Jason7181 Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 I have a Biocube 29G setup on 10/8/10 and can not get my nitrates to drop even after doing WC's. I do weekly 10g WC's and my nitrates stay between 10-20ppm. I have 2 clown fish, 1 sleeper goby and a CUC. I feed every 3 days. I have 29 lbs of LR and 40 lbs of LS and chateo in the display. I run floss over the drip try and change it out every 3 days and I'm running Chemi-pure elite on the third chamber. I took out the blue sponge in chamber 3. What can I do to get my nitrates down? Here are my numbers. Salinty 1.024 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Ph 8.2 Phosphate 0 Calcium 400 KH 9 Link to comment
BLoCkCliMbeR Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 set up on the 8th of this month, and its full of livestock now? did you run it before you stocked it? try bigger water changes, do a couple of 50% Link to comment
reef keeper Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 Did u let it cycle? Link to comment
Jason7181 Posted October 25, 2010 Author Share Posted October 25, 2010 I ran it a week without any thing in it. I know i added the fish to quick is there a way to correct it now? I had my ammonia and nitrate spikes along with the algae bloom. Link to comment
reef keeper Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 Well sounds like its cycling now so i would take everything out! Just my 2 cent Link to comment
BLoCkCliMbeR Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 I ran it a week without any thing in it. I know i added the fish to quick is there a way to correct it now? I had my ammonia and nitrate spikes along with the algae bloom. im gonna wait for others to answer this for me Link to comment
Jason7181 Posted October 25, 2010 Author Share Posted October 25, 2010 If I take everything out will it fix itself? I tried taking back the fish and my LFS will not take them back. So now what do I do? Link to comment
BLoCkCliMbeR Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 lots of water changes and praying....you could do small ones daily. Link to comment
reef keeper Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 lots of water changes and praying....you could do small ones daily. A lot of prayin im with block lets see what other say! Link to comment
Jason7181 Posted October 25, 2010 Author Share Posted October 25, 2010 will it correct itself or will I always have high nitrates? Link to comment
BLoCkCliMbeR Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 will it correct itself or will I always have high nitrates? it needs time, since you jumped the gun and skipped a BIG step, you gotta be there to catch the slack.... get your buckets ready....keep changing it till it levels out...i say 2-3 weeks of small daily changes since you got fish in there too Link to comment
jae4571 Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 What you are experiencing is the cycle. You need to allow your tank to establish the bacteria it needs to eat those nitrates and complete the nitrogen cycle. Here's the problem you cannot allow the tank to properly cycle without endangering your fish because the nitrates will rise to dangerous levels. The good news is you can do daily water changes to keep things in check and your tank will enventually even itself out. You are already steps ahead with limiting feeding the tank. I would change your floss everyday or every other day as well just to help. Do you have any frineds that could hold onto the clowns for you while you let the tank properly cycle? Just a thought. Good luck! Link to comment
Jason7181 Posted October 25, 2010 Author Share Posted October 25, 2010 No I don't know anyone with a saltwater tank. Link to comment
Dasani Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 10-20 nitrates will not do a lot, if any damage. Just do daily 2-3g water changes and give it time. Link to comment
skimmerdude Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 10-20 nitrates will not do a lot, if any damage. Just do daily 2-3g water changes and give it time. Slow way down with everything except keep doing daily water changes. Then while you are waiting for your tank to cycle, read everything you can. My tank took over 6 weeks to fully cycle, and for some reason, I have had tanks cycle more than once while everything is getting established. I would not be surprised if you kill everything in your tank. Cycling and setting up a tank is one of the most exciting parts of reefing if you do it properly. Link to comment
Jason7181 Posted October 25, 2010 Author Share Posted October 25, 2010 So I'll do 3g wc's a day till it gets stable. Link to comment
reefer916 Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 I'd just do the 2-3 gallon daily water changes and your tank will be fine. If your using API Nitrate test kits I'd also look into getting a different one. For some reason their Nitrate test kits are horrible. They're very difficult to read and they also have issues of showing extremely high levels and misreadings. I had two bad test kits and have heard of other reefers running into the same problem. Your current levels aren't life threatening to your fish and most corals. The water changes will keep your parameters stable, just make sure that you keep up with the water changes for a few months or so. Good luck... Link to comment
Jason7181 Posted October 25, 2010 Author Share Posted October 25, 2010 OK that is the one I am using so I will go buy a salifert testers. Link to comment
reefer916 Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 OK that is the one I am using so I will go buy a salifert testers. Id go with the Sailfert, but stick with your daily water changes as well. I've been doing the daily for coming up on 2 years and the only time I ran into issues is when I cut back. I ended up losing a few grand worth of palys. It sucks when you grow them out to watch them melt after changing routines as an experiment. Good luck.. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.