dsnider Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 I've had relatively high nitrates since I first setup my tank (2 months now). They have consistently been 20 or so. I reduced my feeding to once every other day, I rinse my mysis shrimp, I even added Chemi-Pure Elite and Purigen. It's been a week since I added the Chemi-Pure and Purigen and they are still 20. I'm not sure what else to do. Are these effective? Can I add the bacteria to my sand that you go through in a cycle? To make a ong story short, I bought an "established" aquarium from my LFS, they took everything out, put it in bags with salt water, lowered the water level to about an inch above the sand and we carried the aquarium out. Could some of the nitrate eating bacteria have died during that transport? AZ-NO3 Kent Marine Nitrate Sponge Link to comment
Detritus07 Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 Could some of the nitrate eating bacteria have died during that transport? AZ-NO3 Kent Marine Nitrate Sponge That's what I was thinking as I read. Also, maybe some die-off from the live rock during transit. Link to comment
bdare Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 If you want a really effective nitrate remover grow some Cheato! My nitrates have been ZERO since I started usinig the stuff. Link to comment
spanko Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 Tell us more about the system. Filtration, size, quantity of rock and sand etc. Link to comment
dsnider Posted July 14, 2008 Author Share Posted July 14, 2008 If you want a really effective nitrate remover grow some Cheato! My nitrates have been ZERO since I started usinig the stuff. Well, I don't have a fuge, and I'm not sure if anyone has successfully turned grown Cheato in the back of the RSM. Tell us more about the system. Filtration, size, quantity of rock and sand etc. Filtration is Chemi-Pure Elite, Puri-Gen and filter floss. I change the Filter Floss every 3 days. I have 20 lbs of live rock and about 2 inches of sand on the bottom. Is that what you were looking for? Link to comment
bdare Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 I have an 8 gallon bio cube at my job. I just shaved off the paint on the glass over the middle section of the filter and put a light behind it. Can you do something similar on the RSM? The best way to get rid of nitrates is to export them. Unless you have a really good skimmer, macro algae or are VERY careful how much you feed you'll continue to battle nitrates. Link to comment
smarsh Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 Water Changes, Water Changes, Water Changes. There is no way around it. Also if you want to put chaeto in your tank, get one of the clear, suction cupped soapdishes form Walmart or Target. I have had chaeto doing well in there, You may want to drill more holes in the sides of it for flow. Plus my nitrates are always less then 20ppm ever since I added the chaeto. But a quick fix is a good old 10% water change. You can put 100 bags of chemipure elite and all the purigen you want, Your water will be crystal clear but you still have nitrates. Good luck with the new RSM, I love mine! Link to comment
dsnider Posted July 14, 2008 Author Share Posted July 14, 2008 Water Changes, Water Changes, Water Changes. There is no way around it. Also if you want to put chaeto in your tank, get one of the clear, suction cupped soapdishes form Walmart or Target. I have had chaeto doing well in there, You may want to drill more holes in the sides of it for flow. Plus my nitrates are always less then 20ppm ever since I added the chaeto. But a quick fix is a good old 10% water change. You can put 100 bags of chemipure elite and all the purigen you want, Your water will be crystal clear but you still have nitrates. Good luck with the new RSM, I love mine! Yep, I do a 10% water change every week. Do you have a picture of your Chaeto setup? I'm curious to do something similar. Link to comment
jc16 Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 water changes is definitely the way to go, b4 when i had my 10 gallon the nitrates were at 80 i did consecutive waters everyday for a week and brought it down to 10-20, and now with my new 25 gallon i have 0 nirates, i added a hob fuge, and a cannister filter with purigen,phosban,chemipure elite and,de-nirate by seachem so don't know what helped, Link to comment
dsoz Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 Yep, I do a 10% water change every week. Do you have a picture of your Chaeto setup? I'm curious to do something similar. search for soapdish mod. It is basically a clear plastic dish with some suction cups on it. I saw them at wal-mart in the bath accessory section, and at Home Depot near the shower curtain rods. I used to use it for chaeto, now I use it as a low flow area in my tank for frags. dsoz Link to comment
glennr1978 Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 Water Changes, Water Changes, Water Changes. There is no way around it. Also if you want to put chaeto in your tank, get one of the clear, suction cupped soapdishes form Walmart or Target. I have had chaeto doing well in there, You may want to drill more holes in the sides of it for flow. Plus my nitrates are always less then 20ppm ever since I added the chaeto. But a quick fix is a good old 10% water change. You can put 100 bags of chemipure elite and all the purigen you want, Your water will be crystal clear but you still have nitrates. Good luck with the new RSM, I love mine! IME, water changes only do so much for removing nitrates. I did them religously even after I learned how to not overfeed and I still had nitrate issues. Once I discovered the fuge mod for my old AP and added some cheato, I had undetectable readings for nitrates the rest of the time the tank was running. search for soapdish mod. It is basically a clear plastic dish with some suction cups on it. I saw them at wal-mart in the bath accessory section, and at Home Depot near the shower curtain rods. I used to use it for chaeto, now I use it as a low flow area in my tank for frags. dsoz sorry to get off topic, but I cut the sides off of them and they make great little frag racks. Frag plugs fit in the little holes in the bottom pretty well. Link to comment
iglowce Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 tank parameters as of today calcium 417.5 pH 8.2 nitrite 0 ammonia 0 nitrate 20 (grrrr) temps 79.5 to 81.9 i added chaeto and the soap-box a few days ago. hopefully in a week the number will be a little better. check out my tank. i have a shot of the dishes toward the top of the tank Link to comment
bdare Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 What's your Alk and Mg? They are both CRUCIAL in keeping parms up. Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 Ok, so my guess is you dont have enough flow. Thats the no. 1 cause of high trates in most tanks. Detritus building up somewhere, possibly from over feeding(not saying you do), and not enough flow to move it around. Also, you just moved the tank a little while back....you need to do some extra changes to be prepared to no3. I even had a no3 in my system after I moved it 4 or 5 months ago. Also, ditch all the floss, and chemical media, you dont need it to have 0 nitrates. I have zero no3 in my tank, and I have no fuge, or chemical media.....just a skimmer and some bad azz power heads. Start doing two 10% changes a week, even more if you like. Thats the best way to get them down. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 If you haven't already get rid of the damn bio-rock bag of crap that comes with the RSM. It turns into a nitrate factory after a while due to detritus buildup. Same deal for bioballs, live rock rubble, and the like. Start with a series of 20% water changes each week doing 10% at a time twice week until they come down. Plus test your source water for nitrates. You may have contaminated source water. Link to comment
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