Falon1987 Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Hello, I have had my 24 gallon reef tank for about 2 years now and have just recently started having issues with my water parameters. First off, here are the water chemistries: Temp: 80 at night and 82 during day Ph: 8.4 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: High (I say high because the color on the test was different than the colors on the result card. The card ended at orange as a high and mine was red, so I'm guessing that's a bad thing.) Ammonia: 0 Kh: 7 Calcium: 450 ppm Phosphate: 0.1 Right now my livestock consists of: 1x Percula Clown Fish (Pretty large) 1x Six Lined Wrasse 1x Falco Hawkfish 12x Hermit Crabs (a mix bettween dwarf blue legged and scarlet reef crabs) 8x Snails (2 of the Nassarius and a mix of turbo and margarita snails. Large Green Star Polyp coral a couple zoas and mushrooms Torch coral I am using a Aquarium Pharmaceutical Master Saltwater test kit and a Red Sea Reef Master test kit for testing. I was fighting to keep the Ph higher that 7.8 a couple weeks ago and am very surprised that they are this high. My Nitrate levels have been high for about a month now. I have been doing water changes about every 4 days as instructed by my lfs. They said after about 4 water changes and siphoning the sand will I see some results. I had tested my water after a couple water changes myself with the API test kit and my nitrate levels were at 0. I am convinced that that reading was false and that is why I bought the Red Sea test kit. Right now I have been doing 15 - 20% water changes every week and cannot seem to get the Nitrate levels down. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to lower the Nitrates? Also (as I guessed) my fine sand does not siphon very well. When siphoning, I get a puff of gray stuff out of the sand. Could my sand be dirty and cause this problem? I have not had any fatalities of fish or corals as of yet. But I am very worried that I could stress them to much. Any replies and suggestions on my water chemistries or anything else I may be doing wrong are all greatly appreciated. I am by no means a saltwater guru. I still consider myself a newbie to all this even though I have had this tank for a couple years. Link to comment
bdare Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Red Sea kits are junk. I'd trust the API more than the Red Sea. Are you running any macro algae? That will DEFINITELY help with nitrates. Do you have sand in your tank? How deep? If it's not a DSB (+5 inches) I'd vacume the sand to remove as much deitrus as possible. Have you ever tried vacuming out the back chambers? Stuff can build up back there. Are you running carbon? Link to comment
colinadam Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 You say you have a 24g tank so I'll assume either a nanocube or aquapod. How are your back chambers setup? I'll bet the bank something there is causing problems. Link to comment
Falon1987 Posted July 10, 2008 Author Share Posted July 10, 2008 Red Sea kits are junk. I'd trust the API more than the Red Sea. Are you running any macro algae? That will DEFINITELY help with nitrates. Do you have sand in your tank? How deep? If it's not a DSB (+5 inches) I'd vacume the sand to remove as much deitrus as possible. Have you ever tried vacuming out the back chambers? Stuff can build up back there. Are you running carbon? I bought the red sea kit for the calcium and phosphate tests. I could not find them separate. I do have about 2 inches of sand in my tank. I try to siphon the sand, but I suck up a lot of sand. I am using a very small siphon. Also, I get a big puff of some gray color material. Is this Deitrus? Macro algae... is that like cheato? I was thinking about getting some, but have not yet. I have siphoned the back chambers out just about 2 weeks ago and there was not much to get out. My filtration is filter floss, chempure elite, puragen and one stock sponge. Next to the floss and all I have rubble rock. My lfs suggested using that in the back of the tank. I guess to act like a refugium? Anyways, I change the filter floss about every 2 - 3 days and rinse the sponge out when I do my weekly water changes. The puragen and chempure elite have not been in there but for about a week. Link to comment
Nick's Reef Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 the stuff you're sucking up is most likely dertrius, it can aslo build up on your rocks so evertime you change your water, take a turkey baster and blow off the rocks. Link to comment
Falon1987 Posted July 10, 2008 Author Share Posted July 10, 2008 By the way, I got the filter setup off of Nick's Reef's forum. What type of siphon are you using? I just keep getting mine plugged up with sand no mater what I do. Link to comment
Nick's Reef Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 By the way, I got the filter setup off of Nick's Reef's forum. What type of siphon are you using? I just keep getting mine plugged up with sand no mater what I do. I just use a 4' long piece of 1/4" plastic tubing that you would use for a return line from your sump. I'll just suck on the end to get a siphon started then suck up whatever. I almost never siphon my sandbed, cause i don't have too since i have many sandsifters (over 30 dwarf ceriths and 4 nass and 2 porcelin crabs). you may also want to add some seagel, I added some after having some recent algae problems and it got rid of it, I also removed the sponge because it wasn't collecting anything and i felt that i didn't need it since I'm going to build a shelf out of eggcrate soon. but the only problem i could see is buld up of detrius. Link to comment
Falon1987 Posted July 10, 2008 Author Share Posted July 10, 2008 Nick - You have a AP 24 gallon. Do you think I need to have that many hermits and snails? I guess that would be an easy fix. I will take out the sponge and do an egg crate mod. I reamember seeing one on H20's forum when he had a AP. Also, what do you think about my bioload? Does anyone think I have too many fish? Another thought. Could I just change the sand if that is whats causing all my problems? I know that sounds drastic, but if I can see results fast I will do that. Link to comment
Nick's Reef Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Nick - You have a AP 24 gallon. Do you think I need to have that many hermits and snails? I guess that would be an easy fix. I will take out the sponge and do an egg crate mod. I reamember seeing one on H20's forum when he had a AP. Also, what do you think about my bioload? Does anyone think I have too many fish? Another thought. Could I just change the sand if that is whats causing all my problems? I know that sounds drastic, but if I can see results fast I will do that. Yeah, if you get more sandsifting snails, you're problem should be solved. Just don't get nass, get ceriths. You're bioload is fine. Don't change the sand, that will just create more problems. Link to comment
bubbg Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 bump... Anthing? Test your replacement water. When I started with my AP24, nitrates would drive me nuts until I tested the saltwater from the LFS and sure enough, that was the source all along. I went to another LFS since. Good Luck. Link to comment
bdare Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 GROW CHEATO IN THE BACK! Your nitrates will be ZERO! Link to comment
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