Nitrates? after 6 weeks I'm at 20ppm is this good?

[ms71171]

I know by reading from past posts that doing regular water-changes will slowly start to lower this over time. Is there anything else I can do in the meantime to help with my nitrates.

 

I have been using a turkey baster to blow detrius and die-off from my LR every week. Should I keep doing this weekly or back off a little?

 

I currently run a CPR Bak-Pak 2R and my ammonia/nitrite are both 0. My PH is 8.2 and my Alk is 6.0.

[reiple]

Mine reads almost 0ppm.

 

I do water changes ONCE a month. around 20-25% volume. I do not go to the trouble of removing detritus or dirt or anything. Once a sick coral given to me died. I removed it and nitrate rose to 5ppm approx. But dropped to less than 0 next day.

 

There is no component in your system which consumes the nitrate. I use a plenum sump and clams. Very effective. Try putting a plenum sump online (not popular idea? works well anyway)

 

Good luck.

[ThingsReef]

Xenia, mushrooms, and zooanthids feed off nutrients also but if you don't have a DSB (I use 3" in my 7 and 10's which is marginal at best) then water changes are the best way to reduce nitrates. I looked into the plenum principle and sounded good also but seemed a little tempermental so I went with the DSB (which you can find lotsa good and bad opinions on)

[Physh1]

Everything above is good advice.

 

My opinion....I will add a little on trate levels. Usually a level of 20-25 is considered good. When you start hitting 50 it isn't a problem but something that shouldn't be allowed to get higher and finding a solution to lower it is ideal.

 

I know a fair share of poeple who have levels over 100 and it's not immediate issues that happen but long term. Either way a level of 25 or less os considered good and safe.

 

Cameron

[chufa]

my tank is 2 months old, and my nitrates stay around 20 ppm also. I don't worry much about it.

[Pgreco]

I had trates at about 20ppm for the longest time, then I decided to put in a DSB(3") and have had zero readings ever since. Try the DSB, I think it will work for you. I also change my water every other week. Good Luck

[hooked]

My system has been up for about 2 1/2 months and my nitrates form day one have been right around 10ppm. I have some hair algae starting to grow and think its probably time to get a clean up crew. Can anyone recommend types of snails to get?

[jburke30]

Originally posted by hooked

My system has been up for about 2 1/2 months and my nitrates form day one have been right around 10ppm. I have some hair algae starting to grow and think its probably time to get a clean up crew. Can anyone recommend types of snails to get?

 

Snails may or may not eat the hair algae (mine wouldn't touch the growth on the back of my tank which was about 1 to 1/2in long). Hermit crabs will tear through the stuff if they can reach it though.

 

As far as snails, turbo and astrea snails seem to be the most popular. Though I've read a number of posts on astrea snails being difficult to acclimate, and they do seem to be very sensitive to salinity changes (from my observations). Bumblebee snails are cool, but they don't seem to eat much of anything in my tank. Some say that they eat detritus, but there doesn't seem to be any real scientific proof on this.

[Pikelet]

I wouldn't be surprised at that level in a small tank, based on my experience.

 

The sandbed doesn't help that much in a nano so you have to focus on plenty of porous live rock and more frequent water changes if you want to get that number down. There is no great mystery about it. Pick a number <10ppm and try to keep it there. Test regularly while you are adding animals to your tank until you get a handle on the size and frequency of water changes required to keep your nitrates down to that level. Once you understand your tank dynamics, you can put your nitrate test kit away for good.

 

Every tank is different. Take the time to understand yours.

[ms71171]

Thanks for all the info.

 

Right now I have about an 1 1/2" of sand. I guess I should add about that much again to get a good DSB of 3"

 

Also, siphoning the sand like I have been is not good right? When you have a DSB do you ever disturb the sand at all or do you leave that to the little critters?

[Pikelet]

Originally posted by jburke30

 

Snails may or may not eat the hair algae (mine wouldn't touch the growth on the back of my tank which was about 1 to 1/2in long). Hermit crabs will tear through the stuff if they can reach it though.

 

As far as snails, turbo and astrea snails seem to be the most popular. Though I've read a number of posts on astrea snails being difficult to acclimate, and they do seem to be very sensitive to salinity changes (from my observations). Bumblebee snails are cool, but they don't seem to eat much of anything in my tank. Some say that they eat detritus, but there doesn't seem to be any real scientific proof on this.

 

A small sally lightfoot crab does a great job on hair algae and it can reach hair on glass by scrambling up onto it. I've never found hermits to be particularly effective on algae and they have negative impacts of killing your snails, scoffing down sandbed critters and annoying your corals. Turbos and astraea prefer film and very short hair algae so some hand pulling might be required. Also be sure to siphon out all the snail poop as there will be alot of it after a hair outbreak.

 

Pretty soon your algae problems will be a distant memory if you maintain good water quality.

[Pikelet]

Originally posted by ms71171

Right now I have about an 1 1/2" of sand.  I guess I should add about that much again to get a good DSB of 3"

 

Also, siphoning the sand like I have been is not good right?  When you have a DSB do you ever disturb the sand at all or do you leave that to the little critters?

 

I wouldn't bother with more sand because you'll never get a decent DSB in that sized tank. Spend the money on some decent sand critters instead to breakdown the detritus to make it available to still smaller organisms. Don't siphon the sandbed unless you have a cyano attack or something. The sandcritters are there to keep the sand stirred and looking good.

[ms71171]

Originally posted by Pikelet

 

I wouldn't bother with more sand because you'll never get a decent DSB in that sized tank.  Spend the money on some decent sand critters instead to breakdown the detritus to make it available to still smaller organisms.  Don't siphon the sandbed unless you have a cyano attack or something.  The sandcritters are there to keep the sand stirred and looking good.

 

 

What type of sand critters are good? I now have 5 scarlet hermit crabs. What else? Stars, bristle worms, goby?

[Pikelet]

Originally posted by ms71171

 

 

What type of sand critters are good?   I now have 5 scarlet hermit crabs.   What else?  Stars, bristle worms, goby?

 

Mini stars, spaghetti worms, various types of pods, SMALL bristleworms(keep a close eye on these), a few nassarius snails (keep an eye on these too). BTW ... bumblebees will move down from the rocks onto the sand to eat meaty leftovers at night - they are incredibly hardy.

 

If you have room on the sand, I hear that a small tiger tail cuke can do a good job but I've never tried one personally. Some people don't like looking at a turd at the bottom of their tank. I think they look interesting.

 

Check out http://www.inlandaquatics.com and http://www.ipsf.com for a range of suitable critters.