w1dude Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 I work at a small pet store and had a customer come in a month ago with high nitrates and phosphates. He has a 29g. He has been doing 9g w/c weekly. His nitrates went down from 100ppm to 30ppm after the first change. The have remained there. The phosphates havnt really dropped. He tops off with ro, uses carbon and phosguard. Any ideas. Link to comment
nanoreefnate Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Get the phos buster type liquids. they ELIMINATE phos usually in 1-2 regiments. also you might want to tell him to switch to Rowa Phos or Phos Ban. Best Wishes! Link to comment
mlove Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 I work at a small pet store and had a customer come in a month ago with high nitrates and phosphates. He has a 29g. He has been doing 9g w/c weekly. His nitrates went down from 100ppm to 30ppm after the first change. The have remained there. The phosphates havnt really dropped. He tops off with ro, uses carbon and phosguard. Any ideas. Chemipure Elite, less natural sunlight, patience if it is a new tank Link to comment
w1dude Posted October 5, 2009 Author Share Posted October 5, 2009 The tanks is 4 years old and FO so phosphates aren't a huge deal... What about nitrates? Link to comment
intermision Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Does he use RO water or tap? Link to comment
w1dude Posted October 5, 2009 Author Share Posted October 5, 2009 Does he use RO water or tap? Lol ro Link to comment
Lawnman Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Sounds like it is time to change the sandbed. I bet it is loaded with detrius. I have heard LR over time holds nitrates to crazy levels. I have heard people having to change out LR because they can"t get the lower. I would first change the sandbed then blast the LR evertime he does a water change and see if that lowers them. If not time to switch out the LR. Link to comment
Boomboy Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 did you ask him how many fish he has in there, or how often he is feeding?? tell him to stir up the sand bed everytime he does a water change, and any of the easier rocks pull out and rinse out in SW. Link to comment
blasterman Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 How many decades did we keep the same species as we do now *without* RO water? Like he said, RO water is a non issue. Nice to have RO, but not a requirement for FO. Most FO tanks are over-fed, and/or overstocked, and/or water changes are neglected. Have your customers commit to a 20% water change every two weeks, and cut their feeding in half. A turkey baster works good for periodically blowing off LR, and this should probably be done once a month. If he has coarse gravel the good old gravel-vac commonly used in freshwater does a great job. Trickier with a sand bed. I don't agree with changing out LR. The only thing that happens is over time LR eventually becomes saturated with bacteria and the nitrogen cycle becomes so efficient that conversion to nitrate becomes absurdly fast. Tank hits it's own equilibrium, but it's still garbage in = nitrate. Even my reef only / no fish tanks tend to float around 30ppm of nitrate. Link to comment
bluenassarius Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 The tanks is 4 years old and FO so phosphates aren't a huge deal... What about nitrates? LOL phosphates aren't a huge deal............ Link to comment
ls7corvete Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 LOL phosphates aren't a huge deal............ FO so i agree they probably arent a big deal. Continue with water changes, possibly cut food or get a better quality food. Macro can help, especially nice if it does double duty as fish food. Link to comment
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