
Get the chaeto to grow rapidly. Problem will be solved.
I belive the problem is inadquate lighting on the chaeto, and possibily inadquate circulation on the chaeto as well.
Get the homedepot 2.7kK spiral CF floodlamps (23watts each, 4 for 19.99) over that chaeto. I would imagine the nitrates and phosphates will drop straight to zero as soon as the problem with the chaeto growth is solved.
Healthy chaeto should be doubleing at minimum every 2 weeks. In a tank with high nitrates, it should be trippling in size every week. If its not rapidly growing, its not functioning as a nutrient lock, and hence useless.
A skimmer will do nothing for the existing NO3 and PO4 compounds. In fact, the last gross looking skimmate I tested from a friends tank measured undectably low for N and P. It also had that classic skimmate brown/dark green look to it... That green tint is the tanks feeble attempt at makeing phytoplankton (the base of the food chain for about 98% of all life in a natural reef).
Get the chaeto to grow rapidly. Problem will be solved.
wrightme43
Well-known member
The hang on power filter. Does it have a bio wheel? How often do you change the fliters.
It would probley be best to stop feeding the softies. They really dont need it. Just put a fish or two in there and feed it. They will feed the softies for you just fine. Lukes pretty hip on the chaeto. I got one of those bulbs. My chaeto still barely grows, but I use phosban, and a g-3 skimmer on a 75g tank. So since I have zero and zero on detectable nitrate/phosphate it really shouldnt grow.
If you have a biowheel, or some other sort of biomedia in your cansiter, it would probley be a good idea to remove it.
It would probley be best to stop feeding the softies. They really dont need it. Just put a fish or two in there and feed it. They will feed the softies for you just fine. Lukes pretty hip on the chaeto. I got one of those bulbs. My chaeto still barely grows, but I use phosban, and a g-3 skimmer on a 75g tank. So since I have zero and zero on detectable nitrate/phosphate it really shouldnt grow.
If you have a biowheel, or some other sort of biomedia in your cansiter, it would probley be a good idea to remove it.
Krish
RF STAFF
Makes perfect sense, but just keep in mind, with using a skimmer, it will get rid of the "wastes" before it has a chance to build up, break down, and eventually become nitrates. It's at that point where the chaeto comes in to eliminate/export them. My tank has un-detectable nitrates in it and I have no macro algae for nutrient export. That's the beauty of the hobby though...No one set way to do things
MarineTeng
Reef Padawan
Ya they do, they use it to grow i believe along with like calcium, and another thought though you have no fish you still have an anemone which could produce a decent amount of waste, especially if you feed it, it's also really easy to overfeed plankton, also i second good lights on the cheato, i started using homedepot bulbs 26w compact floursecent and my grow increased many times over from when i was using a 20w aquarium, fw sort of bulbFishead77 said:
