Nitrate??
- Thread starter al001
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Scooterman
Well-known member
How big is your hippo?
I'm guessing but these fish poop lots, if it is over three inches you should be changing 6 gallons every week, small tanks change very rapidly, also you only have 15lbs of lr, you may need to add 15 more but with fish you need to make sure it is fully cured & do it with small pieces. The hippo will out grow your tank very fast, the LFS should of never sold that to you, not trying to sound rude here but being truthful. Also like others mentioned here, yank the bio-balls!
Scooterman
Well-known member
Change water every week, at least 5 or more gallons, these tanks fluctuate rapidly! If I missed it, you should also have a skimmer with the LR!
Scooterman
Well-known member
no on the AZ NO3, change more water first thing, yank the bio pak!
clean it & then work on the other solutions & slowly it will get better, just take your time mix the water aerate it well & keep up with them weekly!
clean it & then work on the other solutions & slowly it will get better, just take your time mix the water aerate it well & keep up with them weekly!
Haole
"Village Idiot"
I agree with scooter also. Don’t waste your money on trying to set up an ozone system for this size of aquarium. There are other more important things that you need to be thinking about getting than something like that. (Like more flow and live rock) First get into the habit of upholding to a strict water change schedule like scooter had already suggested. Get yourself two identical buckets that will hold the amount of water that you will be changing. (I use a couple of sturdy garbage cans with lids that I got at Wal-Mart) Use one of the buckets to mix up your new saltwater the day before your scheduled water change and drop a powerhead pump in there to keep it mixing overnight so that everything is completely dissolved and the water is well aerated before you use it. What was said about crushed coral is true. So also get yourself a gravel cleaner siphon hose and clean out a little section of your sand bed on each water change. Don’t try to clean the entire sand bed in one water change because this may disrupt the bio-filtration activities that are already established there. Actually, your sand bed depth at 2-3in of crushed coral is in a “kinda/sorta†type zone where some denitrifying bacteria are present but not enough to handle the amount of nitrate that is being produced. Sorry to say, but you would be better off with a finer sand grain than this. So I would suggest you either slowly siphon out this sand to a much thinner layer (less than an inch) so it’s easier to keep clean or take it out completely. Unfortunately the hippo tang wasn’t a good choice for this size of a tank. It will probably not live to its fullest lifespan in these small confines. If I were you, I would see if you can trade back in the tang to the lfs that you got it from and also the anemone since I would also predict that it will slowly shrink and die under your current lighting setup. Sorry if what I’m saying seems harsh but I’m just trying to help you save some of your hard earned money.
Haole
"Village Idiot"
Oh and one more thing... Keep that skimmer clean and working at its best. I’ve heard people have done some mods to these skimmers to make them work better than stock so do some searching and see what you can find.
Here’s a head start; http://www.wetwebmedia.com/cprskimrfaqs.htm
Here’s a head start; http://www.wetwebmedia.com/cprskimrfaqs.htm
Krish
RF STAFF
Nicely said Rob and Scooty I agree with bumping up the water changes and also vaccuming the sand. I used crushed corals before and it contributed to me tearing down my tank because the nitrate levels were out of the roof! I eventually tried a finer grain sand which I had much better success, but tyhen removed the sand totally ande ran a bare bottom setup and have been nitrate free since. Now, I'm not saying you can only have a nitrate free tank going bare bottom, but IMO, it is much easier to keep a tank clean that way
I agree with bumping up the water changes and also vaccuming the sand. I used crushed corals before and it contributed to me tearing down my tank because the nitrate levels were out of the roof! I eventually tried a finer grain sand which I had much better success, but tyhen removed the sand totally ande ran a bare bottom setup and have been nitrate free since. Now, I'm not saying you can only have a nitrate free tank going bare bottom, but IMO, it is much easier to keep a tank clean that way
Krish
RF STAFF
Here's a bump...Never used chemi pure before so I have no idea what it really is, but if it is a chemical that reduces nitrates, I'd just do a nice sized water change with ro/di water to dilute the nitrates and allow the rocks to do their thing. Chemicals should always be a last resort IMO and getting to the root of the problem should always be first.
Also, not sure if it was mentioned, but do you run any carbon? If not, I think you should run some. It helps quite a bit with absorbing nasties in the tank, just make sure to change it every 2 weeks or so
Also, not sure if it was mentioned, but do you run any carbon? If not, I think you should run some. It helps quite a bit with absorbing nasties in the tank, just make sure to change it every 2 weeks or so
Scooterman
Well-known member
Apparently your seeking a medical or chemical fix for your problem & this isn't the best method & should be avoided or left as a last resort thing. These things can be used also something like Phosphate removers like Warner sea-chem products but before using that you should first do the other things mentioned, If you like Run carbon it is a good thing, change it out about every week or two. You can't get away with husbandry no matter how much chemicals you dump in your tank, If anything eventually it would make things worse.
patients is a must! Don't take my words in the wrong way honestly we're trying to help you in the best way, proven to work through experience, even though there are many many ways to do it these are the basics almost a requirement before trying other means.
Scooterman
Well-known member
Carbon is used to help clear up water, you typically get a small sack that you fill with carbon, it can also be used in a fluidized reactor but that tis a different matter.
You should remove the bio-balls because they will hold nitrates & eventually cause problems like algae. If you remove them you will only use the CPR to skim water as a skimmer, you don't need the balls it will skim without them.
Krish
RF STAFF
I agree...Nicely said Scooty
Krish
RF STAFF
Is this what you are running? http://www.aquatichouse.com/FILTRATION MENU_files/bakpak.asp If so, that bi-bale does nothing for your system but add surface area for bacteria to grow (for biological filtration)which can be done on anything (even the glass on your tank bacteria grows). All that bio-bale really is is probably shredded plastic...Nothing special. You could throw anything in there and have it do the same thing...Just like bio-balls in a wet dry which is just plastic again or a bio-wheel on some power filters. How that bio bale works in that skimmer is it is exposed to highly oxygenated water which is great for converting ammonia into nitrite and then nitrite into nitrate in a short amount of time, but it stops there. No more filtration results from it, but an accumiliation of nitrates over time which is where you are at now. On the other hand, live rock has a lot of surface area as well for these same bacteria's to grow and convert ammonia into nitrite and then nitrite into nitrate. However, deep inside the live rock, there are regions that are anaerobic (not found on or in any bio-bale, bio-balls etc) that another bacteria is responsible for denitrification which takes place there which put in simple terms means it rids the tank of nitrates. So in reality, all that bio-bale is doing for you is really trapping detritus and shooting up your nitrates. Yes, it converts ammonia into nitrite and then into nitrate, but that will be done within the live rock anyways with the added benefit of denitrification so why use something that is just going to add nitrates to your system? Forget the whole idea of "bio" in bio-bale as it really means nothing...Just a sales pitch IMO making people think it is something special when it is just simply a place for bacteria to grow in a highly oxygenated environment..You toss out that bio-bale (replacing it with nothing as you will be back to square one) let your rock do the biological work, and your tank will never be better once that rock is given sufficient time to catch up and do it's thing. Hope that helps
